About Nozawa Onsen

A greeting from the town mayor

A greeting from the town mayor

An overview of Nozawa Onsen village.

Nozawa Onsen Village is located at the northern end of Nagano Prefecture, the central prefecture of Japan. The size of the village is 9.1 km east-west, 11.5 km north-
south, and the total area is 57.96 km. Mt Kenashi located in eastern part of the village has an elevation of 1650m, and the terrain slopes from there toward the Chikuma river which flows to the west.
The climate is typical of locations on the Japan sea side of the country, which are affected by the monsoon from the Asian continent. The four seasons are clearly defined and Agriculture flourishes from spring to autumn. It is one of the heaviest snowfall areas in Japan, with more than 3m of snow falling every winter.

A greeting from the town mayor of Nozawa Onsen village.

The main area of Nozawa onsen is a tourism and agricultural village that is colored by the nature of the four seasons. In 1998, it became the venue for the Biathlon competition for the Nagano Winter Olympics, and recently the road transportation network has been improved so that the Joshinetsu Expressway Toyota Iiyama Interchange can be accessed in about 30 minutes. The Hokuriku shinkansen opened in March 2015. From Iiyama Station you can now visit Nozawa Onsen Village in 25 minutes by using the “Nozawa Onsen Liner”.

With the improvement of the transportation network, many more foreign customers as well as Japanese are visiting. For our foreign guests especially, in addition to our great powder snow, the outdoor hot spring trail, and the unique atmosphere of Nozawa Onsen Village, the cityscape and restaurants are popular, and there can be lines during peak season.

In our village, which is rich in nature, you can enjoy the fresh greenery of spring, camping and trekking in summer, and colorful leaves in autumn.
On the zip sky ride you can fly down the summer ski slopes, with an altitude difference of 122 m top to bottom. You can enjoy the Nozawa Onsen SPARENA with swimming pools and hot springs and enjoy Mountain biking and SUPing.

In August 2019, “Michi no eki” Nozawa Onsen, a rest stop and new landmark of Nozawa Onsen Village, opened along National Route 117. At Michi-no-Eki, there are direct sales offices for fresh vegetables harvested in the village, farm restaurants using local ingredients, and specialty shops, which have been used by many customers since their opening.

In these ways and more Nozawa Onsen Village is striving to create a village that everyone can enjoy throughout the year. We look forward to welcoming you.

Town Mayor, Toshio Tomii