Fairfield by Marriott Tochigi Nikko [Master Thread]

I came here to explore Nikko city after two days at the RC Nikko (exploring Oku-Nikko). I booked Nov 1st - 3rd, which is “peak season” and the normal rates are over ¥50,000 JPY a night! I had a discount using my corporate rate.

Transportation

Just like our suburban Fairfields in North America, this Fairfield is also best accessed by car. It’s on a hill in the middle of the woods that’s around 2km north of Tobu-Nikko station. There’s a large free parking lot.

Again, it’s on a hill. Do not try to walk up here with your luggage at night… like I did. In the fall, it gets dark around 17:30. It is not fun walking in pitch-black darkness up a steep hill. You might get to the bridge north of the station and think, “oh that’s okay, it’s not that steep”; trust me, it gets steeper. Turn around and get a taxi.

A taxi ride from Tobu-Nikko station costs ¥900. Taxis are not free-flowing, especially during tourist season. Make sure to book a taxi at least a day earlier. I had a 10:30 train to catch, I called the night before at around 20:00, and they were all fully booked.

There’s a bus that runs to Marumi station which is at the intersection close to the hotel that runs four times a day, with the last uphill bus at around 16:00. Cash only and it’s ¥220. Don’t rely on it.

Daichari

You should sign up for this Japanese free-floating bike sharing service called Daichari (can do so before coming; they operate in a lot of cities in Japan and you can use a foreign phone number + CC). They have six bike stations right in the hotel parking lot, and there’s usually bikes / parking spots. These bikes are all electric-assisted and are ¥200 for 15 minutes with a ¥2,000 daily max. With these bikes, it was a cool 7-minute ride up and down the hill to the station (two bike parking stations) / other parts of Nikko.

If you do use the bike sharing service, make sure to reserve a return station so that others can’t return their bikes there for the next 30 minutes. I took a bike at night to go stargazing and someone took my return station at the hotel, so I had to bike downhill and take a taxi back up to the hotel. I think of it as a ¥900 stargazing fee, but whatever, make sure you reserve a return station.

Location

Before you come up, make sure to stock up at the FamilyMart in town. There’s a small market in the hotel and a vending machine, but that’s it. Bring your own breakfast; the hotel doesn’t provide breakfast, even for platinum+.

There’s a wagyu restaurant up the hill called Nikko Guruman’s Wagyu (日光グルマンズ和牛) that is very highly rated on both Google and Tabelog. Try to get a table when you come and enjoy some delicious wagyu. I wasn’t lucky enough to get a reso, though I wonder how I’d get to and from there…

Smooth check-in process. Welcome amenity was either 500 points or three packs of a Nikko local miso soup stock. I took the latter. It was delicious. There’s also free miso soup at the “community space” in the lobby, but I will stubbornly believe mine is better tasting (they taste about the same — get the points if you want).

The staff explained to me that, since it’s peak season, we only get late check out until 13:00, which is no problem for me, but I imagine if you argued, you could get 16:00?

If you’ve stayed at one Fairfield in Japan, you’ve stayed at them all. It’s literally the same as the others, with a nice Toto bidet (the exact same as the RC!) and a shower with a chair (no tub). It has a very nice Tescom hair dryer, but an all-in-one shampoo that did no conditioning.

If you face south, you’ll get to see the mountains in the morning, and also right into someone’s house!

excuse the shakiness -- I just climbed up the hill 

morning mountain + someone's house views 

The hotel has a nice community area with a microwave (up to 500W), a toaster, and an oven, all by Balmuda. It’s the ones that sing when you turn knobs. They also provide tea, miso soup, and coffee (black, both hot and cold) for free. Bring your microwavable breakfasts!

It also has 2 laundry machines and 2 dryers. It’s ¥300 for washing (30 minutes) and ¥100 for 20 minutes of drying. There’s a change machine.

The staff were all super friendly. The person who checked me in forgot to give me a notice for “long stays” so she ran up to my room and apologized.

Speaking of long stays, they don’t service the room every day. During my stay, they just came to give me water and towels; they didn’t make the bed or clean, or even take out the trash. I think this is common at Japanese hotels and not a post-covid cost cutting thing.

It’s the only chain hotel in the area… I would come back and stay if I visit Nikko again, but would get a car and make my reservations early. I wish there were more bike stations.