Yutorelo Nikko

I really enjoyed my 2-night stay in the dorm room here! I loved crossing the street and having views of Lake Chuzenji and the lakeshore promenade and being within close walking distance of the Shinto shrine where the Mt Nantai hike begins and about a 15-20 min walk of Kegon Falls. There aren’t many restaurant options in Oku Nikko, but I did manage to have dinner at Masuya and Pension Friendly which were very close to the hotel. More places are open for lunch but some are closed on certain days. I didn’t get the breakfast or dinner package because it seemed a little overpriced. But the à la carte dishes of pasta were reasonably priced at 1,500 a plate. There’s a lounge on the third floor that’s open from 6-9 am and from 3-10 pm where you can get coffee and a wide selection of teas (including herbal ones) and in the evening, there’s also juice and sangria. The onsen facilities are quite nice but the outdoor space is not as big as I thought from the photos. The outdoor bath water temperature was also much hotter the first night compared to the second, not sure why. Overall, great value for the facilities. There’s even coin laundry machines on the second floor and a common space for eating your own food equipped with a microwave and hot water dispenser. I also appreciated the free shuttle service from Tobu Nikko station. It runs only once a day, but the timing worked well for me. l was picked up at 3 pm to go to the hotel and then we left at 11:10 am (checkout is at 10 am but there’s luggage storage available). You do have to contact the hotel to reserve ahead of time because space can be limited (I emailed them). Although there isn’t really a reception, there’s usually some staff around and each person was very friendly! Momo was especially kind and helpful! I’d definitely recommend this hotel because it’s affordable and perfect for visiting Kegon Falls, Lake Chuzenji and Ryuzu falls. I took the short bus ride to Ryuzu falls and hiked from there to Yudaki Cascades and walked around Lake Yunoko. For more information on hiking and sightseeing, the visitor information centre was handy and had lots of maps. I bought a bear bell there for my hiking.

It was pretty good. I stayed in the dorms. The only problem I encountered was that the dorms are really large (20 people) so the chance that you’re sharing a room with someone inconsiderate increases. One guy left his alarm on for 6am in his bunk while he went to the bath and it rung for the full 10 minutes. There’s nothing the hotel really could do about that- it’s just a structural note. I had both the breakfast and the dinner twice. Breakfast was decent and dinner was good. The lack of staffing really told at dinner though. The cold dishes and the ones where timing was more forgiving were very good, some of the hot dishes were just OK (never bad though). Given the effort the small team is putting in to work I think a couple more hands in the kitchen might ease timing and elevate the food quality to be more consistent. The dinner menu was almost identical between nights. I think they use the solids from the onion soup to make the salad dressing and maybe since the soup changed on night 2 I didn’t get dressing- which is a shame because it was very tasty. Onsen is sulfurous. There were a bunch of of dead bugs in the outside one, but it’s springtime in the mountains. I guess the only way to deal with that would be staff checking often and they have good staff but very few of them.

The BEST hostel I ever stayed in! If you are staying in Lake Chuzenji in Nikko you got to stay here. It is a hostel within a hotel so it is very clean, safe and very big. The staff are very friendly and everything is amazing. They have a free onsen + a lounge with drinks, tea, wine, coffee, and ice cream bars that you could take! They have a microwave too if you need it and a hot water dispenser. The hotel is right in front of the lake so you know you’re gonna have a good time! The bus station is also right in front and if you are parking they have plenty of space! You have to come here. I will come here again!

This was an interesting stay I was very obviously here in the absolute off season. The hotel is run in an interesting mix of can be cheap and can be high class. I didn't book with dinner included which is a mistake because during off season the surroundings were somewhat lacking no Konbini. The hotel offered microwaved food a bit pricily for the people who hadn't ordered the high class dinner option. I assume it was pretty high class because I did order the breakfast which was pretty high class. Except the coffee which wasn't. But the Onsen was great the room was good. Checkin and checkout is easily done. Amenities are good.