Hotel berhampiran JR Shimotsuke-Osawa Station, Nikko

My wife and I booked the Nikko Station Hotel II for April 13 - 15 as a non refundable reservation. This week, the US State Dept issued a Level 4 warning for all US citizens to avoid international travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In spite of their normal policy, the Nikko Station Hotel II made an exception due to the COVID-19 pandemic and issued a full refund. We will reschedule our trip to Japan after the pandemic passes and WILL DEFINITELY rebook at the Nikko Station Hotel II, as they have shown excellent customer service in a difficult time!

This is my third trip/adventure to Japan. I would say as a solo traveler this has to be one of the very best places I have ever stayed in when travelling around Japan. I came to Nikko np to explore the vast array of hiking trails, all of which I did, had breathtaking views and a poetic, truly majestic Japanese feel to them. I rented a car from Nasushiobara (Shinkansen) and drove across to Kinugawa. On arrival I was greeted by a host of the hotel staff, welcoming me and helping me with parking and my bags. I checked in with ease and with some broken English and Japanese on my part was led to a beautiful traditional Japanese style room overlooking the river. The service throughout was world class and made me feel both very comfortable, at home, but also special. I stayed 3 nights with half board (breakfast and dinner), both truly amazing and served with grace and politeness. On the first evening’s dinner one of the serving staff took the time to speak with me and allowed me to share some of my recent experiences/photos etc whilst preparing dinner - this was most welcome, especially as I had been travelling alone for over a week. The location of the onsen hotel is about 60 mins drive to some of the most sought after walks in the np. Very easy to access by car and excellent roads. The accommodation itself is a mix between very traditional Japanese resort and original/boutique Ryokan. The private and public onsen’s are fantastic and a well deserved rest-bite after a long days hiking! Having been to some of the most popular ryokan’s in Japan; Iwaso, Claska etc, this came as a very nice surprise and at an affordable rate without any compromise. If in the area, I would highly recommend staying…

Really nice hotel. Very serene and quiet location if u have a car it’s good to travel from here to famous Nikko places. Tip: it’s very important to check which hotel u book, there r 2 Fairfield in Nikko area and the other one is much further away 25km from all the attractions.

* 5 star service from Hitomi and make sure to upgrade to all you can eat dinner/breakfast dining option. Booked this hotel for a stay in Mid November and after getting off of train we caught the bus here a little after sundown. The autumn leaves are really outstanding-almost every picture is a gorgeous post card. Bus driver asked where we are headed to and told him ”Kinugawa Onsen Hotel” . Took around 10 min to arrive and we were dropped off in front of hotel parking lot. Waited in a short line to check in and front desk service referred us to ”HITOMI” her name on tag in hiragana characters. She whipped up 2 page map with room information, pertaining elevator diagram and hotel keys. Make sure to pay careful instructions about onsen and buffet times- free soft serve ice cream and snacks until 6pm in lobby/ free drinks, coffee, tea until 10pm. FYI- best soft serve in Japan Hokkaido milk...yummy!!! 5 golden stars to HITOMI- top notch and friendly service. She urged us to be aware of emergency exits on our floor. While you are dining they will bring out futons so when you return- soft futons are waiting for you! The room is a traditional tatami mat with table and cushions. It is welcoming with snacks, complementary bottled water and a hot tea station. Room safe in closet also included were yukata robes for him and her. Ugh, wonderful amenities, tooth brush, a few toiletries -worry free stay. After visiting the onsen - kind of stressful for a foreigner like me. Not used to being naked with other ladies but in reality I was invisible- no shame at all. We headed down to the all you can eat dinner. We had 90 min-more than enough time to eat from 7:30 to 9pm. The spread was adequate with dishes from Japan and a few we recognized. Tempura made to order, musubi bar, gelato station, bakery section, fruit bar, local dishes and drink machine both hot or cold more-more- more- too much to mention. Looked at all the diners like ravenous sharks. Lots of help staff taking away empty plates, chefs assistants re-filling the empty vessels with more foods. Orderly chaos in front of me and loving every succulent moment. I felt like Templeton in the Charlot's Web movie. Burp* UGH, rubbing my full belly and going for seconds and thirds. Repeating ” ah, ill have a year to diet” until we come back again. Super glad we upgraded to the all you can at buffet. Coming again in the morning-they open at 7am for breakfast. It ended up being a repeat but with Japanese breakfast foods too. We did an early checkout at 8am and paid our $2 onsen tax. They were nice enough to let us stay in the room until 10am if we promised to bring back both keys at that time- no issues there. First bus back to the train station arrives a little after 10 am and Hitomi came out to ask us to wait in lobby. Lobby had comfy seats and was warmer than outside. Hitomi soooo kind of her she told us the bus was here- wished her every success in life! Please -if you get a chance to

