Chubu, Japan · Mountain
The mountain hot-spring town where Yasunari Kawabata wrote "Snow Country" (the very room is preserved at the Yuzawa Folklore History Museum), with the Yuzawa Ponshukan (sister sake museum to Niigata's, with its own "sake bath"), the Gala Yuzawa ski resort with its own direct Shinkansen stop, the Dragondola (Japan's longest gondola lift, 5,481m, also running in autumn), and numerous public hot-spring baths (sotoyu) around town.
Train — Direct Joetsu Shinkansen from Tokyo, no transfer, ~1h14-1h32 depending on the train, ¥6,370 unreserved (¥3,520 base fare + ¥2,850 unreserved-seat surcharge). A 100% JR East route, including the direct spur straight into the Gala Yuzawa ski resort's own station.
🛌 Pure relaxation🏟️ Sports & live events🥾 Active nature
The sister sake museum to the one at Niigata Station, with tasting vending machines and its own thermal "sake bath."
GALA Yuzawa is the only Shinkansen station in Japan that doubles as a ski resort base building: you step off the train, hire your gear and board the gondola in the same building, 77 minutes from Tokyo.
Japan's largest outdoor festival has been held since 1999 at the Naeba ski resort, within the municipality of Yuzawa itself: seven stages spread across the mountain and more than 50,000 people a day. The site is sloping forest, so waterproof boots and a rain jacket are needed even in July.
Preserves the very room where Yasunari Kawabata wrote the novel "Snow Country," set in this same hot-spring town, alongside exhibits on daily life in the snow country.
Eight minutes on foot from the station, a 166-person cabin, one of the largest in the world, climbs to 1,000 metres in seven minutes. At the top there is a botanical garden with more than 200 high-mountain species, walkways and a panoramic foot bath.
Japan's longest gondola lift (5,481m), linking the Naeba and Tashiro ski areas, also running in autumn for sightseeing.
A solitary inn in a ravine at 800 metres, reached over a private bridge. Its water comes out at 37 degrees with a flow of about 400 litres per minute and ranks among Japan's three great springs for the eyes; it is documented from 1486.
Seven different workshops at the Daigenta experience centre: soba, sasa-dango wrapped in bamboo leaf, anbo, the stuffed rice ball of Uonuma, konjac, miso, chimaki and rice flour bread.
A night gondola from the Naeba Prince hotel up to a terrace at around 1,500 metres, with an astronomy museum, an astronomy library and a cafe. It runs only in a few windows each year, mainly in spring and late summer.
Inside Echigo-Yuzawa station itself, a hot spring bath dosed with a bathing alcohol developed from the local sake. The alcohol content is minimal and children can go in too; it complements the tasting area of the Ponshukan.
Kawabata wrote Yukiguni in the Kasumi no Ma room of this inn between 1934 and 1937. It can only be seen by staying overnight, with no daytime visits; the hotel also screens the film adaptation every night, and its spring has been in use for more than 900 years.
With its summit at 1,845 metres and 1,225 metres of vertical drop, Kagura has the longest season near Tokyo: from late November to mid-May. It is split into three sectors of the municipality, Kagura, Mitsumata and Tashiro, with continuous runs of up to six kilometres.
The Tashiro ropeway claims the greatest height above the ground in Japan and descends to an emerald-coloured lake. It combines with the Dragondola on a joint ticket, but only during the autumn leaf window, between mid-October and early November.
A shopping arcade inside the station that recreates the gangi covered walkways with which Niigata keeps out the snow, stocked with produce from across the prefecture. This is where the bakudan onigiri are sold, giant rice balls equal to several bowls of rice.
A community race in late September through cosmos fields in bloom and freshly cut rice paddies; entries close in mid-August.
Twin falls that merge at the base, with their love legend, and a reservoir circled on foot amid sharp peaks; Daigenta-yama is nicknamed the Matterhorn of Joetsu.
In summer the resort opens a 305-metre gravity roller coaster, a giant powered swing, karts and buggies, with a free shuttle from the station and indoor attractions in case of rain.
The only Edo-period building surviving from the three post towns of the Mikuni Kaido, the route linking Edo with Echigo. It is more than 380 years old and keeps the guest registers and the rooms where the magistrate of Sado, Yamagata Aritomo and Mori Ogai stayed.
An auxiliary shrine of Mount Naeba, already listed in the 10th-century Engishiki and rebuilt in 1814. Luminous moss grows under the floorboards and a white aquatic plant flowers in the stream on the grounds from July to September.
Hand cutting with a sickle in the paddies of Minamiuonuma, source of the most expensive rice in Japan; it is held on a fixed date in late September.
A roadside station on the Mikuni Kaido itself, with produce and crafts from the Mitsumata area and a building inspired by the traditional architecture of the valley.
Several public hot-spring baths scattered around town, open to anyone without needing to stay at a ryokan with its own onsen.
A short beginners' circuit and off-piste runs through virgin snow, from December to March.
Greenhouses where the local Echigo-hime variety ripens while several metres of snow pile up outside; you pay for half an hour of all you can pick and they close when the day's fruit runs out. From January to late June.
On 15 August, summer fireworks paired with a night market of local stalls; the Naeba festival falls on the 14th.
A soto zen temple whose gate holds two guardians carved by Ishikawa Uncho, the great temple sculptor of Echigo in the 19th century, known as the Hidari Jingoro of the north.
A dozen firework sessions spread across the municipality's ski resorts between New Year's Eve and late March; the calendar can shift because of snow or wind.
On 6 August the main street of the hot spring town fills with people in yukata; the name plays on the date, eight and six.
From May to November the plateau runs a zipline, a 706-metre summer bobsleigh and mountain karts, with a play meadow for younger children.
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