Nestled at the foot of Mount Kenashi (1650m) in Northern Nagano lies Nozawa Onsen (population approx. 4000) a famous hot spring town and world class ski destination boasting over 50km of ski trails. Nozawa is a traditional Japanese mountain onsen town, with 13 public hot spring baths dotted around the village - you're spoiled for choice with places to relax after a long day on the slopes.

The Nozawa Onsen Ski Club was founded in 1918 and ski jumping was very popular in the early days. In 1930 Austrian national Hans Schneider introduced Alpine Skiing to Nozawa which ignited a new era for skiing here. The first ski lift opened in 1950 at Hikage and since then Nozawa Onsen Resort has grown to become Japan's favourite ski resort and a 'must-visit' for tourists. Nozawa has an average snowfall of over 10 meters per season and some incredible terrain in which to enjoy it - with amazing beginner slopes, a variety of intermediate runs and some steep and deep advanced terrain. It boasts some of the best lift-access backcountry in Japan (1000m vertical) and an excellent terrain park with a halfpipe!

Nozawa Onsen hosted the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Biathlon event and has a long history of raising successful ski and snowboard athletes with the highest population of Winter Olympians in all of Japan!

A huge annual event in the Nozawa Onsen calendar is the Dosojin Fire Festival. Running since 1863 on the 15th January each year, it's one of Japan's top 3 Fire Festivals drawing in huge crowds to watch this fire-fuelled spectacle.

Nozawa is well equipped with over 100 restaurants and bars serving a huge range of Japanese dishes and international cuisine across all budgets. Local beer, sake, gin and whisky are all produced here as well some local delicacies found only in Nozawa