If you choose to take a bus from the station to the hotel, brace yourselves for a rather long walk from the bus drop off point to the monorail entrance along a very rough gravel road (trust me, it gets worse if it’s wet and cold and you’re dragging a 15kg luggage). The walk was far from what I’d expect when staying in such a luxury resort. If I could make any suggestion i think the hotel should perhaps pave the gravel road to make it more walk-friendly? Or negotiate with the bus company so that the stop is right outside the monorail entrance and not at the end of a muddy gravel road. But until any of that is made possible I’d highly recommend taking a taxi from station if you don’t have a car. The ‘Monorail’ (which was more like a glorified cable car) was an interesting feature on arrival. I don’t know if it was build due to geographical restriction (that prevented actual roads built right up to the hotel?) or as some sort of gimmick but sorry to say it’s really not efficient during peak hours and after the first ride it really just felt like an elevator that takes forever to arrive. Once we finally arrived the place itself was gorgeous throughout. From the decor to the atmosphere it’s just a relaxing vibe. It’s a place for getaways and the hotel made sure of that with all the attention to details (such as the meal timings, the seating arrangements etc) to make sure at no point you feel crowded or overwhelmed. The service was great and the staff know limited but adequate English. The Onsen was quite a long walk from our room in freezing cold weather, the foyer was fancy with a relaxation area and free drinks, however the actual onset felt slightly on the basic side to me with just one indoor and one outdoor (not a super fancy type) bath but since there weren’t many guests it wasn’t crowded and I was happy. Again the entire onsen area was very neat and clean. Our room was lovely and clean with a nice balcony. Food was lovely as well. Overall once you get past the gravel road and reach the hotel there’s really not much else to fault and I did enjoy my stay very much.

老酒店了，位置很贊，是離楯巖吊橋最近的酒店了，伴着吊橋的美景就在窗外，徒步10分鐘即可穿過吊橋抵達觀景台。房間很大，設施舊了點，但也夠乾淨適用。早晚自助餐品種挺豐富的。有送站免費巴士，步行也就10分鐘。温泉室內外都有，隔天男女互換，門口沒有冰牛奶。

作出這樣評價有些意外的，因為這酒店的管理水平應該是非常優秀的，但這次我碰到了一個非常不專業的對待，我和朋友是一起預訂了二個房間，到店時朋友（還是普通攜程會員）的很順利的拿到了鑰匙，而我拿到的入店訊息不是我本人（我還是攜程的黑鑽會員及萬豪會員）的，應該是別人的預訂訊息，當我提出疑議後才發現錯了，然後就被告知要重新安排房間至下午16:00後，16:00去拿鑰匙時還沒有辦好，這時我就投訴大堂經理後才得到解決。

酒店位置在jr今市和東武下今市中間。附近有全家，很方便。環境乾淨整潔，還準備了浴衣。就是如果不抽煙的人住吸煙層可能有些對味道不太習慣，好在有換氣裝置。

Great place for family. Nice view and good location

You’ll need taxi or car to go to Rakuten Stay if you bring suitcase, as Nikko don’t have a well pedestrian walk and it’s a bit hard if you pull your luggage by yourself. The check-in process quiet confusing as there’s no reception and the easiest way is to call the Rakuten Stay straight away and ask room number and door passcode and you can do the check-in process inside your room. The room is really nice and it’s huge, we even get our own onsen which is really nice. The price also not that expensive, compare to hotel room if you’re more than 2 people. Overall really enjoy my stay despite the confusing check-in, but the help center really assist me patiently