Nikko

Nikko is a shrine town in the mountains of Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, where Japan's most lavishly decorated mausoleum meets a national park of lakes and waterfalls. Shoguns chose this forest for their memory, and the country has treated it as sacred ground ever since.

Toshogu, the gilded mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, covers its buildings in carvings, including the see-no-evil monkeys and a tiny sleeping cat visitors line up to spot. Higher up the switchbacks, Lake Chuzenji spreads beneath sacred Mount Nantai, and Kegon Falls drops nearly 100 meters from the lake's lip.

Nikko works as a day trip from Tokyo on the Tobu line, though a night lets you see the shrines before the crowds and soak in a lakeside onsen after them. Autumn color season is spectacular and slow-moving on the mountain road, so start early. Yuba, tofu skin, is the temple-town specialty.