Nikko

Tokugawa Ieyasu's shrine, whose Yomeimon gate, smothered in gilding and carving, finished a major restoration in 2017. Past the three monkeys on the sacred stable and the sleeping cat over an inner gate, his tomb at Okumiya is some 200 stone steps up.

A vermilion arched bridge over the Daiya River, the sacred bridge of Futarasan Shrine. You can photograph it free from the road bridge beside it, but walking across costs a fee, and having crossed you retrace your steps.

The great hall of Rinno-ji, head of Nikko's mountain temples, where three gilded Buddhas many times human height sit in a row. It shares a hill with Toshogu but needs its own ticket, and the Shoyoen garden behind the treasure house reddens in leaf season.

A shrine to Mount Nantai itself, the heart of mountain worship here long before Toshogu. A bronze lantern bears sword cuts from a samurai who, legend says, struck it for turning into a monster at night, and branch shrines sit on Lake Chuzenji and the summit.

Lake Chuzenji's outflow dropping 97m down a cliff in a single plunge. The upper lookout costs nothing, but the lift down to the viewing deck at the base charges a fee, and only from below do you face the falls head-on in the spray.

A highland lake formed when an eruption of Mount Nantai dammed a river, reached up the 48 hairpins of the Irohazaka road. Foreign embassies built summer villas on its shore from the Meiji era, and the Italian and British embassy villas are now open as parks.

A marsh at about 1,400m above Lake Chuzenji, crossed by boardwalks through the reeds. Early summer brings wildflowers and late September turns the grass red, and even in high summer the mornings and evenings are chilly.

A gorge where the Daiya River cuts through volcanic rock, dozens of stone Jizo in red bibs lined up on its bank. They are called the ghost Jizo because the count supposedly differs going and coming back, and few Toshogu crowds come, so it stays quiet.

A spa town of big hot spring hotels lined along the Kinugawa gorge, served directly by limited express from Tokyo. A wooden boat trip runs about 40 minutes down through the gorge, and it stops when the river runs high.

An imperial villa joining an Edo-period building to Meiji and Taisho extensions, with over 100 rooms. Each tatami room had its own use, so the eras change as you walk the corridors, and a weeping cherry thought to be about 400 years old blooms in late April.

Mausoleum of Iemitsu, third Tokugawa shogun, kept plainer than Toshogu so as not to outshine grandfather Ieyasu, its sanctuary turned toward him. Black-lacquer gates with sparing gold climb the slope, and crowds here are a fraction of Toshogu's.

The Yu River slides down a rock slope just above Lake Chuzenji and parts round a boulder at the foot, a shape likened to a dragon's head. Its maples turn among Oku-Nikko's first, in early October; grab the teahouse window facing the cascade.

A sulphur spa village on Lake Yunoko at the road's end, an hour-plus by bus from Nikko Station, its water clouded milky. A boardwalk crosses the Yunodaira marsh past steaming sources. Winter cuts the bus service, so note the final departure.

Some 12,000 cedars planted over two decades from around 1625 on three roads to Toshogu, about 37km in all and recognised by Guinness as the longest tree-lined avenue on earth. Much carries traffic; the car-free stretch near Imaichi keeps the hush.

A theme park near Kinugawa Onsen rebuilding an Edo town, magistrate's office and pleasure quarter, with ninja and samurai plays all day. Many rent a kimono or ninja outfit at the gate, and the shows keep fixed slots worth checking on arrival.

Falls dropping 75m in two tiers, drawn by Katsushika Hokusai in his series of famous waterfalls. A 15-minute drive uphill reaches the facing viewpoint, and higher up on the Kirifuri plateau yellow day lilies open in late June and July.