Nagano Travel Guide

The world's only place where wild Japanese macaques (snow monkeys, Nihonzaru) can be observed bathing in natural hot spring pools in a mountain valley. The park sits at 850 metres elevation in the Yokoyu River valley, where boiling geothermal water erupts from the rocky slopes — giving the area its name "Jigokudani" (Hell Valley). The monkeys discovered the warmth of the springs in the 1960s and have passed the tradition down through generations for 60+ years.

One of Japan's most important Buddhist temples, founded in 642 AD and home to the first Buddhist image ever brought to Japan — the Ikko Sanzon Amida Nyorai (One Light, Three Buddhas) — which has been kept hidden for 1,400 years and is displayed to the public only once every seven years (next: 2033). Despite this, Zenkoji draws 6 million visitors annually, making it Japan's most visited temple complex outside Kyoto and Nara. The temple is uniquely non-sectarian — welcoming all Buddhist sects — and all-inclusive of women at a time when most Japanese temples were exclusively male.

Japan's oldest surviving five-storey castle keep and one of only 12 original keeps remaining from the feudal era — built between 1592 and 1614, it has never been destroyed by earthquake, fire, or war. The castle's dramatic black-and-white exterior, reflected perfectly in the surrounding moat against a backdrop of the Japanese Alps (on clear days), makes it one of the most-photographed structures in Japan. The interior contains Japan's most extensive original samurai weaponry collection across six floors of steep original wooden ladders.

One of Japan's premier ski destinations, hosting the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics downhill events and now the choice destination for powder-seeking skiers from Australia and Europe. The Hakuba Valley encompasses 10 ski resorts accessible on a single lift pass, with 29 lifts, 200+ runs, and an average annual snowfall of 11 metres. In summer, the valley transforms into a hiking and cycling destination — the Happo-one highland plateau above the ski resort offers spectacular views of the Japanese Alps.

A deeply sacred Shinto shrine complex scattered across five sub-shrines in a cedar forest on Mount Togakushi, dating to the 9th century. The approach to the Oku-sha (inner shrine) through 2 kilometres of towering cedar trees, some over 400 years old, is one of Japan's most awe-inspiring temple approaches. The area is also the birthplace of ninjutsu (ninja arts) and home to Japan's only dedicated ninja museum.

Japan's most charming small town — a perfectly preserved merchant quarter in the Nagano basin, where the town's chestnuts (kuri), sake, and art culture converge around the Hokusai Museum. The artist Katsushika Hokusai spent his final creative years here (1842–1844) from age 82, producing the magnificent Festival Wagon ceiling paintings (Saikan and Higashi Machi) that are now the centrepiece of the museum. Obuse has cultivated its arts-and-crafts heritage into a model rural tourism town with sake breweries, coffee shops, and craft studios lining restored kura storehouses.

Japan's largest ski and highland resort — a vast volcanic plateau at 1,300–2,300 metres altitude hosting 21 interconnected ski resorts on a single lift pass. In summer, Shiga Kogen transforms into one of Japan's finest highland hiking destinations with mountain marshes, crater lakes, rare wildflower meadows, and the spectacular Shibu-toge pass. The 1998 Winter Olympics biathlon and cross-country skiing events were held here.

The castle of the Sanada clan — one of Japan's most celebrated samurai families, immortalised in countless historical dramas for twice repelling Tokugawa Ieyasu's massive armies in 1585 and 1600 with a fraction of the defending forces. The reconstructed turrets and original stone walls of Ueda Castle sit in a beautiful park with 1,000 cherry trees, while the adjacent Sanada Museum traces the clan's extraordinary history through armour, weapons, and NHK drama memorabilia.