i
Photo by KimonBerlin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Best time to visit Nikko
Japan · East Asia
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Nikko
Tap a month for its page
- JanJNikko in January: avoid
- FebFNikko in February: avoid
- MarMNikko in March: ok
- AprANikko in April: sweet spot
- MayMNikko in May: avoid
- JunJNikko in June: avoid
- JulJNikko in July: avoid
- AugANikko in August: avoid
- SepSNikko in September: avoid
- OctONikko in October: avoid
- NovNNikko in November: ok, busy
- DecDNikko in December: ok
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Plan this trip
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too.
Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Flights from
Flights
Your city is a guess from your time zone. Choose your city
Where are you flying from? Choose your city for its flights.
Book with the airline
Where to stay
Book direct
Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
Rent direct
Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
Things to do in Nikko
- Tōshōgū Shinto shrines in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
- Kegon Falls One of Japan's top 3 waterfalls, Kegon Falls features a 97-meter drop.
- Rinnō-ji Temple Founded by Shodo Shonin, the monk that introduced Buddhism to Nikko in the 8th century.
- Futarasan Shrine It was founded in 782 by Shodo Shonin, the monk that introduced Buddhism to Nikko in the 8th century.
- Tamozawa Imperial Villa Memorial Park Built for the Emperor Taisho in 1899, the former imperial villa also served as a hide-out for Hirohito during World War II.
- Nikko Botanical Garden Has plenty of the local flora and gardens that were said to be favorites of the Emperor Taisho.
Tours and tickets in Nikko
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Nikko), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.
Month by month
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 4° | 7d | 63% | 8.3h | avoid | bitter cold: 4C daily max |
| Feb | 5° | 7d | 64% | 8.5h | avoid | bitter cold: 5C daily max |
| Mar | 10° | 13d | 70% | 8.5h | ok | 10C max, 13 rainy days |
| Apr | 15° | 14d | 74% | 9.0h | sweet spot | 15C max, 14 rainy days |
| May | 19° | 16d | 78% | 8.8h | avoid | monsoon: 16 rainy days, 261mm |
| Jun | 22° | 21d | 85% | 8.3h | avoid | monsoon: 21 rainy days, 333mm |
| Jul | 26° | 22d | 89% | 8.1h | avoid | monsoon: 22 rainy days, 417mm |
| Aug | 27° | 21d | 89% | 9.2h | avoid | monsoon: 21 rainy days, 378mm |
| Sep | 23° | 21d | 89% | 7.2h | avoid | monsoon: 21 rainy days, 361mm |
| Oct | 17° | 17d | 83% | 6.9h | avoid | monsoon: 17 rainy days, 312mm |
| Nov | 13° | 8d | 74% | 8.0h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Dec | 7° | 8d | 67% | 7.6h | ok | 7C max, 8 rainy days |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at the town, by the Shinkyō bridge: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Nikko's March days now average 9.6°C, 3.3°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 9 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 2.2° | 2.2° | 6.3° | 13.4° | 18.2° | 20.8° | 24.0° | 26.0° | 21.7° | 16.2° | 10.8° | 5.7° |
| 2017–26 | 4.1° | 5.2° | 9.6° | 14.6° | 18.9° | 21.7° | 25.6° | 26.5° | 22.9° | 17.3° | 12.7° | 6.9° |
| Change | +2.0° | +3.0° | +3.3° | +1.2° | +0.7° | +0.9° | +1.6° | +0.5° | +1.2° | +1.1° | +1.9° | +1.2° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
Fly into TYO, then drive. The flights under Where to book are to TYO.
The drive from each airport is the road's, from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT: typical, not a schedule.
How far Nikko is depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Osaka
- from Busan
- from Seoul
- from Taipei
- from Hong Kong
- from Manila
- from Hanoi
- from Ho Chi Minh City
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Nikko, flying or not.
Before you go
Type A and B plugs at 100 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Yen. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise normal security precautions. US State Department: Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions. Everything for Japan: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — Cards are widely taken in cities, but carry cash for small restaurants, inns and rural areas. Suica and PASMO also pay in many shops, and PayPay QR codes are common.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
- Tipping — Not done in restaurants or taxis; some hotels and restaurants add a 10% service charge.
