Nozawa Onsen, Nagano

As part of Nagano, Nozawa gets it all, from the driest light powderto spring slush. For those hoping to maximize the powder experience, it is best to concentrate on the 3 week window from mid-January through the first week of February.    

Nozawa averages a respectable 5 meters of snowfall annually. A bit lower in altitude than Hakuba topping out at 1,650 meters, Nozawa does not have the higher altitude snow packs to which to turn for shoulder season back country powder buffs, but during the core sections of the season, Nozawa gets its fare share of deep runs.  

Nozawa has a mix of domestic and international ski instructors available. The domestic ski schools are far more organized with a long history, but facilities are minimalist. 

A large number of small ski rental shops can be found throughout Nozawa Onsen town and by the slopes. Despite the diminutive size of the ski shops, Nozawa is a magnet for enthusiastic skiers and boarders, so state of the art equipment is readily available to rent.

The compact Nozawa Onsen village is filled with Japan’s greatest hits of dining, in shops that are small and authentic. Reservations are always recommended. A few international bars and even a craft beer house top off the options.    

Outside of dining offered exclusively to lodging guests in one of Nozawa’s higher end ryokan, there are no destination dining options at Nozawa. 

Nozawa is notoriously anti-development and thus lodging has not kept up with demand. The top ryokan is Sakaya, and everyone knows it. With a deep bench of repeaters from the domestic market that spans decades, it is extremely hard to obtain a room at Sakaya, particularly on Fridays, Saturdays and domestic holidays. There are a number of other moderately less elegant ryokan options as well as a long list of basic pensions and older hotels. A few self-contained private houses and apartments have emerged in recent years with excellent locations relative to the slopes.

Nozawa Onsen’s Achille’s Heel (or saving grace, depending which perspective you take) used to be its extreme remoteness from any major transportation hub. The development of the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Nagano puts Nozawa within a 20 minute drive from the Iiyama bullet train station, with regular bus service and sufficient private car or taxi service. While trains running from Iiyama are not frequent, proper scheduling can put Tokyo within two hours.

Walking through Nozawa Onsen town is like walking through a living museum. Most of the ancient and very active public onsen houses are free to use and even in winter you can see hotel guests walking from one to the next in their yukata robes and geta sandals. A couple of temples are nestled throughout the town and the families who have occupied and run the town for centuries have not let the increasing number of international visitors numb their traditions. For guests seeking a more cosmopolitan cultural break from the slopes, Nagano City is only 10 minutes by shinkansen from Iiyama and Kanazawa is only an hour in the other direction on the Sea of Japan.

Nozawa is a great experience for families with children of all ages. Rentals and ski instruction are easily arranged. A wider range of services, including babysitting, is a bit harder to come by. The town is set on a steep hill, so families are recommended to find lodging close to the slopes to minimize the equipment hauling challenge.