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Nagano

Mountain adventures at Japan's Alps

About Nagano
Photo: Ben Beechey / JT

Top Attractions in Nagano

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Around Nagano

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Nagano Top 10

  1. Blades of Shinanomachi
    1

    Blades of Shinanomachi

    Culture
  2. Matsumoto Grand Taiko Festival
    2

    Matsumoto Grand Taiko Festival

    Matsumoto
  3. Straddling the Skyline in Shibu Toge Pass
    3

    Straddling the Skyline in Shibu Toge Pass

    Activities
  4. Onbashira Matsuri in Suwa, Nagano
    4

    Onbashira Matsuri in Suwa, Nagano

    Culture
  5. The Venus Line, Nagano
    5

    The Venus Line, Nagano

    Matsumoto
  6. Climbing Mt. Asama
    6

    Climbing Mt. Asama

    Karuizawa
  7. Suwa Taisha (Suwa Grand Shrine)
    7

    Suwa Taisha (Suwa Grand Shrine)

    Culture
  8. Nagaoka Festival
    8

    Nagaoka Festival

    Culture
  9. Frog Street in Matsumoto
    9

    Frog Street in Matsumoto

    Matsumoto
  10. Karuizawa Stone Church
    10

    Karuizawa Stone Church

    Karuizawa

Upcoming Nagano Events

Lantern Festival in Nozawa Onsen
Culture

Lantern Festival in Nozawa Onsen

Sep 8th - Sep 9th

Nozawa Holidays are hosting guests over the weekend of the 8th and 9th of September for the autumn lantern festival. The festival..

Free
Snow Machine Hakuba
Nightlife

Snow Machine Hakuba

Early - Mid Sep

For the first time, a major music festival is coming to a Japanese ski field in the winter! Snow Machine is a 4 day music festival..

¥13,000
Cosmos Season at the Kurohime Plateau
Activities

Cosmos Season at the Kurohime Plateau

Aug 1st - Oct 3rd

Nagano's Kurohime Plateau has been home to cosmos flowers for almost the last 50 years, and the area is a popular picnic spot..

3 ¥600
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Tours and experiences

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Where to eat in Nagano

St. Cousair Winery
Food

St. Cousair Winery

Robert Grey

St. Cousair, an award-winning winery located in northern Nagano Prefecture’s town of Iizuna, is a delightful spot to relax, en..

2
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Places to stay in Nagano

Yamaura Stay
Accommodation

Yamaura Stay

Nannini Cristina

Perched in the foothills of the Yatsugatake Mountains in Nagano is Yamaura, a lovely rural area that looks straight of an old Japanese..

6
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Latest Nagano Reports

Blades of Shinanomachi
Culture

Blades of Shinanomachi

Nathan Eden

I visited a knife and blade maker in Shinanomachi to see how he forges his traditional craft's products. It was both fascinating..

7
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About Nagano

Okinawa Nagasaki Fukuoka Saga Kumamoto Kagoshima Miyazaki Oita Ehime Kochi Tokushima Kagawa Yamaguchi Hiroshima Okayama Tottori Shimane Hyogo Kyoto Osaka Wakayama Nara Shiga Mie Fukui Ishikawa Toyama Gifu Aichi Nagano Shizuoka Niigata Yamanashi Kanagawa Tokyo Saitama Gunma Tochigi Chiba Ibaraki Fukushima Miyagi Yamagata Iwate Akita Aomori Hokkaido
Region Chubu
Island Honshu
Capital Nagano
Population 2,152,449
Area 13,561.56 km²

The mountainous prefecture of Nagano Prefecture (長野県, Nagano-ken) is the perfect summer resort to avoid the heat, with the town of Karuizawa being one of the most popular summer getaway spots in Japan.

Take advantage of the relatively cool weather to explore the famous Matsumoto Castle, one of Japan’s oldest shrines in Suwa Taisha, and Zenko-ji, a major pilgrimage site. Nagano’s many tall mountains serve as challenging but beautiful hiking trails, especially those of Kamikochi.

That being said, Nagano is also a great destination in the winter, and it was the host of the 1998 Winter Olympics. The prefecture’s mountains are some of the largest ski resorts in Japan, most notably Shika Kogen and Mount Hakuba. After being out in the cold, seek warmth in one of Nagano’s many famous hot springs. 

Around Nagano

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