I’ve been reading up on other people’s nightmarish experiences on Nikko during fall season. Despite that, I’ve been trying to formulate a plan to minimize the effects of the crowding.
I’m thinking of something like the following in October:
Date and day | Location | Thoughts
:–|:–|:–
13th (Sun) || Arrival from Sendai via train. Not sure how to utilize this part, maybe just head straight to next days lodgings? When do the day trippers start to disperse, if I went there closer to the evening?
14th (Mon) | Yumoto | Yumoto onsen + Senjogahara marshland – no need for transit as the whole thing’s walkable, but I assume this day being sports day has a heavy impact on ryokan/hotel availability. Instead of arriving on the previous day, I could take an early morning train from Sendai or Utsunomiya and pick up a rental car at 8-9am at Nikko station. It’d be the dreaded Irohazaka on an autumn public holiday though, and it’d be really swell to have a leisure day dedicated to Senjogahara instead.
15th (Tue) | Chuzenji | Leave somewhat early, check out at least Lake Chuzenji, Kegon falls, Mt. Hangetsu observation deck. Hotel near the lake to avoid Irohazaka traffic.
16th (Wed) | Nikko | Leave early and move near Nikko station to avoid the worst traffic. Toshogu Autumn Grand Festival: see the horse archery, explore around Toshogu by foot.
17th (Thu) || Check out from hotel, catch the parade on the second day of autumn festival, head to Tokyo.
So my tactics to avoid traffic and congestion would be the following:
– Minimize Irohazaka road crossings as much as possible
– Transit from one hotel to another early in the morning to avoid day trip crowds
– Rent a car to avoid bus jams. Or would I just be staring at the next car’s rear bumper?
– 15th-17th on weekdays. But there is a festival, and sports day crunches me from the opposite direction.
Does this generally make sense, or am I just trying to squeeze water from a stone?
by Username928351