Enjoy a skin-beautifying hot spring and a luxurious stay at The Ritz-Carlton, Nikko (4 days, 3 nights)

The Lakehouse the restaurant offers you a garden gastronomy experience with seasonal local vegetables. Starring unique vegetables grown in the great nature of Tochigi Prefecture, dishes are prepared with carefully selected cooking methods using many herbs and spices. Here, you can enjoy multi-course meals for you to savor the flavor of the ingredients. Décor in the dining hall including sketches and pressed flowers of animals and plants found at Lake Chuzenji as well as lighting and artworks inspired by fishing will enhance your lakeside dining experience. The restaurant also has the takeout menu “Grab & Go,” including sandwiches with a lot of seasonal local vegetables, smoothies, cookies, coffee and other drinks. Please drop by and grab some for a picnic or a walk around the area.

Kegon Falls is the most famous of Nikko’s 48 waterfalls. Water from Lake Chuzenji falls 97 metres straight down to the rocks below creating a dynamic and artistic work of nature. A special lift takes visitors to the basin where the force and roar of the water can be witnessed close up!

Kegon Falls offers stunning views every season. Deep green in early summer, red and yellow leaves in autumn.
in winter, the water freezes as it drops creating beautiful ice shapes almost like beautiful pieces of art.

The Tochigi Prefectural Nikko Natural History Museum, adjacent to the Oku-Nikko Information Center, provides up-to-date nature information, tourist information for Oku-Nikko, and various other guidance.
The museum offers multilingual support in English, Chinese, Korean, and Thai.

A highlight is the “Nature Exhibition Room,” where visitors can feel immersed themselves in the breathtaking natural beauty of Oku-Nikko through state-of-the-art digital displays.

Enjoy the breathtaking view of Oku Nikko’s natural landscape on our large screens, featuring flowing waters and wetlands, and the creatures that inhabit them.
In the forest diorama, you can experience a virtual nature observation using AR content on tablets, exploring various animal field signs and their ecology.

Our humanities exhibit introduces the spiritual significance of Oku-Nikko and its history as a popular international summer resort since the early Showa period.

Additionally, we offer a range of nature experience activities such as bicycle rentals and guided nature tours.

Do you know zazen? It is one of the basic training methods of the Zen sect where you sit with the correct posture and practice mental concentration. You can stop thinking and see your real self. Why don’t you join a morning zazen session at Chuzenji Temple (Tachiki Kannon), which was founded in 784 and is a branch of the world heritage site Rinnoji Temple. You can sit under fresh morning sunshine and start a relaxing morning while observing your own breathing. The morning zazen session is guided by a monk of Chuzenji Temple (Tachiki Kannon) and is held every morning for free throughout the year.

※Exclusively for guests staying at THE RITZ-CARLTON, NIKKO

▶Meeting point
Inside the hotel

▶Telephone No.
81-288-25-6666 (THE RITZ-CARLTON, NIKKO)

▶Website
https://www.tablecheck.com/en/shops/ritzcarlton-nikko-activity/reserve

▶Date
Every day (May not be held due to circumstances)

▶Time
9:00～9:30

▶Price
Free

▶How to make a reservation
Please apply via the official website.
https://www.tablecheck.com/en/shops/ritzcarlton-nikko-activity/reserve

Nikko Natural Science Museum offers self-guided cycling tours that allow you to fully immerse yourself in the natural beauty of Oku-Nikko.

Riding an electric assist bicycle (e-bike) and using an exclusively designed navigation device, you can explore pre-planned routes for each tour. While there are no guides, you can enjoy cycling privately with your family or friends. This option is recommended for those who prefer to explore freely, including stops for dining and shopping.

We offer a variety of routes including cafe hopping, exploring the history of Nikko, cycling on quiet paved forest roads closed to general traffic, and even hiking. Our e-bikes make hill climbing effortless.

If you’re visiting Oku-Nikko, be sure to join us!

*Please note that departure and arrival points vary depending on the tour.

Tours depart from both “Nikko Natural Science Museum” and “Akanuma Nature Information Center”, so please be sure to check your designated meeting point.

