One of the best hotels in Japan. The Ritz-Carlton, Nikko.

Nikko was a long time on my travel list and this year I decided to visit it and stay in the most beautiful hotel of Tochigi Prefecture – The Ritz Carlton Nikko.

Nikko is located 2-hour drive from Tokyo. It is a beautiful town on the shores of Lake Chuzenji, surrounded by mountains that make this Japanese destination even more wonderful. Another highlight of Nikko that makes this place interesting for tourists are its Shinto and Buddhist shrines. The Ritz Carlton Niko offered us a wonderful and very special ceremony at the Chuzenji Temple, called the “Fire Ceremony”, and it was a very special experience. The ceremony is held in order to destroy negative energies, harmful thoughts and desires. If you are going to stay at this hotel, ask them to arrange a private fire lighting ceremony for you, you can easily reach this temple on foot as it is not far from the hotel.

The best part of the Ritz Carlton Hotel Nikko is the rooms and lobby with a relaxing panoramic view of Lake Chuzenji and Mount Nantai. I had a room with a view of the lake, it was nice to have breakfast on the couch and enjoy the tranquility. There are also two restaurants in the hotel and I tried them both, my favorite was Japanese, the food was delicious and they also serve breakfast there, which was delicious.

One of the main reasons people visit Nikko when they go to Japan is its Onsen, a traditional Japanese hot spring. The Ritz Carlton Nikko offers private rooms with onsen and a main room for all hotel guests. I only visited the private Onsen, I didn’t have much time to explore the public one.

Nikko was a very interesting, unusual and beautiful experience for me, and I can recommend it if you want to visit a place in Japan that is very different from Kyoto with its touristic atmosphere or lively crazy Tokyo.