Getting around Nikko
- Apps — Rides: GO, DiDi, S.RIDE, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: LINE. Ride apps here hail ordinary licensed taxis; private-car rideshare is limited to small trials.
The JR and Tobu stations have Tourist Information Centers open during daytime hours. Both stations are about 2 km to the west of the shrine area. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Nikko, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — police 110 · ambulance and fire 119.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (21)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/japan/getting-help
- japan.travel/en/plan/getting-around/taxis
- japan.travel/en/plan/cashless-payments-in-japan
- japan.travel/en/plan/credit-cards
- japan.travel/en/plan/tipping-in-japan
- japan.travel/en/guide/how-to-travel-by-train-and-bus-in-japan
- japan-guide.com/e/e2359_credit_card_tap.html
- visa.co.jp/pay-with-visa/featured-technologies/contactless/merchants-transit.html
- apps.apple.com/us/app/go-taxi-app-for-japan-visit/id1254341709
- uber.com/global/en/cities/tokyo
- developers.google.com/maps/coverage
- apple.com/ios/feature-availability
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Japan
- www2.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/webguide/en/bus/howtoride_bus.html
- www2.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/webguide/en/ticket/ic_card.html
- www2.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/webguide/en/ticket/regular_1day_card_comm.html
- city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/page/0000240757.html
- city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/page/0000334479.html
- westjr.co.jp/travel-information/en/tickets-passes/oneway/haruka
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- nipl.com/uploads/NPCI_International_signs_Mo_U_with_NTT_DATA_Japan_to_enable_UPI_acceptance_at_merchant_locations_in_Japan_14_Oct_002_a292d8d769.pdf
Nikko in pictures
i
Adrian Tync, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
Adrian Tync, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Nikko is like
Nikkō (日光) is a town of 76,000 people (2021) to the north of Tokyo, in Tochigi Prefecture. Attractions include the mausoleum of shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu (Nikkō Tōshō-gū) and that of his grandson Iemitsu (Iemitsu-byō Taiyū-in), and the Futarasan Shrine, which dates to the year 767 AD. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Tōshōgū (東照宮). The official mausoleum of dynasty founder Tokugawa Ieyasu and the most extravagant temple in Nikko, constructed in 1634 on the order of his grandson Iemitsu, though not his actual resting place. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- Nikko National Park. Offers plenty of hiking opportunities. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- Nikko has two major train stations: Nikkō Station, served by Japan Railways (JR), and Tōbu-Nikkō Station, appropriately served by the private Tōbu railway. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Nikko, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Nikko
Also in Japan
- Aomori best Jun, Jul, Sep
- Fukuoka best Apr, May, Jun
- Hakodate best Jun, Sep, Oct
- Hiroshima best Apr, Jun, Sep
- Ishigaki best Feb, Sep, Oct
- Kanazawa best Apr, May, Jun
- Kobe best Apr, Jun, Sep
- Kyoto best May, Jun, Sep
- Mount Fuji best Apr, May, Oct
- Nagasaki best Apr, Jun, Oct
- Nagoya best Apr, May, Jun
- Niseko best Mar, Jun, Jul
- Okayama best May, Jun, Sep
- Okinawa best Feb, Apr, Oct
- Osaka best Apr, May, Jun
- Sapporo best Jun, Jul, Sep
- Sendai best Apr, May, Jun
- Tokyo best Apr, May, Jun
- Tottori best Apr, May, Jun
- Tsushima best Apr, May, Oct
Nearby
- Gyeongju South Korea · 936 km
- Busan South Korea · 956 km
- Pyeongchang South Korea · 972 km
- Sokcho South Korea · 985 km
Kind of place
Nikko is in Japan, East Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
Check your inbox. A confirmation is on its way: open the link in it, press Confirm, and you are subscribed.
That did not go through. Check the address, or try again in a minute.
Already sent. A confirmation went to that address in the last day: look for it, spam folder included. Its link works for three days.
You are not on the list until you confirm from your inbox. The list lives with our email provider, Resend; the privacy page says the rest.
Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book through one, at no extra cost to you. That does not affect the scores on this page, which are computed from climate and holiday data before any link is built.