The Ritz-Carlton, Nikko
Lake Chuzenji, Nikko National Park (Tochigi prefecture), Nikko, Japan
94 rooms with balconies over Lake Chuzenji or Mount Nantai, and hot-spring baths fed from Yumoto Onsen.
Why we recommend it
Nikko is usually seen in a day from Tokyo. This hotel is the reason to stay. Toshogu and the other shrines and temples, a UNESCO World Heritage site, are in the town below, and the lake above it, at nearly 1,300 metres, has the Kegon waterfall and the villas left by the diplomats who spent their summers here in the late 19th century.
It is also the nearest to the capital of the hot-spring resorts that international brands have opened in rural Japan since 2016. The onsen water has a long history, the building uses Tochigi craft rather than generic luxury, and the seasons are distinct: azaleas in late spring, cool air in summer, autumn leaves from early October and snow in winter.
Location
The hotel is on the shore of Lake Chuzenji, in Nikko National Park, at an altitude of nearly 1,300 metres above the town of Nikko, at the top of a well-known series of hairpin bends. It is about two and a half hours north of Tokyo.