It made sense to stay in traditional Japanese accommodation with an onsen whilst in Nozawa, considering it’s a historic onsen town. Naraya is an aesthetically lovely wooden building located in a street that also has other pretty and traditional Japanese buildings. The ryokan has big wooden beams, gleaming wooden floors, and lots of historic artwork.

We stayed in a washitsu which was rather spacious and had a nice Japanese style sitting area. We requested an extra futon each (as we typically do unless there are extra futons in the cupboard) to make sleeping on the floor more comfortable, and then it was great. We had a private bath and toilet, although I don’t think we used the former considering the amazing onsen. The only limitation of the room was that the internet was patchy or non-functional (it worked well downstairs).

The onsen baths were lovely. Despite the ryokan only having 9 guest rooms, the indoor bath was larger than some of the Nozawa public onsen baths, and then there was a small outdoor bath for each gender as well. We might have had onsen soaks about three times a day!

Breakfast in a private dining room was fantastic and included lots of different Japanese creations. After breakfast, they brought coffee up to our room. This was just one element of the amazing service levels, which included bringing our luggage to and from the carpark (which was undercover and a rarity for Nozawa), accompanying us to breakfast each morning (it would be easy to get lost in the inn!), and fetching ski boots etc.

Overall, it was a lovely stay and provided a beautiful traditional Japanese experience.
See our video here