Nagano Hidden Gems
16 spots
Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route — Roof of Japan Traverse
The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route (立山黒部アルペンルート) is a 90km mountain sightseeing route crossing the Northern Japanese Alps…
Kamikochi Valley — Alpine Sanctuary at 1,500m
Kamikochi sits at 1,500 meters in a glacial valley carved between 3,000-meter peaks. The road in closes mid-November thr…
Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park — Wild Macaques in Hot Springs
Jigokudani Yaen-koen (地獄谷野猿公苑, 'Hell Valley Wild Monkey Park') is the only place in the world where wild Japanese macaqu…
Daio Wasabi Farm — Japan's Largest Wasabi Fields
Daio Wasabi Farm (大王わさび農場) is Japan's largest wasabi cultivation facility, covering 15 hectares of terraced fields fed b…
Nozawa Onsen — Ski Village with 13 Public Bathhouses
Nozawa Onsen (野沢温泉) is a 700-year-old hot spring village that doubles as one of Japan's premier ski resorts. The village…
Shibu Onsen — Nine Bathhouse Pilgrimage Town
Shibu Onsen has operated for 1,300 years as a hot spring village, and walking its cobblestone alleys at night under gas…
Bessho Onsen — Kamakura of Shinano
Bessho Onsen (別所温泉) is a quiet hot spring town with a remarkable concentration of Kamakura-period (1185–1333) temples, e…
Hakuba Valley — 1998 Olympic Ski Resort
Hakuba Valley (白馬) is a collection of 10 interconnected ski resorts in the Northern Japanese Alps, host of alpine skiing…
Hotaka Mountain Range — Alpine Climbing Challenge
The Hotaka Range runs along the spine of the Northern Japanese Alps, a series of 3,000-meter peaks connected by knife-ed…
Karuizawa Resort Town — Mountain Retreat Since 1886
Karuizawa (軽井沢) is Japan's original resort town, established in 1886 when Canadian missionary Alexander Croft Shaw built…
Shiraito Falls — Silk-Thread Waterfall in Forest
Shiraito Falls (白糸の滝, 'White Thread Falls') is a 70-meter-wide curtain waterfall where hundreds of thin streams cascade…
Togakushi Shrine — Five Shrines in Mountain Forest
Togakushi Shrine (戸隠神社) is a complex of five Shinto shrines scattered across the forested slopes of Mount Togakushi, con…
Utsukushigahara Open-Air Museum — Sculpture at 2,000m
Utsukushigahara Open-Air Museum (美ヶ原高原美術館) is Japan's highest art museum, located at 2,000 meters elevation on the Utsuk…
Happo Pond — Mirror Lake Reflecting the Alps
Happo Pond (八方池) is a small alpine pond at 2,060 meters elevation on the Happo-one ski resort's summer hiking trail, fam…
Yudanaka Onsen — Gateway to Snow Monkeys
Yudanaka Onsen (湯田中温泉) is a traditional hot spring town serving as the gateway to Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park. The town…
Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route — Japan's Roof at 3,000 Meters
The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is 90 kilometers of cable cars, ropeways, trolley buses, and highland coaches cutting t…