Okunikko: Kegon Falls, Lake Chuzenji & the Onsen Above the Clouds — 2 Days

The Irohazaka is the famous spiralling mountain road that links Nikko to the high country, a one-way climb of forty-eight numbered hairpin bends named after the forty-eight characters of the old Japanese syllabary. Near the top the Akechidaira plateau opens a wide view back down the gorge to Kegon Falls and Lake Chuzenji, especially glorious when the slopes turn red and gold in mid-October. The aerial ropeway from the plateau is closed for renovation through 2027, but the roadside lookout and parking remain open and the view is the same.

Free; the lookout and parking are on the Irohazaka road, reached by bus or car from Nikko (the up and down routes are separate one-way roads). The ropeway is closed through 2027 — do not plan around it. Autumn weekends bring heavy congestion on the hairpins; go early. Allow 30-45 minutes.

One of the three great waterfalls of Japan, where the water of Lake Chuzenji pours over a cliff and drops a sheer ninety-seven metres in a single thunderous column, with smaller threads seeping from the rock face alongside it. An elevator descends through the cliff to an observation platform at the very foot of the falls, where the spray drifts cold across the deck and the roar fills the gorge. Spectacular in every season — thunderous in the summer melt, framed by crimson in October, half-frozen into icicles in deep winter.

The cliff elevator costs about ¥570 adult, ¥340 child (approx., 2026); the upper free viewpoint is included with the area. A few minutes from the Chuzenji Onsen bus terminal. Winter hours are shorter. The platform is cold from the spray even in summer — bring a layer. Allow about an hour.

A serene crater lake at 1,269 metres, formed when an eruption of Mount Nantai dammed the valley some twenty thousand years ago, ringed by forested slopes and old foreign-legation villas built when Chuzenji was the summer retreat of Tokyo's diplomats. A sightseeing boat loops the shore in the warmer months, passing the great red torii of the lakeside Futarasan shrine and the wooded capes; lakeside restaurants serve trout and yuba with a water view. A calm, scenic afternoon between the morning's waterfall and the evening's hot spring.

The lake is free; the sightseeing cruise runs spring-autumn for about ¥1,680 a loop (approx., 2026 — confirm the seasonal timetable). Boats leave from the Chuzenji Onsen pier. Combine the cruise with lunch at a lakeside restaurant. Allow about 90 minutes including the meal.

The lakeside outpost of Nikko's historic Kanaya Hotel, a low timber-and-stone lodge set among the trees on the quiet northern shore of Lake Chuzenji, in the tradition of the highland resorts that drew foreign diplomats here a century ago. Rooms look into the forest or toward the water, there is a hot-spring bath fed from the Yumoto source up the valley, and the dining room serves a refined Western-leaning dinner. A comfortable, characterful base for two nights of waterfalls and marsh walks, with the lake on the doorstep.

On the northern shore of Lake Chuzenji, a short drive or bus from the Chuzenji Onsen terminal. Check in for the first of two nights here; the lake-view rooms and the onsen bath are the things to ask for. Dinner is best booked with the room. Rates are upscale-resort (approx., 2026).

A long, foaming cascade that slides some two hundred metres down a staircase of black lava before splitting around a boulder at its foot into two streams, like the whiskers of a dragon — ryuzu means 'dragon's head'. Less a single drop than a churning white chute through the forest, it is at its most famous in autumn, when the maples and azaleas crowding its banks blaze red around the water. A teahouse at the foot looks straight up the falls through a picture window, the perfect place to pause over a bowl of soba or sweet matcha.

Free, open at all times; a roadside stop on the valley road above Lake Chuzenji, reached by bus or car. A short trail climbs alongside the cascade from the teahouse at the foot to the top. Autumn colour peaks early-to-mid October. Allow about 45 minutes for the walk up and back.

A rustic teahouse planted at the very foot of Ryuzu Falls, its picture window framing the white water as it splits around the rock below the deck. Stop for a morning bowl of soba, a sweet shiruko red-bean soup, or matcha and a mochi dumpling with the cascade in full view — a simple, characterful break rather than a full meal, and one of the loveliest seats in Okunikko. Save a proper lunch for the hot-spring village at the head of the valley; this is the place to sit with the dragon's-head falls for company.

Open daytime, seasonal (the teahouse and falls trail are snow-affected in deep winter — confirm); soba, sweets and tea (approx., 2026). At the foot of Ryuzu Falls, beside the parking. Casual, no reservations. A 40-minute stop; the window seats over the falls are worth the short wait at peak foliage.

A high wetland plateau at 1,400 metres, a former lake silted into a marsh of reeds, grasses and seasonal wildflowers, crossed by a long cedar boardwalk that lets you walk dry-footed through the middle of it. The name means 'battlefield', from a legend of the mountain gods of Nikko and neighbouring Akagi fighting here for the lake; today it is one of the best easy hikes in the highlands and a noted spot for birds. The boardwalk frames Mount Nantai across the open marsh, gold with grasses in autumn, green and wildflowered in summer.

Free, open at all times; the boardwalk is snow-covered and the trail effectively closed in winter. Trailheads at Sanbonmatsu (with parking and a rest house) and at Akanuma, reached by bus or car on the valley road. The flat full crossing takes 1.5-2 hours; allow about 90 minutes for a there-and-back sample.

The waterfall that drains Lake Yunoko at the head of the valley, spilling broad and white down a steep seventy-metre rock face directly below the lake's outlet. A viewing platform sits at the very base, so close you feel the cold breath off the water, and a forest path climbs the side of the falls to the lake above, linking it to the Senjogahara boardwalk for those who want a longer walk. Quieter than Kegon and framed by trees that flare red in autumn, it is the gateway to the hot-spring village just beyond.

Free, open at all times; a short walk from the road and parking at the foot of the falls, on the valley road below Yumoto. The path up beside the falls is steep but short. Snow-affected in deep winter. Allow about 45 minutes; combine with the walk up to Lake Yunoko if time allows.

The hot-spring village at the very head of the Okunikko valley, set beside the small, still Lake Yunoko at 1,500 metres, where milky, sulphur-rich water steams up out of a marshy source field behind the inns. This is the original 'hot water source' that feeds the baths all the way down to Chuzenji, a remote, simple onsen hamlet ringed by forest and mountains, deep in snow in winter and cool even in high summer. Walk the lakeshore, peer at the bubbling source field, and take a soak in the genuinely milk-white waters before the drive back down.

The lake and source field are free to walk; public and inn day-baths charge a few hundred yen (approx., 2026). At the top of the valley road, reached by bus or car beyond Yudaki Falls. Lunch at a village inn before bathing. Deep snow Dec-Mar — winter access needs care. Allow about 80 minutes.