Nikko planning

[Hypnos]

Dear all,
My girlfriend and I are planning to enjoy Nikko last week of December. (A little cold I bet, but the snow should be beautiful.)

We want to do the following things:
* See all the major historical/religious sights
* Visit an onsen
* See a number of the natural sights (e.g., waterfalls)
* Visit the restaurant in Utsunomiya where pet macaques serve beer :) (search "Japan monkey waiters" in Youtube)

We were planning on staying at an inn near the UNESCO sites. We are uncertain whether to stay one night here, or one night here and then spend another up at the lake, or stay two nights here.

So one idea is to travel from Tokyo in the evening, stay the night, see stuff, then stay another night, see more stuff (possibly head up to the lake), then return to Tokyo in the evening. (We would omit Utsunomiya.)

If one night+two days is sufficient, then we could use the
Tobu World Heritage Pass rather than the All Nikko Pass.

Thoughts/advice?

[PratheePet]

Hey friend :)
Nikko is a very beautiful place where I was spend my last April, it is so sweet
I love to suggest you to fly from Tokyo, so you can reach the place during lunch so you can have little more time to see the stuffs,
How is that idea? :) because there are huge areas to be visited :)
Cheers,

[Hypnos]

We've decided to take an early morning train, and spend two days/one night. Our inn in Nikko has a private onsen.

Perhaps in the future, we will travel to a ryokan for the sole purpose of resting luxuriously and using an outdoor private onsen ...