Annex Turtle Hotori-An

All good. Nice staff, a good onsun with lovely view (tip: go in the afternoon instead at night to enjoy the view). Good beds. Tip for breakfast (beside at the B&B): Cottage Inn restaurant, mainstreet Tip for dinner: local japanese restaurant Cafe Restaurant Bell and aks for the meal of the monks. Visit all the temples and shrines

The Onsen is great and is a great way to relax with a amazing view of the river rushing down. The best part are the Hotori onsen cool looking kimono's making you feel like a local. The rooms are quite basic, but are nice, clean and homely. It was our first night in Japan and gave us the impression to feel a bit like a local. Although the optional breakfast is not the cheapest, it's worth the value for money, so we ended up booking it for both mornings. The location is jus perfect: Walking distance to all main sites, while you have the feeling you're on a remote place next to a fast flowing mountain river. We came by car, so the wide parking space was much appreciated.

Lovely location, close to Kanmangafuchi Abyss, in a quiet area with lots of trees. A short walk to the temples, Nikko botanic gardens, a bus stop and Lawson. The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful, providing useful restaurant recommendations and identifying the correct buses for us to catch. There was also a lovely private onsen for the people staying at the hotel to use, and free tea and coffee in the reception area. Would definitely like to visit again. The wifi is also good. I had to have some meetings whilst I was staying, and there were no issues.

The proprietress was a lovely woman. She didn't speak much English but had no problem communicating everything. She gave me a map of the area and pointed out all the bus stops and recommended restaurants nearby, giving approximate travel/walking times. Very detailed and delightful! She gave me a tour of the small hotel before bringing me to my room. The location of the hotel is great, a few min walk from the main street but the area is quiet and peaceful. You're steps away from the Kanmangafuchi Abyss pathway, which is a notable point of interest in Nikko. The onsen was fantastic, especially because it's shared but private. So you can go in there on your own and lock the door so you have it to yourself for max 30 min (which is plenty). I stayed in the Japanese style room, which was simple and small but good enough for one night. Japanese style you sleep on the floor on tatami and futon, so if you're used to Western style bed then book one of those rooms. The lady did mention that after I checked out at 10am I could also leave my bags there if I needed to go out and explore. I didn't need to for my plans but it was nice to know I could.

This was a fantastic location to stay and have walkable access to the world heritage temples and shrine sites of Nikko, the Jizo statues and Kanmangafuchi Abyss, Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa Memorial Park (if you like Japanese architecture this is a must), and delicious places to eat are also a short walk away. The shared onsen was lovely to heal the muscles after all the walking and other guests respected the allotted 30-minute use time. The people who run the place are very welcoming and speak English. We enjoyed the free coffee in the morning and did our laundry at the end of the stay, with no problems. Staying for 3 nights allowed us just enough time to space everything out so sightseeing did not feel rushed. We would stay again because there was still more to see!