Nozawa Onsen Voyage Tips and guide

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

It began as a hot spring (onsen) resort, but it's now best known as a major ski destination that is particularly popular among Australian visitors to Japan.

It is home to about 3,000 people (1 March 2021)

• Nozawa Ski (official site)

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

Nozawa is not directly served by trains. The nearest station is Iiyama on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, 1 hr 45 min from Tokyo. From Iiyama, Nozawa Onsen Liner direct express buses connect to Nozawa Onsen in 25 minutes (¥600/300 adult/child, as of Jan 2026).

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, as of Jan 2026.

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 10 m 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.