Nikko Hotels with Rooftop Pools

"The hotel is around 10mins walk from Kinugawa-Onsen Station. Although there are many abandoned hotels, shops, residences, buildings around the surrounding area, I can still explore the area as the street lights are lit in the evening. The hotel is divided into different wings and occupies a large area. I stayed in the upper floors of the hotel’s main building (Kirakukan) but there’s an option to stay at the hotel’s park-cottages that is built on the cliff of the riverbank and overlooks the Kinugawa river. The Kinugawa Park Cottage is located separately further away from the main building. I only noticed a local Japanese family of four or five persons being escorted by the hotel staff to one of the cottages. Other than that one-off encounter, I didn’t see anyone else at the area around the cottage which is also super quiet. Likewise for the other wings of the hotel i.e. Kinoyakata and Kishintei, I didn’t see any guests maybe due to low season. Love the onsen and the private open-air bath, the traditional Japanese kaiseiki breakfast and dinner. There’s also a souvenir shop, ramen & snack shop as well as an outdoor swimming pool which I couldn’t use as it is only available for use come summer time. Just across the road from the hotel, there’s the Waterside Cafe Terrace, a 7-Eleven convenience store adjacent to the hotel and since there’s no self-service washing machine/dryer in the hotel, the nearest 24h laundromat is around a 5-min walk from the hotel located behind the Waterside Cafe Terrace and across the road facing “Galarie Cafe Painto E”. On the day of check-out, the hotel helped to store my luggage and I had lunch at “Suzukawa Cafe” just next to Galarie Cafe Painto E. The food prices here are slightly cheaper than the ones near Kinugawa-Onsen station."

"Although the hotel is a bit old, the facilities are perfect and the buffet is delicious. The best part is the open-air hot spring on the top floor; soaking in it while it's snowing is an unforgettable experience. There are also two other indoor hot springs, which are perfect."

"It was very nice to have an open-air bath in the room ^_^ There was a sauna in the public bath, and I was impressed by the view from the outside air bath space ✨ The buffet was delicious and the best I want to go again ^_^"

"Honestly, given the low price that provides 2 meals and onsen experiences, I think it is quite good for value, but of course the building is very old and rather broken (although it is still usable). But then, it will take an hour to go to Nikko and the surrounding area isn't interesting to visit, just to stay in this hotel is not a very good option especially if you want to go hiking in Nikko."