Chichibu Festival 2025

My wife and I will fly into Tokyo, where we have visited many times previously. We hope to attend the Chichibu Festival 2025. I see that most of the hotels in Chichibu are already booked. The few that are available have tripled their regular prices when I compare on Google Maps. Is there a better site to find hotels during that time? Or are there nearby towns that would be interesting to visit on the way back to Tokyo that still have trains running at night so we can return to after the fireworks?

Or we could go to Gunma for a few days, but trains do not run that late. We prefer to stay at onsen ryokans.

If we caught the train back to Ikebukuro that night, we would have to leave at 2157. Is that too risky since many people will be trying to get the last train back to Ikebukuro at that time?

Thank you for your consideration.

I went to the festival a couple of years ago and stayed in Hanno. There were extra trains running later at night, although these might not show on schedules yet. I think the festival page will publish the timetable closer to the date.