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Location Information Nozawa Onsen

Where is the best place to stay in Nozawa for your next snow holiday?

When planning a holiday it is always important to look at where to stay. Maybe more so on a ski holidays as want to be close to everything the slopes, lifts, restaurants, shops and the Onsens!

The beauty about Nozawa compared to many other ski resorts in Japan or around the world for that matter is that it is very compact. The local population stands at only 3700 people. It was over 5000 when I first came here over 25 Years ago. So would appear it is getting smaller.

If you look at our Map below and the scale in the bottom left corner you will see it is only 1500m across and about the same from top to bottom for the main part of town where all the lodges, restaurants, shop, bars and uploading lifts are located.Nozawa Onsen Town Map

Above is a cool little video, which gives you a good idea of scale and where some of our core properties are in the village and relation to other key things you are going to want to be close to.

Location Information Nozawa Onsen Resort Shuttle Bus

There is a shuttle bus that loops the resort but you rarely need to use it unless staying down lower in the village then is handy to get up to the main Nagasaka Gondola. It is also handy if you are a first time skier and want to get from the Karasawa area up to the Gondola to meet for a lesson. But after a few days you should be able to ski across!

It runs from the Centre of the village past Shinden and Nakao to Karasawa and then to the Nagasaka Gondola making various stops on the way. The bus runs every 20 minutes on weekends and public holidays and every 30 minutes on weekdays

Yu Road or the People Mover – Location Information Nozawa Onsen 

This got built in the bubble period of the 90’s when the resort was very busy and making some healthy profits. It runs from near the temples in town up to the Hikage Ski Area. It is a pretty impressive set up and handy if staying in downtown near to Oyu Onsen. Some people request to stay in town so can ride this but to be honest depending on what you are looking for it is generally easier to stay nearer to the slopes in the South side of the village. With the people mover you are looking at at least a 200m uphill walk to the people mover then it is a 10-minute ride on that to get to the slopes. It takes a bit of time to get up there, you can leave gear up there in one of the ski lockers though which is great help with kids.

 

Location Information Nozawa Onsen; South Side of the Village near the slopes and Lifts

Many of the properties we offer are located in this area. Most are within 200m to the slopes or closer so an easy walk and you are on your skis before you know it. Can generally hit the home trail from there and ski down to Karasawa slopes and the connecting lift to the main Nagasaka Gondola, which will take you all the way to the top of the resort.

We also have a Ski Locker, which is Free for Nozawa Holidays Guests to use, and located just below the slopes and home trail of Mukobayashi and a short stroll to the Gondola and Mt Dock Gondola Café the lesson meeting point. If renting gear from Nozawa Central Rentals they will drop it up there for you so ready to go on the first day of skiing. The Ski Locker also has a drying room to leave boots at the end of the day so can take the beautiful walk over the snow back to the lodges in normal shoes.

Nakao Area home of Villa Nozawa and many other great lodges

Nozawa has many distinct districts known as “Ku” and they are usually clustered around one of the free public Onsen baths, which are scattered around the village. Nakao Ku is one of the biggest and also has one of the biggest Onsens Nakao Onsen. It has a long history and the people of this area are unique and very proud of Nakao. It is the area just below the beautiful Karasawa Slopes and Hachiman Shrine. There are many spacious and friendly lodges in this area including Villa Nozawa, Furusato, Aitoku, Kirakusou and many more. It also has some cool little restaurants and bars and is only about 800m flat walk to the centre of town. It is a very popular area for families and groups to stay as is a bit quieter and more spacious; all lodges are very close to the slopes and still easy to get to town. Here is a link to Villa Nozawa one of the most popular lodges in Nozawa Villa Nozawa

Bottom line as said Nozawa is pretty compact and being one of the oldest Ski Resorts in Japan they have had over 100 years to get it set up to be user friendly so wherever you stay what you need is not far away! Please feel free to ask our local team any questions you may have on Location Information Nozawa Onsen