Nozawa Onsen: Ultimate Guide to Planning a 4 day Family Ski Trip

We couldn’t wait to visit Nozawa Onsen. Already familiar with the larger resorts, we were looking forward to spending time in a more traditional Japanese village.

Nozawa Onsen is well known for being a traditional farming village turned ski destination. Steam from natural hot springs flows through the streets, and the village, home to fewer than 4,000 residents, has a very authentic vibe. The mountain itself caters for all levels of skiers and boarders, from beginners to advanced.

This isn’t a place for massive resorts or nightlife. Nozawa Onsen is about staying in traditional inns, enjoying local food, and relaxing in a peaceful, family-friendly atmosphere. The village is easy to explore on foot, and the kids’ park and ski school make it an ideal spot for families.

Planning a trip here can be tricky—accommodation is hard to secure, and the village is increasingly popular. But for those who make the effort, the rewards are well worth it.

To help you out, I will walk you through our experience in transport options, where to stay, rental gear, lift passes, restaurants, and ski lessons for kids. With a little planning, your family ski trip to Nozawa Onsen can be as memorable as ours.

Where to Stay in Nozawa Onsen

Accommodation in Nozawa Onsen tends to be traditional, with family-run lodges and pensions being the norm. While there are no large-scale resorts, western-style options like self-contained apartments are becoming more common. Here are some key things to know:

• Traditional Japanese Lodging: Many options feature shared bathrooms and access to private or public onsens. Staying in these accommodations is part of the authentic Nozawa experience.
• Western-Style Choices: Ideal for families who prefer private bathrooms and a bit more modern convenience.

During our four-night visit, we stayed at Address Nozawa, which primarily offers western-style suites of various sizes alongside some Japanese-style rooms. We absolutely loved our stay—it truly had the best of all worlds. We opted for a western-style room with a private bathroom, but the property also features its own onsens that guests can book for private use.

The facilities were excellent, including a drying room for ski gear, laundry facilities with washers and dryers, private onsens, and incredibly helpful reception staff.

The location was unbeatable—right in the heart of the village, just off the main road (Oyu Street), where you’ll find many restaurants, bars, convenience stores, and souvenir shops.

Tips for Booking Accommodation

Helpful accommodation websites:

Both were great in communicating with me to find our perfect stay – just email with your dates, budget and what you are looking for in your accommodation.

How to get to Nozawa Onsen

We love a good road trip in Japan – seeing different sites at our own pace and flexibility. However, when it comes to Nozawa Onsen, skip the car. While we did consider renting one, the hassle of navigating the villages narrow streets and finding parking would have been more trouble than it was worth.

Thankfully, Japan’s incredible transport system made reaching Nozawa Onsen easy and efficient.

From Tokyo

The easiest way to reach Nozawa Onsen from Tokyo is via the JR East Hokuriku Shinkansen to Iiyama Station, followed by a short bus ride. Here’s what you need to know.

1. Train Journey:
   • The shinkansen ride takes just under two hours.
   • Non-reserved seats cost approximately ¥16,500 for two adults and ¥4,120 for one child. Reserved seats are slightly more expensive, and the luxurious Gran Class is almost double the cost.
   • Bento boxes are a must! There are several places in Tokyo Station to purchase. We also grabbed katsu sandwiches from the bakery and enjoyed them on board.
2. Bus to Nozawa Onsen
   • From Iiyama Station, it’s a 25 minute bus ride to the village. Tickets can be purchased from machines at the station for ¥600 per adult and ¥300 per child.
   • The bus makes three stops in Nozawa, so be sure to check which is closest to your accommodation. Luggage is stored underneath the bus, though if you’re bringing large items like snowboard bags, we highly recommend using Japan’s luggage-forwarding service (takkyubin). It’s worth every yen to avoid the embarassment of struggling with oversized bags on the shinkansen and making sure everyone has a comfortable ride.
3. Return
   • Leaving Nozawa is just as simple. The bus back to Iiyama Station operates early in the morning if you’re heading to another destination, as we did en route to Toyama for a flight. While the early buses were quiet, it may get busier later in the day and is also used by locals. If you’re travelling during peak times, consider arriving at the bus stop early to secure a spot.

From Kyoto or Osaka it will take around 4-5 hours to travel there with a combination of local trains, limited express trains and the shinkansen. Check Google Maps for your most convenient route.

Getting around Nozawa

Fortunately, Nozawa Onsen is a pretty small town so it is all walkable, particularly when you are heading out for meals and drinks. There is also a free shuttle bus running through the Winter season if you would prefer that over carrying your gear. You can check out the stations here https://en.nozawaski.com/access/village-free-shuttle-bus/ as well as finding the link to see it’s live location. Very handy for getting out the door on time!

Nozawa is also home to Yuu Road – a covered travelator-style walkway that connects the village to the Hikage Ski area. It is incredibly convenient for skiers and snowboarders to get to and from the mountain without navigating the steep road up and especially helpful for families as it saves time and energy while offering shelter from the elements to and from the mountain. We really appreciated it, after navigating the stairs up to it! Note that it is only open from 8:00am – 4:30pm during the main Winter season.

Rental Gear

There are plenty of places to hire your ski gear from in Nozawa, and there doesn’t ever seem to be any shortages. You can book in advance with several of them if you prefer to lean on the side of caution. There are two main gondolas, the Hikage Gondola and the Nagasaka Gondola. We chose the Hikage Gondola area as our base each day as that is where we dropped our son for ski school.

