Nikko

What the guides say about Nikko

Stay within a few minutes of Ueno Station if you fly into Narita (the Keisei Skyliner runs direct to Keisei-Ueno in about 41 minutes, and you don't change trains) or if you're planning a Tohoku or Nikko day on the Shinkansen, which stops here. Stay in Nezu or Yanaka, across the park on the Chiyoda Line, if you'd rather have quiet evenings. Mitsui Garden Hotel Ueno and Nohga Hotel Ueno are the reliable upper-mid-range picks by the station, Hotel Sardonyx Ueno and the APA at Keisei-Ueno are the value picks, and Dormy Inn Ueno-Okachimachi is the one with the bath. Ueno's median was US$230 a night in the weekly hotel price index sampled on 20 October 2026, from 28 listings, and a quarter of properties came in under US$179.

Nikko is the headline. The mountain shrines and forests north of Tokyo turn from mid-October through early November, weeks ahead of the city. Toshogu Shrine's ornate architecture, Kegon Falls and the surrounding national park in full colour add up to the most dramatic single-day trip you can make from Tokyo. Take a Tobu limited express from Asakusa, or the shinkansen to Utsunomiya and the JR Nikko line. Both work. Go on a weekday if you can, since autumn weekends are crowded and the road to Lake Chuzenji jams. The Nikko day trip guide has the train options, the passes, and the order to walk the shrines.

Just under two hours north on a Tobu limited express from Tobu Asakusa station. The Toshogu shrine complex is the most lavishly decorated site in Japan, a riot of gold leaf and painted carvings in a cedar forest, and the road behind it climbs to Kegon Falls and Lake Chuzenji. In autumn this is the best foliage within reach of Tokyo, which is why it anchors the autumn colour collection.