Nozawa Onsen Voyage Tips and guide

Nozawa Onsen (野沢温泉 Nozawaonsen) is a rural village turned ski resort in Nagano, Japan.

Originally a hot spring (onsen) resort, it's now best known as a major ski destination that, for somewhat inexplicable reasons, is particularly popular among Australian visitors to Japan.

• Nozawa Ski (official site)

There are no major airports near Nozawa. Most visitors fly into Tokyo, or perhaps Nagoya, and continue by train.

Unusually for Japan, Nozawa is not directly served by trains. The nearest station is Iiyama on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, 1:45 from Tokyo. From Iiyama, Nozawa Onsen Liner direct express buses connect to Nozawa Onsen in 25 minutes (¥600/300 adult/child).

In ski season, the Nowaza Free Shuttle runs around the village, twice an hour on weekdays and up to 5 times per hour at peak times on weekends.

You're probably here for the skiing. Lift passes start from ¥7500/4500 adult/child per day.

Unusually for Japan, there's a maintained cross-country skiing track here as well, since this is where the Nagano Olympics biathlon races were held.

If you're in the mood for a hot spring dip, the village boasts no less than 13 free-to-use onsen.

• Fire Festival (道祖神祭り Dōsojin matsuri). The event of the year, held every January 15. Families with boys born in the last year build elaborate umbrella-like totem polems called hatsuakarikago, while all 40 to 42 year old men in the village built a wooden shrine called shaden, both nearly 10m tall. On the night of the festival, a ritual battle ensues after a torch procession, and the shrine and the poles are ceremonially burned amid much merriment and consumption of sake. (updated Jan 2026)

A large part of Nozawa's charm are that there are no giant resort hotels: it's all smaller, non-chain lodges and chalets.

• Take a day trip to see the famous bathing snow monkeys of Jigokudani in Yamanouchi.