Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort

Nozawa Onsen is the rare Japanese ski resort where the village came first. Narrow lanes of wooden inns, steaming gutters and thirteen free public bathhouses climb the hillside, and the ski slopes rise directly from the top of the town on Mt. Kenashi. A long gondola carries skiers to the Yamabiko area near the summit, where open bowls and tree runs catch heavy snowfall from the Sea of Japan, before trails descend more than a thousand vertical metres back to the hot springs. The village keeps its traditions: the Dosojin Fire Festival in mid-January is one of Japan's great winter spectacles, and the baths close the day for locals and visitors alike. It is friendly, walkable and deeply Japanese, with lifts for every level.