Nozawa Onsen — photo: Hideyuki KAMON · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Nozawa onsen: the thirteen free baths, the scalding sulfur water, and getting there
Nozawa is known abroad as a ski resort, and in winter most of the people in its lanes are there for the snow. It is also one of the old bath villages of Japan, with thirteen small public baths that are free to use and are looked after by the people who live there. Most guides give you the list of baths and the opening hours. This one is about what they leave out: how hot the water actually is and how rare that is, what the free baths expect of you in return, how long it takes to get there, and how Nozawa compares with the other ski towns if the bath is part of why you are going.
What the numbers say
Nozawa is recorded with sources from 42 to 90 °C, and its water type is sulfur. Neither fact is unusual on its own. 311 of the 1,538 towns in our database list sulfur water, and 573 of the 1,167 towns with a source temperature on record reach 42 °C, the point at which a bath can be run without heating.
The combination is rarer. Of the 208 sulfur towns with a source temperature on record, 22 reach 90 °C. Across all water types, only 51 towns in Japan do. In Nagano Prefecture, only two sulfur towns are that hot: Nozawa, and Nakabusa at 97 °C, which is a remote mountain inn rather than a village.
Heat is what you feel first. The water in the public baths arrives straight from the source and is cooled only by the air, the size of the bath and whatever cold water the locals decide to add. Near the inlet it can be close to 50 °C. The smell of sulfur is there but mild, and the water is mostly clear, sometimes with white flecks of sulfur. For why sulfur water is not always milky, see our sulfur onsen guide.
The thirteen public baths
The baths are called 外湯 (soto-yu), "outside baths", as opposed to the bath inside your inn. They are scattered through the village, a few minutes' walk apart, and range from the grand wooden 大湯 (Ōyu) in the central square, the building on most postcards, to rooms with a single tub that fit five or six people. Each is split into a men's and a women's side, and there is no attendant.
They are run by 湯仲間 (yu-nakama), groups of villagers who share the water rights and clean the baths by turns. Entry is free. There is a donation box at each door, and putting something in it is how visitors take part in that arrangement. There are no lockers, no soap, no shampoo and no towels. You undress on open shelves in a room that is often only a step away from the water.
- Bring a small towel, a larger one to dry off, and a plastic bag for your clothes if the floor is wet. Your inn will usually lend you both towels. Leave valuables at the inn.
- Wash before you get in, with the water from the bath itself; there is often no shower. Scoop water with a bucket and pour it over yourself, sitting down, away from the bath.
- Opening hours are early morning to late evening, and some baths close for cleaning in the middle of the day. Early morning is when locals use them. If you want a bath to yourself, go late in the morning.
- Many baths have two tubs, one marked hotter than the other. The "cooler" one is often still too hot for most visitors.
The general rules in our etiquette guide apply, with more weight here, because these are the villagers' own baths and they are sharing them for nothing.
The cold tap
This is the part that causes the most friction. Visitors get into a tub that is 45 °C or more, cannot stand it, and turn on the cold water. Then they leave, and the bath has been diluted for the people who come in after them, many of whom like it that hot.
If you need to cool the water, do it only while you are in the bath, add a little at a time, and turn the tap off when you leave. If a local is already in the water, ask before you touch it; a gesture toward the tap and a questioning look is enough. If the answer is no, use the other tub, or pour water over your arms and legs for a minute and try again, or come back later. Do not stir the bath with a board unless someone shows you to.
Get out if you feel dizzy. Drink water before and after, do not bathe after alcohol, and keep your first soak to a few minutes.
The Ogama and the rest of the village
At the top of the village is the 麻釜 (Ogama), a set of stone pools where the source comes up at close to boiling. Villagers use it to cook vegetables, eggs and the leaves of 野沢菜 (nozawana), the local greens that are pickled all over Japan. It is a working kitchen for the people who live there, not a sight to walk into. Look from the path and keep children back; the water is hot enough to scald.
Beyond the baths, the village is small and steep, with narrow lanes, shops selling pickles and sweets, and places to eat that stay open in the ski season. The main winter event is the 道祖神祭り (Dōsojin matsuri) fire festival every January 15th, one of the best known fire festivals in Japan. The village fills up for it, so book well ahead if you want to be there.
