Chuzenji Pension — Hotel in Nikko

Even by Japanese service standards, Chuzenji Pension was exceptional. My father and I spent 2 weeks in Japan and stayed in 4 different hotels (this one included); none of them compared to our overnight stay here. Honestly, this place was one of the highlights of my Japan trip. For context we were here in mid May.

Rooms: The rooms are big by Japanese standards. They provide you with plenty of room to move around and store luggage in if you need to. The beds were comfortable, although they could have done with an extra pillow. The shower is admittedly a bit small, but it has everything you need and is still large enough to the point where you never feel cramped.

Service: The service was excellent. Although the couple does not speak a whole lot of English, effective conversation was made possible through google translate and speech to text. Both husband and wife were always around to provide you with assistance if it was needed. They had a good amount of knowledge about the area which they had no issue sharing. There's another girl working in the dining area who is presumably their daughter, although I'm not entirely sure. She too was very kind and welcoming.

Food: In 99.9% of cases, it is never worth it to pay extra to have meals included when booking a hotel. upon doing the math, you end up spending anywhere between $25-50 CAD per meal. Alternatively, one should find a breakfast place near their hotel or pick up something light from a convenience store. This place is an outlier! I had no clue walking in here that breakfast and dinner would be a 5-6 COURSE MEAL EACH! Each meal was exceptionally made and is considered some of the best food I had whilst in Japan. The proteins (fish and steak) were cooked to perfection; the soups, specifically the pumpkin soup (I believe it was that at least) was so good, and the cheesecake for desert was exceptionally tasty. Breakfast was very simple, featuring creamy eggs, sausage, a salad, soup, and one or two other things. Im someone who has severe stomach problems in the morning and can never eat breakfast -- here I cleaned every plate. It was the perfect start to my day and gave me enough fuel for the 3.5 hour Senjogahara - Odashirogahara hike (highly recommend).

Amenities: A private bath is free for use to all guests. All you have to do is book the time at which you plan on using it by writing an X on the desired timeslot. There are two styles: Japanese and Western. For those of you who are on the fence about things like these, trust me -- go and use it. After having walked a copious amount every day, both your body and feet are sore and dead. This was the perfect way to relax and stimulate healing for aching feet.

Location: While the hotel is a tad far from the main part of Nikko, the distance is nothing major. You can easily see the main attractions that central Nikko has to offer, then slowly make your way towards Chuzenji Pension in 1 day and have time to spare. If you plan on spending 1 night, definitely do what I did: spend one day in Nikko (central) then slowly make your way to the hotel. Then, on the second day, explore Okku Nikko. The nature and hiking trails are phenomenal; they offer various trails for people of different physical ability. All of which provide gorgeous scenery.

Indeed the best part of this hotel is the location. It overlooks Lake Chuzenji and the surrounding mountains which are comparable in beauty to Fuji-San. The dining hall also overlooks the lake; providing you with picturesque scenery that compliments the food. Food spots are pretty close by although they operate on very strange hours. Many places open late, close around 2 or 3, then open back again around 5.

Buss stops are very close by so you will have no issue getting around.

I dont normally write reviews, but I felt compelled to do so considering just how much work this couple does to run the whole place. They (two/ three people) do all the cleaning, cooking, etc. Overall, it is recommended to anyone and everyone to...

Absolutely lovely place to stay in - near to bus stop and right beside the lake, walkable to the attractions that chuzenji has to offer

Meals are delicious and well made. Dinner is a 6 course meal with starters, soup, both fish and steak and desserts. You can add on alcohol for a small price. Breakfast comes with omelette, sausage, bread with an assortment of jam, fruits.

Service is incredible - the main reason why I’m leaving this review. We arrived on a rainy day, and was offered umbrella to bring along our day. Our shoes were completely soaked, and while they don’t allow shoes in the rooms, they provided newspapers for us to place under our shoes so we were able to dry it at our heater. It was very thoughtful and I’m so impressed!

The owners spoke limited English but tried their best to engage with us. Some of the staff spoke Chinese which was great as well.

Do note that the onsen is a hot water bath - but it did the job to warm ourselves after a cold wet day.

Overall it was a very pleasant stay and we felt that our needs were...

Pension Chuzenji was homely and comfortable, and the view of Lake Chuzenji from the room was spectacular.||||The separate and private onsen was very clean and literally and figuratively heart-warming.||||The dinner and the breakfast were more than I had expected and were indeed delicious. I finished all the dishes, of course, and felt very content.||||The hostess was cheerful and friendly. In native Japanese and basic English, she explained everything in detail and did her best to make my stay, however short, as memorable as possible.||||Needless to say, my stay at Pension Chuzenji was pleasantly memorable. When I checked out the next day, I told the hostess that I would returned when I visited Lake Chuzenji again in the...