Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort Japan

Nozawa Onsen Japan is a hot spring and ski resort village near Nagano. The Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort almost takes a bit of a backseat relative to the charming village that offers an interesting and traditional Japanese experience. The village is famous for the abundance of hot springs that were discovered in the 8th century. Steam rises amongst the bustling narrow cobblestone streets and the traditional ryokan, inns and shops.

The culture of Nozawa Onsen skiing is also historic. Skiing was introduced to Nozawa Japan in 1912 by an Austrian, and it is considered by some to be the birthplace of skiing in Japan.

These days, the Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort is one of the most popular ski resorts in Japan for international travellers due to its diversity of terrain, abundance of snow, its family friendliness, and because English speaking guests are well catered for. What really sets it apart though is the lovely (mostly) traditional village.

Pros and Cons of Nozawa Japan

Pros 

• The Nozawa Onsen village is a highlight and lots of the buildings have traditional Japanese architecture.
• There is a good range of Nozawa Onsen accommodation types (ryokan, hotels, pensions, self-contained apartments and houses) to suit a range of budgets.
• Nozawa has a lot of different onsen.
• You can visit little temples, and nearby Nagano also offers other cultural experiences.
• The Nozawa Onsen ski resort is reasonably large (by Japanese standards) so there’s enough variety for a week long experience, and you can also do day trips to other nearby ski resorts such as Madarao and Tangram.
• It is close to other major Nagano ski resorts so it’s easy to combine with other destination resorts.
• Nozawa Japan has steep off-piste and side-country terrain, which is a bit of a rarity for Japan.
• The village has reasonable nightlife (for a Japanese ski resort) and the restaurants and Japanese cuisine are also a highlight.

Cons

• There is no perfectly located Nozawa Onsen accommodation that is slopeside and also close to the centre of town. You have to compromise on either proximity to the slopes or the hub of town, or both.
• Nozawa does not have a lot of intermediate terrain.
• As with the other Honshu ski resorts, the quality of the powder is a fraction heavier than that found in Hokkaido, but it’s still really good. Some of the best off-piste terrain is at lower elevations.

Pro or Con Depending on Your Perspective

• It is very popular for good reason, and especially from early to mid January, you’ll need to book your trip early. Lots of westerners visit and it’s losing some of its traditional Japanese charm. The upside is that it’s very easy to get by if you don’t speak Japanese.
• If you’re looking for a luxury western style resort hotel with soft queen/king beds, you won’t find it. There are a small number of deluxe western style apartments or houses, whilst most of the accommodation in Nozawa Onsen consists of hotels and pensions that are delightfully Japanese. Except for the high-end ryokans, don’t expect a room with a full ensuite bathroom. If you don’t want to immerse yourself in the Japanese culture, sleep on the tatami floor with a futon (or two) and beanbag type pillow, eat Japanese food, or bathe nude in an onsen with other people, then perhaps go to Niseko instead. Or maybe Canada?!
• It caters wells for children. Nozawa Onsen is one of only a handful of Japanese ski resorts that can provide group ski lessons in English and child care/babysitting with English speaking staff. There is also a great snow play park for the kids. The only detractor for some families with small children may be that lots of walking (up hills) is required to get around.

Nozawa Onsen Ski and Snowboard Terrain

Nozawa is a stand-alone ski resort that is reasonably large by Japanese ski resort standards, with 19 lifts (including 2 gondolas), 300 hectares of terrain, 50km of slopes, and an impressive vertical drop of 1,085 metres (565-1,650m). Piste runs are equitably distributed for beginner, intermediate and advanced riders, although Nozawa Onsen skiing is best suited to beginner and advanced skiers and boarders.

The Nozawa Onsen ski area is situated on Kenashi-yama which literally translates to "Mount no-hair", yet the mountain is far from bald considering that the Nozawa ski resort is below the tree-line. The ski runs have been cut through the trees with many wide groomed runs as well as an abundance of mogul runs.

There is a small amount of off-piste terrain for advanced riders that is kosher, and also a huge expanse of off-piste and sidecountry for true experts with route finding skills. Much of this is officially banned, but you probably won’t get into hot water with the patrollers for going off-piste. Hopefully the only hot water you’ll end up is in the onsen for après ski!

See the Nozawa Ski Resort page for more information on the terrain.

Nozawa Onsen Snow

The sight of all those egg carton shaped runs can make a powder hound howl, but powder hounds shouldn’t despair because the moguls generally don’t have long to form. Nozawa Ski Resort is blessed with over 10 metres of snow fall each season, thanks to its proximity to the Sea of Japan and the precipitation that’s picked up during storms. Nozawa Onsen is a great destination for powder hounds and there are lots of days where the face shots come fast and furious.

Where is Nozawa Japan?

Nozawa Onsen Japan is located in the northern part of the Nagano Prefecture on the Honshu Island. The resort is 46km northeast of the city of Nagano and 249km northwest of Tokyo.

There are a few options to get from the Tokyo airports to Nozawa Onsen including buses with Nagano Snow Shuttle. See the getting to Nozawa Onsen page for more information.

Nozawa Onsen Accommodation

Nozawa Onsen is not a purpose built ski village so thankfully there are no towering resort hotels. The village has lots of ryokans (traditional Japanese hotels), many with their own onsen, as well as minshuku (inns that are a little more rustic). Japanese style rooms with tatami flooring and futon bedding are quite common in Nozawa. Some of the hotels and pensions also have western style rooms, and it’s quite common that rooms don’t have a full ensuite bathroom. Many lodgings have English speaking staff, and there are various lodgings where a little “Engrish” is spoken. This is all part of the fun of being in Japan!

The Nozawa Onsen accommodation options range from budget oriented lodgings up to first class Japanese ryokan with superior facilities, service and dining. There is a small amount of self-contained accommodation.

NB If you are looking for lodging from Xmas through to the end of January, please note that many properties sell out very early. You can look at accommodation availability and rates here.

Activities

Considering the abundance of geothermal activity, the focus for après ski and off-slope activities is the onsens. The town has more than 30 natural hot springs that supply the ryokans as well as the 13 public baths (sotoyu). Boys be sure to do some man-scaping before you arrive! The hottest spring is the Ogama Onsen. With waters bubbling up at about 90 degrees Celsius, the hot spring is used by the locals for cooking vegetables and to entertain the tourists!

Also hot is the Dosijin Fire Festival which is held on the 15th January each year. This festival involves lots of kanpai, fireworks and fire!

See the Nozawa activities page for other options.