Things to do
A year around the house, season by season.
What to do in each season, and the festival dates worth planning a trip around. Everything here is within about an hour of the house; most of it is much closer.
Festival calendar
Dates to plan around.
- Dosojin Fire FestivalNozawa Onsen · main night 15 January
- Kamakura Village snow hutsShinanodaira, Iiyama
- Iiyama Snow FestivalIiyama town · one weekend
- Iiyama Nanohana FestivalNanohana Park, Iiyama
- Togari Onsen Summer Festival & fireworksTogari Onsen ski resort
- Iiyama Lantern FestivalHonmachi shopping street, Iiyama
- Nozawa Onsen Lantern FestivalYuzawa Shrine, Nozawa Onsen
- Kosuge Hashiramatsu fire ritualKosuge, Iiyama · next in 2028
Dates follow the usual pattern from recent years. Exact days and times are confirmed by the organisers each year, so check before you travel, or ask us when you enquire.
Winter · December – March
Snow country at full depth.
Festivals
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Nozawa Onsen Dosojin Fire Festival
One of Japan's three great fire festivals. Villagers aged 25 and 42 defend a huge wooden shrine while others attack it with burning torches, until the whole structure goes up in flames. In 2027 the main night falls on Friday 15 January.
In recent years entry to the evening fire ceremony has been limited to village residents and guests staying inside Nozawa Onsen village. Check the current rules before planning your night around it.
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Kamakura Village, Shinanodaira
A field of snow huts (kamakura) built each winter just a few minutes from the house. Book a hut for lunch or dinner and eat noroshi-nabe hotpot by lantern light inside.
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Iiyama Snow Festival
Giant snow sculptures built by local teams fill the town, with snow slides, food stalls and night illuminations. In 2026 it ran on 7 – 8 February.
Things to do
- Ski or snowboard at Nozawa Onsen (10 min), Togari Onsen (5 min), or one of more than twenty resorts within the hour. Adult lift tickets run from about ¥3,500 for a half day to ¥9,500 for a full day. See the list →
- Soak in Nozawa's 13 public bathhouses, free to use and at their best when it's snowing.
- Snowshoe through beech forest on the Nabekura plateau above Iiyama, with guided tours available.
- Visit the snow monkeys bathing in their own hot spring at Jigokudani, about an hour away.
- Try a backcountry or powder guide day with a local guiding outfit.
- Walk Iiyama's temple district under snow, then warm up over Tomikura soba.
Spring · April – May
Snow up high, blossom down low.
Festivals
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Iiyama Nanohana Festival
Hillsides of yellow rapeseed flowers above the Chikuma River, with snow still on the mountains behind. Held at Nanohana Park every year over the Golden Week holidays, with music, local food and boat crossings on the river.
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Cherry blossom season
Not a single festival but a few weeks of blossom around Iiyama, including the castle-ruins park in town. Timing shifts with the weather each year.
Things to do
- Spring ski the upper slopes of Nozawa Onsen, which usually stay open into early May.
- Fly fish the snowmelt streams for iwana and yamame as the mountain rivers open up. The season opens on 16 March. Fly fishing guide →
- Walk the flower fields at Nanohana Park and around the small lake at Kitaryuko.
- Eat sansai, the wild mountain vegetables that appear on every local menu as the snow retreats.
- Cycle the Chikuma River valley on quiet farm roads while the peaks are still white.
Summer · June – August
Green mountains and cool evenings.
Festivals
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Togari Onsen Summer Festival
Five minutes from the house: food stalls, stage events and lanterns at the foot of the ski slopes, finishing with fireworks after dark.
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Iiyama Lantern Festival
Hand-made paper lanterns light the old shopping streets of Iiyama from late afternoon into the evening. Held on 11 August in both 2025 and 2026.
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Kosuge Hashiramatsu fire ritual
A rare mountain-worship ritual at Kosuge, where children are carried up tall brushwood pillars to race to light them. Last held in 2025.
Things to do
- Hike the Shin-etsu Trail, the long ridge path along the Nagano–Niigata border, in day sections.
- Ride the Nozawa Onsen gondola to the Uenotaira highlands for alpine meadows and easy walks.
- Walk to Kosuge Shrine along its avenue of giant cedars.
- Canoe, raft or SUP on the Chikuma River.
- Mountain bike the Nozawa Onsen bike park. The Nagasaka Gondola carries you and your bike up for about 10 km of downhill trail over roughly 700 m of descent, with beginner, intermediate and advanced lines. Open mid July to late October (18 July – 25 October in 2026). Hire bikes at the gondola base, or ride with a guide from Compass House in the village.
- Ride the old trails of Mt Madarao, about half an hour away: ten mapped routes on forest single track, gravel roads and old village paths, some running all the way down to Iiyama. Guided downhill tours and bike hire, including e-bikes, run from the activity centre at Iiyama Station.
- Fly fish the higher, cooler streams in the early morning and evening.
Autumn / Fall · September – November
Lanterns, last casts and red hills.
Festivals
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Nozawa Onsen Lantern Festival
The annual festival of Yuzawa Shrine. On the evening of the 8th, fireworks open a lantern procession through the village, with masked dancers, flaming torches and street stalls. A portable shrine parades through town on the 9th.
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Autumn colour (fall foliage)
The beech and maple turn from the mountaintops down to the valley over several weeks. The upper slopes peak first, the valley floor last.
Things to do
- Fly fish the final weeks of the stream season in September, with low clear water and hungry fish. The trout season closes on 30 September. Fly fishing guide →
- Mountain bike at its best. From late September the trails are cooler and drier, and in October you ride through the turning forest. The Nozawa Onsen bike park runs until late October. Between late August and mid September it closes Tuesday to Thursday, so plan your riding days around that.
- Hike the foliage on the Shin-etsu Trail and the Nabekura beech forests.
- Taste the harvest: new-crop rice, fresh soba and apples from the valley orchards.
- Watch the nozawana harvest in early November, when villagers wash the greens in the hot-spring water before pickling.
- Take the long soak. The bathhouses are quiet and the evenings are cold enough to want one.
Planning around a festival?
Tell us which one and we'll check the house is free for those dates.
Check dates & enquire