Bettei Himawari

My friend and I stayed here for a night in February 2014. Booked their Japanese style maisonette, which consists of a Japanese-style living room, two single beds on the first level, and a big bath on the second level. The hotel lobby and dining room was of a different feel as it has a more westernized look, but the place was really pretty and we found ourselves captivated by the interior design of the place. The hotel offers pick-up from the train station and we took that up, since it's a short drive from Nikko station. The staff was extremely helpful and friendly, and the room was really comfortable. The hot-spring water bath was located in the main building, and it was extremely energizing in the cold weather and helped soothe our tired bones from travelling. As it was during winter, we had fun playing with the snow on the hotel grounds. But we were gently reminded by the staff to be careful as the accumulated snow was turning hard, almost like ice.:P The dinner and breakfast provided was really delicious, and we had our meals in the dining room, which was accompanied by live piano music. One of their dishes had a small cup of umeshu (plum wine), but my friend doesn't take alcohol so the staff gladly changed it into a cup of apple juice instead. The staff had shown nothing but exceptional service from the beginning of our stay right till the very end when they dropped us off at the train station. We chose the slightly more expensive maisonette (as compared to the normal rooms), but it was worth every penny we spent. Please do give this place a try if you ever decide to visit Nikko.