Getting there
Nozawa is 182 km from Tokyo Station, 39 km from Nagano Station and 12 km from Iiyama Station, in a straight line.
- From Tokyo. Take the Hokuriku Shinkansen to 飯山駅 (Iiyama Station), then a bus of about 25 minutes up to the village. Not every Shinkansen stops at Iiyama; check the service. Allow around two and a half to three hours door to door.
- From Nagano. Either take the Shinkansen one stop to Iiyama and the bus, or a direct bus from Nagano Station, which is slower.
- From Kyoto or Osaka. The Hokuriku Shinkansen now reaches Tsuruga, so the easiest route is a limited express to Tsuruga and the Shinkansen on to Iiyama, or the Tōkaidō Shinkansen to Tokyo and back out. Either is most of a day.
The bus stops near the top or bottom of the village depending on the service, and the lanes are steep; in winter they are packed snow. Many inns will collect you and your bags if you tell them your arrival time. Nozawa is not a day trip from Tokyo in any comfortable sense. One or two nights is usual, more if you are skiing. For other options from the capital, see onsen towns you can reach from Tokyo.
When to go
Winter, roughly December to March, is the ski season and the busiest time. The village is full of foreign skiers, prices are at their highest, and the smallest baths are crowded in the evening. It is also when the hot baths make the most sense.
From April to November Nozawa goes back to being an onsen village. Rooms are cheaper, the baths are quieter, and there is walking and cycling on the mountain. Many of the ski-season restaurants and bars close, so the village is sleepier; check what is open if you want to eat out rather than at your inn. See when to go for how the seasons change onsen travel more generally.
Nozawa, Hakuba or Myoko?
These are the three names that come up when people plan a ski trip in this corner of Japan. We do not cover the snow here. For the bath, they are very different.
Nozawa has the bathing built into the village: thirteen public baths on 42 to 90 °C sulfur water, all within walking distance.
Hakuba is about 60 km to the southwest. Hakuba-Happō is recorded at 50.7 °C with a pH of 11.5, the most alkaline water in our database, a simple spring that feels slippery rather than smelling of anything. Bathing in Hakuba mostly happens in hotel baths and a few day-use facilities, not in a village of public baths.
Myoko, over the border in Niigata, has several onsen villages at the foot of the ski slopes. Akakura, 25 km from Nozawa, is recorded at 40 to 60 °C with bicarbonate and sulfate water, and Ikenotaira has sulfur water at 72 °C with 20 inns. Myoko is the closest to Nozawa in feel, but without the free public baths.
If the bath matters as much as the snow, Nozawa is the one. If you want an easy bath at the end of the day and do not care much about the water, all three will do.
Nearby, and very different
Togari, 5 km away and another ski village, is recorded at 31 to 34 °C, a simple spring heated to bathing temperature, with 40 inns. It is quieter and closer to the station, but the water is nothing like Nozawa's.
About 20 km to the southeast is the Yudanaka-Shibu cluster: Shibu, with its own nine locked public baths for guests, and the snow monkeys at Jigokudani. Nearby Kakuma is recorded at 98 °C. Most of the water there is salt and sulfate rather than sulfur. Our Japanese Alps guide covers them. The two areas are close on a map but not directly connected by rail, so allow half a day to move between them.
Kusatsu, the strongly acidic sulfur town in Gunma, is 36 km away in a straight line, but the mountain road between them is closed in winter.
Things not to do
Do not leave the cold tap running, or dilute a bath when locals are in it without asking.
Do not skip the donation box every time. The baths are free because the villagers pay for them.
Do not walk into the Ogama or put food in it.
Do not wear silver jewellery into the water; sulfur can blacken it.
Do not assume tattoos are fine. With no attendant, nobody checks at the door, but that does not mean you are welcome; policies and attitudes vary. See going to an onsen with tattoos, or book an inn with a private bath.
Do not stay in a 45 °C bath until you feel faint. A few minutes is enough.
New to this? Start with how an onsen stay actually works and onsen etiquette. For the water, see reading the water sign. For the region, see Japanese Alps onsen. Going with children? See onsen with children.