Nikko – Tip to avoid ticket line at Toshogu temple

Hello guys, I’ve been to Nikko on the infamous culture day 3/11.

The line to buy the tickets for the Toshogu was horrifying, so I simply bought them on the spot with my smartphone on the KKday website and went to the ticket counters on the right side of the ticket booth (6/7 if I recall correctly), which had almost no line, showed the QR code that I just received in my email, and got the tickets in less than 5 minutes.

Tldr: buy tickets online on the KKday website, get them with the QR code at the counters on the right

5 comments
  1. Haha thanks, will potentially be there this week.

    We were (and still are!) in Kyoto and my god has it been busy. Like, I know Kyoto is always busy, but I’ve been to a lot of cities and live in London, and it’s been super intense. Nijo castle was surprisingly OK in the morning, Kiyomizu in the afternoon not so much. So glad I reserved a great place for dinner.

    Any other tips for Nikko?

  2. Thank you so much for the tip! I’m hoping the crowds won’t be so bad when I go in two weeks’ time, hopefully manageable.

  3. Went to Nikko today and purchased roundtrip ticket via klook. Local Tobu trains and buses around included, just jow the QR everytime you pass thru the toll or ride the bus. Lots of people and mostly decided to walk from the main train/bus stations to the heritage park (1.3km) since traffic was slow until 3pm

  4. Everyone seems to try to do a day trip to Nikko from Tokyo while totally underestimating the time it takes to do anything (including myself when I got there). If you try to day-trip it, don’t bite off more than you can chew, and take the earliest possible train (yes, the 7am Kegon, not the 9am Spacia X…. or go with JR, but I didn’t see those timetables). You can go to Kegon Falls on a day trip, but it’s not feasible to really explore Oku-Nikko on a day trip while still seeing all the temples in the complex. Also, keep in mind the temples close early (5PM), which also constrains your time budget.

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