The Ritz-Carlton, Nikko Hotel

This property is definitely in my top 5 favorite hotels. It is absolutely beautiful. They really nailed the Japanese modern luxury experience and atmosphere. We stayed for 3 nights and it was amazing. The room exceeded my expectations in terms of size, amenities, and comfortability. Additionally, theonsite onsen was wonderful and I took advantage of it almost every night. We also booked a snow cycling tour and star gazing experience prior to arrival. The star gazing tour was ok, nothing too crazy. You can probably experience something similar if you live in a rural area. It was still fun. Our driver/guide helped us take pictures and showed us the different stars and constellations with the help of an an astronomy app. The snow cycling was the highlight of the trip. It was a private tour and we biked through a protected park/area of Nikko where no vehicles are allowed. The snow made it very magical and we took a pit stop to go snow trekking up a small mountain. On our way back we saw a group of at least 10 monkeys running across the field. I can only imagine how much more awesome it is during the warmer seasons with all the other wildlife running around. We also had a massage booked and we used the onsen right before the appointment. The staff and masseuses were great. The massage itself was good. Now, was it the best massage I've received? No. But did it get the job done? Absolutely. The food and beverage was amazing. We tried all the venues except for The Lakehouse. We just didn't want pre-set course menus so we opted out. I highly recommend getting breakfast and grabbing dinner at the bar. For breakfast, you have two options, Japanese or Western and it comes beautifully laid out bento style. The only gripe I have with this hotel is that you must reserve your meals. As far as I'm aware, there's almost no option to do walk-ins except for The Bar at night. We had to reserve a breakfast time everyday the day prior. We couldn't sit by the window in the lobby for lunch because it was reserved(lol). Can you imagine if we didn't make any dinner reservations? Don't get me wrong, the food was fantastic and the service was great but it's just annoying to have to plan out my meals. Like if there's no 9am available for breakfast, and the only time left is 6:30AM, I have to wake up at 6:30AM just to eat? Oh another small thing that bothered me was the toto toilet does not automatically open.