There are two rental shops at Hikage – Olive Rental Shop and Shirakaba Rental. Both had great equipment and staff (and great coffees!). Olive was cheaper than Shirakaba at the time. Both stores allow you to leave your gear there overnight which was a huge relief, meaning we didn’t need to carry it up to the mountain each day! They also charge a small fee to keep your gear there if you don’t rent from them (though they allowed my husband to store his things for free since we were renting from them).

We didn’t find ourselves over at Nagasaka Gondola; however, you can find a full list of rental stores at https://en.nozawaski.com/the-mountain/hire/other-rental-shops/ so you can find one suitable for your location and plans and most have their pricing available online.

Lift Tickets

• Children under 5 are free if they pass through with an adult.
• Night skiing is an additional cost (¥2700 adults ¥1600 children)
• You can also purchase points tickets, sightseeing gondola rides or a 4 hour pass

Check most up to date prices here: https://en.nozawaski.com/the-mountain/lift-ticket/ticket-prices/

Ski School / Lessons

The most important tip for lessons, particularly kids ski school, is to book well in advance.

Canyons

Canyons begin their lessons at the Hikage Gondola. Our son spent three days in ski school with them and they were wonderful. The instructors were fun and made the days really enjoyable for him. The classes are available in levels 1-5 and children above 7 years old can choose between ski and snowboard.

Full day lessons (7-14 years) run from 10:00am – 3:30pm and include a meal. Cost ¥16000 per day. Morning classes are from 10:00am – 12:30pm for ¥12000.

For younger kids (4-6 year) the full day is ¥18000 and the half day is ¥13000.

Private adult lessons range from ¥32000 for a two hour lesson, through to ¥90000 for a premium full day. The two hour lessons are generally enough to get you up and moving or refresh your skills. To really get the most out of your time, a few lessons across days is definitely a great strategy to build your confidence and skills.

Nozawa Ski School

Nozawa Ski School begin their lessons at Mt Dock at Nagasaka Gondola. Ski school prices are the same as Canyons, running from 10:45am – 3:30pm for ¥16000. They take children from 5 – 12 years of age.

Private lessons are also a little cheaper, ranging from ¥29000 for a two hour lesson to ¥74000 for a full day.

If you have booked accommodation through them you will get priority availability in their ski school. As we did not, we were told we would have to wait until closer to our travel time. Unfortunately, this did not suit us as we were worried about missing out and hence, we booked with Canyons.

Stay Nozawa Ski School

Lessons for Stay Nozawa Ski School are run from both Hikage and Nagasaka Gondolas and they focus on private lessons of up to four people, including family groups.

Pricing ranges from ¥29000 for a two hour lesson to ¥81000 for a full day.

Family-Friendly Restaurants in Nozawa Onsen

The food in Nozawa blew us away – every night was a different delicious meal! The local specialties are manju and oyaki due to the natural hot springs that are used to cook them. These are traditional steams buns, with manju typically filled with sweet red bean paste and oyaki stuffed with savory or sweet fillings like nozawana greens or pumpkin. Our favourite local dish was Nozawana – a Japanese pickled mustard green vegetable known for its tangy, savoury taste and enjoyed as a side dish (though main feature!).

Onsen tamago (egg) is another local favourite, and you can even cook your own at various onsens around the village. Look out for instructions as the timing will be different depending on each individual onsens temperature.

Whilst the food in Nozawa is amazing, you run the risk of missing out if you don’t book early. Particularly if you are visiting during the peak Winter season.

Some accommodation will reach out to you in advance, as Address Nozawa did prior to our visit and make bookings on your behalf with your selected restaurants. Many restaurants will have seasonal English speaking staff so you are able to call or message to make a booking. Others can be made online.

When planning our bookings we simply spent some time looking at restaurants and their reviews / menus on Google Maps to help us choose. Our accommodation also sent us a recommendations list with a brief description of the cuisine and price range which was really helpful.

Our favorite restaurants were all places we managed to book on the day, which was a relief after a hiccup with our reservation emails not going through in the months leading up to our trip. Thankfully, we were pleasantly surprised by how fantastic these last-minute options turned out to be.

• Tonkichi – okonomiyaki restaurant
• Sumo – nabe – this was our first nabe experience and we still talk about it!
• Toyo Ramen – a little family run restaurant
• Suminoya Yakiniku

These were all family friendly, although it worth checking out menus to make sure that they suit your family’s needs. Some offered a kids menu, though that doesn’t seem to be consistent across restaurants.

We also loved Bar and Karaoke Box Heaven and Balance Bar for a drink before we headed out for dinner. They were both great for kids with some games on hand to keep them entertained.

Supermarkets

Many families appreciate having a kitchenette, giving them the flexibility to prepare their own meals. We certainly made use of ours, especially for breakfast each morning. It’s also a great option for evenings when the kids are exhausted after a big day on the slopes, and relaxing in the comfort of your accommodation feels like the best choice.

In Nozawa, you will find a couple of small supermarket stores for your basic needs.

• Rainbow Supermarket – on the outskirts of Nozawa
• Food Centre UOYASU located in centra Nozawa on the main street
• Yamazaki – small convenience store located in the centre of Nozawa, just off the main street. This was great for quick treats, snacks and drinks.

Tsuruya Supermarket – You can also use the Nozawa Liner Bus to take a 20 minute ride to Iiyama to shop at Tsuruya supermarket, which is a full size supermarket with a much wider range of items and is more suitable for stocking up on family needs.

Ready to plan your unforgettable family ski trip to Nozawa Onsen? Start booking your accommodation and ski school places early to secure your spot in this charming village—and don’t forget to pack your sense of adventure! If you found this guide helpful, share it with fellow travellers or leave a comment with your own tips and experiences below.