高照（Kosho） — Local services in Nikko

This Hotel-style modern Ryokan in Nikko was a good value.||The food was really wonderful and the staff were very||friendly, helpful, just great. The location is very||convenient for walking to the World Heritage area and||fairly quiet, but unless you know Nikko very well, take||a taxi there as advised! We made reservations through||japaneseguesthouses.com (I highly recommend that site||for ryokan reservations, as many do not have their own||websites), and it was all but deserted due to being the||slow time of year...which was really nice. This ryokan||is pretty obviously set up to handle many, many people at||the height of travel for leaf-viewing season, for example.||It was one of the few in this price range that allowed a||"breakfast only" option for one night (very nice since we||were arriving late from Tokyo).||The breakfasts were substantial, served in their||dining area on a long communal table. They have your||place waiting for you, and the two cooks who help, hover,||answer questions, and serve you endless tea were very cute||grandmother-types. Dinner was at a set time, and served||in another hotel room -- they came and retrieved you from||your room. It was amazing, probably 20 different things,||some I'd never seen/tasted before (and I've traveled in||Japan many times).||||The onzen (public baths) were gender-separated, and both||had washing/soaking facilities to serve easily a dozen||people at a time, dry saunas, and both inside and outside||soaking pools. The soaking water was easily hot enough,||and everything was very very clean and comfortable.||The onzen area is in a separate building and a bit||of an adventure to find the first time (as it was||deserted so I could not just "follow someone else"),||but was quite nice. There is a small game-room||en route to the onzen, with table-tennis, a pinball||machine.||The room itself was a bit shabby feeling; not unclean,||not problemmatic, just various things seeming a bit old,||maybe slightly torn/stained. The worst feature was the||single over-head flourescent light. The heating unit||was powerful, the futon and comforters nice, there was an||extra foam pad available, the tatami were nice and clean,||and the wide adjacent sitting room with sliding doors were||nice for fresh air.||||As we checked out, they were very willing to bring us to the||train station (we left baggage in the lockers there and||took the bus to the Chuzenji area -- highly recommended! --||before returning to Tokyo that night). I believe they'd||retrieve you from the station as well.||||The cooks spoke no English, the front desk staff spoke||a little; enough for basic check-in, check-out, query||about dinner time, etc. There was a mix of westerners||and japanese staying there, families and businessmen.||||Overall I would definitely stay...

My husband and I stayed for two nights at Ryokan Hotel Kosho in Nikko.||Our reviews are;||Hotel condition: quite old and would definitely be improved by some paint and update. Very good location as you can walk down to all the shrines, temples and the city within 10-15 minutes.||Old, but clean.||Nice onsen (lady and men separated).||||Service: excellent! They picked us up at the train station and drove us back to catch the train. Very sweet people. We had breakfast and dinner served at the hotel which were served punctually at the time requested.||||Food: highly recommended and very delicious. Very japanese style, excellent taste and I can only recommed it.||||Overall: if you can live with the apperance of the hotel which is quite old and shabby, then I would recommend it. Especially if you use the onsen, have the breakfast and dinner. All that sums up...

Abbiamo soggiornato al Kosho hotel per 2 notti.||Guardando le foto sul sito sembrava un bel ryokan e anche l'onsen ci sembrava fattibile.||Quando siamo arrivati a alla stazione di Nikko abbiamo chiesto informazioni su come raggiungere l'hotel a piedi ma ci è stato detto che ci aspettavano 50 minuti a piedi... allora decidiamo di optare per un taxi (avevamo i bagagli un po' pesanti). Appena abbiamo detto all'autista la nostra destinazione lui e i suoi colleghi si son messi a ridere, questa cosa al momento non ci ha allarmati, ma quando siamo arrivati sul posto abbiamo capito.||Innanzitutto l'albergo dispone di una navetta gratuita hoteljr station, jr stationhotel, ma da nessuna parte era menzionato.||Arrivati sul posto siamo rimasti sorpresi che un hotel così osannato sul sito potesse essere così vuoto...||Alla reception abbiamo atteso alcuni minuti, poi è arrivato un signore che con un inglese zoppicante ci ha spiegato le varie attrazioni e regole del "ryokan".||Dal nulla è apparsa una signora che ci ha accompagnati alla nostra stanza, in tutto l'albergo, stanza compresa, aleggiava un odore di stantio e chiuso, non se era dato dai tatami, dall'alta umidità o da una bassa pulizia, resta il fatto che dormire a contatto con un pavimento che sà di muffa non è il massimo.||La camera in sè non era male, ma il terrazzo dava su un muro, il mobiletto della televisione era in equilibrio e ho avuto paura mi potesse cadere addosso, il bagno aveva la vasca che non aveva la pendenza giusta e dopo ogni doccia rimaneva la pozzetta d'acqua sul fondo.||Una nota positiva è stata la cena tipica giapponese, offerta in camera, davvero buona.||La colazione un po' meno... sarà che siamo abituati ai nostri cornetti e capuccini...||Abbiamo scoperto che gli unici ospiti del ryokan eravamo noi ed una famiglia di francesi.||Mentre l'onsen era a disposizione anche dei non ospiti, quindi la hall alle 16 si gremava di vecchietti... A questo punto abbiamo preferito evitare l'esperienza onsen.||Comunque una nota positivissima è stata la partenza, abbiamo pagato con carta di credito e abbiamo preso la navetta diretti alla stazione, poco prima di salire sul treno ci raggiunge un trafelato padrone dell'hotel: ci eravamo dimenticati la carta di credito sul bancone, il signore ci ha raggiunti di fretta e furia in macchina per...