Day 11 of our 18-day trip, and we made the journey to Nikko this morning. The trip itself from our Tokyo hotel involved three train rides, and was planned like this:
Basically: Suidobashi Station to Akihabara Station, change platform; Akihabara Station to Kitasenju Station, change platform; Kitasenju Station to Tōbu-Nikkō Station. The last leg involved a Limited Express ride, so we reserved seats (seats are selected) in advance and locked in the actual train departure for 8:03AM so that we could arrive in Nikko early and maximize the amount of time we had. The first two rides at least were brief and on local trains within Tokyo, and Google above assured us that it’d take just two minutes to switch platforms at Kitasenju Station. So we thought: easy-peasy, what can go wrong. Nonetheless, we checked out and left Toggle Hotel Suidobashi much earlier — at 7AM — thinking that would provide us plenty of buffer to get to the correct platform at Kitasenju Station.
Thinking the journey was going to be easy turned out to be famous last words! As it turned out, that additional buffer was almost not enough to make the connections. Navigating Suidobashi and Akihabara Stations was easy enough, but it was tough trying to find the correct platform at Kitasenju Station where we would catch the Limited Express to Tōbu-Nikkō. We ran around in near panic with two heavy luggage cases for about 15 minutes. When we finally found the right platform, we had just three minutes to spare. Whew!
We were also initially a little worried about the two luggage cases that we were bringing along. Thankfully, even though it was a work day, the first two local rides in the direction of Akihabara were not too busy with people. The Limited Express ride to Nikko also had few passengers — our car had perhaps just a dozen other people besides our family, so our luggage had their own seats haha.
It was a short 10-minute walk along quiet streets from Tōbu-Nikkō Station to our accommodation — Stay Nikko Guesthouse. The initial plan was to drop off our luggage since we’d be arriving early at about 10AM, then find lunch and explore Central Nikko. What we didn’t expect was that our room (house actually) at the property was already ready for us. The lovely couple — the owners — were happy to receive us and check us in early too. We were bowled over by the warmth and hospitality demonstrated by the owners — more on that in a separate review to come later — and spent half an hour receiving a thorough briefing about our house and also how to navigate Nikko.
Nikko isn’t actually a small town, but most of the action takes place along the stretch that starts from the area where the two train stations — Tōbu-Nikkō and JR Nikko Stations — are clustered. This stretch is actually a main road where numerous small shops and dining establishments are found on both sides of the road. Do note though that many of the dining establishments open only during specific hours. Our host alerted us to this and advised that we thoroughly check Google Maps for timings. In the worst case, there is also a Lawson about seven minutes’ walk away. If local cuisine isn’t for you (e.g. you have young kids in tow as we do), there’s also a family-friendly restaurant called ガスト 日光店 that offers the kind of menu range found in Denny’s — including a drink bar that would surely keep your kids happy. The food is a little meh though, but it’s comfort food. The Google Maps link to this restaurant is here.
Lunch was at a ramen joint called Ramen Bonten. The Google reviews of the miso and soy ramen are mixed, and the missus found the soup broth fairly salty too. I thought it was OK, but I guess mileage does indeed vary. Either way, the portions were large, and we ate heartily before catching a bus for the seven-minute ride to our first place of visitation: Tamozawa Imperial Villa — do see the next post for that.
Our main takeaway of Central Nikko is that at least in winter, this really doesn’t look like a place you’d want to spend a lot of time in. In fact, looking at how the main stretch from the train stations — except for dining — largely shuts down after 6PM and the streets become pretty quiet except for the occasional vehicle going by, we’re already experiencing a small tinge of buyer’s regret for allocating two nights to stay here, at least from an itinerary perspective. Especially since we’re not visiting the nearby mountains, lake, or onsens. Still, the house we’re staying in at Stay Nikko Guesthouse is lovely, and the main reason why we opted for a 3D2N stay here in Nikko is to allocate a full day to visit Nikko Edo Wonderland tomorrow.
Continued in the next post!