▶Place
Inside the hote

▶Telephone No.
For treatment reservation
81-288-25-6666 (THE RITZ-CARLTON, NIKKO)

▶Website
https://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/tyonz-the-ritz-carlton-nikko/spa/

▶Time
Treatments: 10:00～20:30
Onsen: 5:30～12:00、14:00～23:00

▶How to make a reservation
For treatment reservation
Phone: 81-288-25-6666
Email: rc.nikko.spafitness@ritzcarlton.com

Sup! Sup! offers a unique standup paddle-boarding yoga experience and a memorable guided tour of the beautiful nature surrounding Nikko’s Lake Chuzenji. We have plans for both beginners and experienced guests!
（Please make reservations via our website)

The dining room Mizunara at Chuzenji Kanaya Hotel features large windows overlooking the lake. Wooden pillars and the floor give the dining room a warm tone. Beyond the mizunara oak trees outside, there is Lake Chuzenji. In all seasons, guests can enjoy food cooked with fresh ingredients produced in Tochigi with a view of the nature and wild birds of Okunikko. The restaurant offers a range of dishes that enable local production and local consumption, including Hyakunen Curry Rice prepared based on the 100-year-old recipe of the signature dish of our sister hotel Nikko Kanaya Hotel, Special Tochigi Lunch using locally produced Premium Yashio Trout and locally produced wagyu beef, and Nasunogahara Wagyu Beef Steak Lunch. Have a wonderful time at this open restaurant that feels like a resort.

After 120 years，the former British Embassy Villa opened its doors to the public as the British Embassy Villa Memorial Park on 1 July 2016. Ernest Satow，a British diplomat who contributed to Japan’s Meiji Restoration，built a private villa at the south bank of Lake Chuzenji in 1896. He loved Oku-Nikko，especially Lake Chuzenji as the area reminded him of the natural landscape of his home country. The villa was used as the British Embassy summer residence until 2008 before being donated to Tochigi prefecture in 2010 to be opened to the general public.

In the early years of the villa，Satow’s friend Isabella Bird stayed here for a month and wrote of the impressive landscape of the villa.

The British Embassy Villa Memorial Park presents exhibitions on British culture and the history of Oku-Nikko as an international summer resort. Visitors can immerse themselves in this historic setting while enjoying teatime in the villa (additional charges apply) and take in the picturesque view of Lake Chuzenji from the spacious veranda on the upper floor.

From the mid Meiji to the early Showa periods， the area around Lake Chuzenji was home to foreign embassies and villas and flourished as summer resorts. The villa was built as a summer house for the Italian ambassador in 1928 and used by successive ambassadors until 1997. Along with the main building reconstructed with the original floor， fittings and furniture， the cottage is now open to the public as a history museum of the local international summer resorts. In addition to the buildings， the park pleases the eye with a lovely view of Lake Chuzenji.

The villa was designed by Czech architect Antonin Raymond (1888-1976). Raymond moved to the United States when he was 22 years old where he took up architecture. His first visit to Japan was during the New Year’s period in 1919-20 to work on the project of the Imperial Hotel with his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright.
Raymond was advised by local craftsmen on traditional architectural materials. He made a good use of the local Nikko cedar on the walls and his chequered design creates a beautifully modern exterior to the two-storey wooden villa. The whole ceiling of the ground floor was made with cedar bark by wickerwork， a popular technique in the traditional Japanese Sukiya style of architecture. The space of the living room and study is skilfully divided by wickerwork patterns.

The Ritz-Carlton, Nikko offers an art workshop using furoshiki, which is a Japanese cultural artifact. Furoshiki is a large piece of cloth that has long been used in Japan as a bag to carry things, to wrap gifts, and for many other purposes. Furoshiki is a combination of “furo,” meaning “a bath,” and “shiki,” meaning “to lay,” and it is said that the name came from an old Japanese practice of laying a cloth on the floor after a bath and getting dressed on that cloth. “Furoshiki” therefore literally reflects the traditional lifestyle in Japan, serving a useful function in everyday life. Recently, it is also attracting attention as an eco-bag that can be used in many different forms. Enjoy the art of Japanese wrapping achieved by a single piece of furoshiki cloth!

