Nikko Astraea Hotel

This is a good place to stay if you're here for skiing, trekking, or other outdoor activities. I wouldn't pick it for a romantic getaway, though. There are lots of families with noisy kids, and groups of people in their twenties can fill the baths and shout drunkenly well into the evening. I came for one night after skiing at Nikko Yumoto. The very low price included breakfast and dinner, lift passes, and equipment-rental discount vouchers, so I wasn't expecting much. Dinner was far better than expected and filling, with tender, tasty hotpot meat, nicely fried fish, and salmon sashimi that had no fishy taste. It wasn't fancy, but it was well worth the price. Breakfast was the opposite. The tamagoyaki was probably frozen and wholesaler-supplied, I assume that's one way they keep costs down for dinner. The sulfur smell hits as soon as you enter, and the hot springs are pretty stinky. Still, soaking after a full day of skiing felt great, as did using the rotenburo the next morning. The bathing-area faucets swing between very hot and cold for no clear reason, even when you're the only one using them. The wall-mounted hair dryer also gets weaker if someone uses the other one, so if your hair takes a while to dry, do it in your room. The rooms are very dry and the heater is strong, so things dry quickly there. Our room was spacious for two, with plenty of hangers and storage. The bathroom had no bidet, and the toilet seat was neither freezing nor warm. It also smelled faintly of urine and didn't seem to have been cleaned properly for a while, especially under the inner rim where it collects.