Before you go
The Irohazaka (いろは坂) road in Nikko. The highlands of Nasu.
In the fall, cars come from all over Japan.
These two places have something you don’t often see elsewhere.
The traffic jams are known to be caused by the parking lots.
You look at slightly different things in each, so this article is split in two as well.
Nikko
The busy time is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays
In Nikko, the busy time is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
Nikko City recommends avoiding these hours.
It even has a name: off-peak sightseeing (オフピーク観光).
Turn that around, and outside those hours, the same road is easier to drive.
If you get up the hill before 9 a.m., you miss the busiest time altogether.
The line of cars waiting is what makes the traffic jam
This is the most interesting thing about Nikko.
Around the Futarabashi-mae intersection (二荒橋前交差点) in Chugushi (中宮祠), the reason for the traffic jams is known.
The line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot blocks the road beyond it.
The view is that it’s not a shortage of parking but the way people wait that’s making the jam.
So not going at the times the line forms is what works best.
Where you get out of the car is decided on the day
In Nikko, where you park changes with the season.
In the fall, temporary parking lots open for just a few days.
They’re on riverbanks and on the grounds of national and prefectural government offices.
Normally, they aren’t parking lots at all.
If you’re looking for neatly marked spaces, you’ll drive right past.
The characters to look for are 臨時駐車場 (temporary parking lot). Nikko City’s guidance uses these characters.
Follow the guidance on site.
One more thing. In spring 2026, the temporary parking lots were open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Fall may not be the same, so once you’ve parked, check the closing time on the signs or with an attendant.
Decide when you’ll be back first, and then you can walk around without worrying.
Instead of booking, you check how full the parking lots are on the day
In Nikko, what you can rely on isn’t booking.
In the fall, the prefecture and the city put traffic information and how full the parking lots are on their websites.
What you can see in advance is the crowd forecast. The Nikko City Tourist Association (日光市観光協会) puts out a crowd forecast calendar.
As for how full the parking lots are, take a look once that morning, before you set off.
Nikko City shows how full they are in three levels: すいている（空きあり） (quiet, space available) / やや混雑 (somewhat crowded) / 混雑 (crowded). It doesn’t say 満車 (full) or 空車 (space available), so remember these three.
Just knowing which parking lot has space can let you skip one whole line.
Nasu
When it’s full, you can’t wait on the shoulder
In Nasu, something even easier to see is happening.
Cars overflowing from parking lots that are full (満車) stop on the shoulder, so traffic cones have been lined up there.
That’s the stretch from the Toge-no-Chaya parking lot (峠の茶屋駐車場) to the Omaru parking lot (大丸駐車場), and it’s a measure for the fall period only (in 2026, from September 19 to October 25).
In other words, on that stretch, when it’s 満車 there’s nowhere to pull over onto the shoulder.
Turn that around, and if you don’t go at the busy times, you can drive this road normally.
So shifting your timing pays off most
In both places, what causes the jams is cars that can’t get into a parking lot.
So the way to avoid them is clear, too.
In Nikko, stay clear of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Check the crowd forecast the day before, and how full the parking lots are that morning.
In Nasu, during the fall when the traffic cones are out, stay clear of the busy times. That alone means you won’t end up waiting on the shoulder.
That way, you can get around these famous fall-color spots far more easily.
※ The days and places temporary parking lots open, the way how full the parking lots are is shown, the crowd forecast, the period of the traffic cones in Nasu and so on change from year to year. Before you go, check the official pages of Tochigi Prefecture and Nikko City.
