Nikko Day Trip from Tokyo: Toshogu Shrine, Kegon Falls, Lake Chuzenji, and How to Fit Them into One Day

Nikko is a temple town at 550 metres and, above it, a mountain plateau at 1,270 metres reached by the Irohazaka switchback road. The town holds the World Heritage group: Toshogu, the lavishly carved mausoleum of the first Tokugawa shogun, with the sleeping cat and the three monkeys; Rinno-ji temple; and Futarasan shrine, all within a fifteen-minute walk of each other in cedar forest. The plateau holds Lake Chuzenji, the Kegon waterfall that drains it, and in October the best autumn colour within reach of Tokyo. Doing both in a day is possible; doing both properly is a long day.

Tobu's limited express from Asakusa reaches Tobu-Nikko in about two hours; the JR route runs the Shinkansen to Utsunomiya and a local line on, also about two hours, and is the one covered by a JR Pass. Both stations are ten minutes apart at the bottom of town; the shrines are a twenty-minute uphill walk or a short bus. Tobu's Nikko passes bundle the train, the local buses to the shrines and up to Chuzenji, and are the sensible buy for independent days. First trains at about 6:30 make a 9:00 shrine arrival realistic.

Toshogu opens at 9:00 (8:00 April to October) and the tour buses arrive by 10:00, so be at the gate at opening. The carvings are the point: the Yomeimon gate's 500 figures, the sacred stable with the monkeys, the nemuri-neko cat above the passage to Ieyasu's tomb, up 207 stone steps through the cedars. Allow 90 minutes for Toshogu, then Futarasan and Rinno-ji at a faster pace. The Shinkyo red bridge at the town end of the shrine road is the photo on the way back down.

The bus from the shrines climbs the Irohazaka road, 48 hairpins named for the old Japanese syllabary, in about 45 minutes; in the third week of October it can take two hours, which is the autumn problem. Kegon Falls is a five-minute walk from the Chuzenji bus stop, with a paid lift down to the base platform that is worth it for the spray and the scale. The lake shore has boat trips and the Italian embassy villa (a tiny museum). Come down by 15:30 to be on a 17:00 train.

Independent Nikko works with the pass and an early start. A private car day from Tokyo, USD 400 to 700 per group, removes the three changes and the Irohazaka bus queue, and is the way to see both halves in autumn without the crowd timing wrecking it. Group coach tours are cheaper but arrive with the 10:00 wave. The Tokyo day trips page compares it against Kamakura and Hakone; Nikko is the one that needs the whole day.