※Exclusively for guests staying at THE RITZ-CARLTON, NIKKO

▶Place
Inside the hotel

▶Telephone No.
81-288-25-6666 (THE RITZ-CARLTON, NIKKO)

▶Website
https://www.tablecheck.com/en/shops/ritzcarlton-nikko-activity/reserve

▶Day of the week
Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday

▶Time
16:15～17:00

▶Price
Free

▶How to make a reservation
Please apply via the official website.
https://www.tablecheck.com/en/shops/ritzcarlton-nikko-activity/reserve

The most renowned shrine of “the Shrines and Temples of Nikko”-a UNESCO world heritage site where Ieyasu Tokugawa, the great Shogun who started the Edo Period, is enshrined. Most of the shrine complex you see today was rebuilt in 17th century. The shrine contains 55 buildings including 8 national treasures and 34 listed buildings. The highlights are many colorful buildings which are richly decorated with gorgeous carvings. Do not miss the symbol of peace “Sleeping Cat”, and the “Three Monkeys” with the “see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil” poses!

This dedicated hall for prayer was constructed in 1998 to fulfill the wishes of many worshippers, making it the foremost Goma prayer hall in Nikko. In this esoteric Buddhist ritual, your prayers are conveyed to the Buddha through sacred fire.

Goma prayers are performed daily and are open to all. They offer various benefits such as domestic tranquility, physical health, and prosperity in business.

In the inner sanctuary of the Great Goma Hall, the principal image is the “Five Great Kings”, surrounded by 30 statues of Buddhas and ancestral masters, including the “Seven Lucky Gods” and the “Twelve Heavenly Generals.” Additionally, on the ceiling, you can find a magnificent painting of a “Great Ascending Dragon” that took two and a half years to complete.

Why not make a wish and participate in this sacred ritual as a memorable part of your journey?

Myogetsubo is a grill & steak restaurant. Its building has been renovated from a former lodging house of Nikkozan Rinno-ji Temple, a temple with over 1,250 years of history. Our recommended dish is the authentic Tochigi Wagyu steak. Tochigi Wagyu is one of the top beef brands in Japan. It is a Japanese Black breed rated A4 or higher and is produced in Tochigi Prefecture with a natural environment ideal for cattle raising. Having received the Award of Excellence at the national fair for two consecutive years, Tochigi Wagyu is one of the most recognized wagyu brands in Japan. In an exquisite environment surrounded by world heritage sites, please come and try Tochigi Wagyu and indulge yourself in the slow flow of time while thinking of the distant past.

The little gorge formed by an eruption of nearby Mt. Nantai is a uniquely scenic spot. A row of approximately 70 Jizos are lined up along the south bank of the river. The group of Jizos is called “Baké-Jizo” because it is said that they are uncountable; if you try to count them， each time you will end up with a different number. Legend has it that the Sanskrit character “Kanman” on an upstream cliff was inscribed by Kobo Daishi， the founder of Shingon Buddhism， by throwing his brush. The Nikko Botanical Garden is on the opposite shore of the Jizos， and visitors can enjoy the scenic beauty in the seasons of spring verdant greens， autumn colours and snowy Jizos.

Nikko Kanaya Hotel is Japan’s oldest existing resort hotel. Past guests include Albert Einstein and Charles Lindbergh. In the main dining room, you can enjoy afternoon tea featuring the pâtissier’s special sweets that look as if they captured the beauty of the seasons of Nikko and tea from the German high-end tea brand Ronnefeldt. (The menu changes every season.) Enjoy an elegant afternoon in Kanaya Hotel style.

▶Address
1300 Kamihatsuishimachi, Nikko-city, Tochigi, Japan

▶Telephone No.
81-288-54-0007 (9:00～18:00)

▶Website
https://www.kanayahotel.co.jp/en/nkh/restaurant/

▶Time
14:00（Close 16:00）

▶Price
6,000 yen
※Reservations must be made at least two days in advance.
※Prices are current as of August 2024.

▶Access
5 minutes by bus from JR Nikko Station or Tobu Nikko Station, get off at “Shinkyo” and walk for 5 minutes

▶How to make a reservation
Please apply via the official website below:
https://www.kanayahotel.co.jp/en/nkh/restaurant/