Koyo Kyoto Resort ⭐️
(Update, sadly this resort has now closed)
Koyo Kyoto is a brand new Japanese themed resort and destination experience from Luxury Destinations, previously best known for the Mexican beach resort Lush Tulum.
Aria and I were among the first to visit and stay, and overall we very much enjoyed the experience, feeling that Koyo Kyoto provides something new when it comes to SL Hotels and Resorts.
All pictures by Aria Christen, rights reserved
Koyo Kyoto is on a closed sim, more information and bookings can be made via the website.
Overall look and feel
Check in is done in a mock airport terminal, and you also spend time on a ‘private jet’ where you can relax and have drinks before going to the resort.
Most of Koyo Kyoto is done in a traditional Japanese style. There are paths that go through Japanese landscaping, around which you’ll find the villas, and amenities such as the Fete restaurant, the spa, tea house and the onsen.
The landscaping was done by Kaiden Tray, and we thought he did a great job. It’s beautiful, and very much has the cherry blossom type feel you’d expect.
There’s also a small Japanese town, which has more modern aspects such as a games arcade, a hello kitty store, and a maid cafe.
Some of this area was really cute (like the hello kitty store), though overall we preferred the more traditional theme. However, the bottom line is the overall look and feel is excellent
Rating - 4 / 5
The rooms
There are a range of villas done in a traditional Japanese style, which can accommodate couples, as well as larger group villas.
We stayed in a two person ‘Nara’ villa. The interior design was done by owner Indica Sin, and she clearly put a lot of time and effort into making everything look as authentic as possible.
You could see there was real attention to detail in the furnishings, decor and look and feel.
Our villa had a bedroom, living area, and a lovely private pool and hot-tub around the back. In fact, from what we could see, every villa had some kind of private pool.
Rating - 4.5 / 5
The facilities
Fete has a restaurant here, which is called “Izakaya”. We had dinner there on the first night, and the experience matched the usual Fete high standards (Fete is on our list of favourite restaurants, which you can read here).
The restaurant is built on top of a Japanese tower, which has great views of the resort. There’s also a VIP area down below where you can have a private dinner.
You can book spa treatments, which we did not do, though the spa looked very nice.
Also on offer are a tea ceremony and a sake experience.
Rating - 4.5 / 5 (for our dinner experience)
The animations
Owner Indica has taken care to make the resort and furniture same sex couple friendly, which is great to see.
Our villa had a Fourth Wall bed, a Loft & Aria daybed, a dust bunny bathroom (no bath, shower only, though there is a private pool out back).
The villa dining area had black nest meditation pillows (dining and meditation only, not adult).
Outside there was a black nest hot tub (adult), and a diamandis luxury pool (basic sits only)
Normally the animations is one area where resorts fall down, but here the selection is very good.
Overall - 4 / 5
Other considerations
We found the resort quite quiet when we were there, but we were there when it first opened so we imagine it will become busier.
Lag was not a big problem, again, we were there quite early on after opening though.
The resort has plenty of adult options and animations, see above
Privacy is good as this is a restricted sim, you will only encounter staff or other guests.
Prices start at 2200L a nigh
Overall
Overall this is somewhere we highly recommend. A Japanese style resort (where you can stay) has been long overdue, and well done to Indica for coming up with something that does such a great job in looking and feeling the part.