Oct–NovEach winter about 20 snow huts are built in a rice field above Iiyama, and you eat a miso hot pot inside one. Below them is a castle town of temples, and the Shinkansen stop for Nozawa Onsen.
Iiyama (飯山) is the Hokuriku Shinkansen stop 11 minutes from Nagano and the gateway to Nozawa Onsen. Its winter draw is the Kamakura Village (かまくらの里): about 20 snow huts, open 22 January to 28 February 2027, where Restaurant Kamakura Village serves noroshi-nabe, a Shinshu-miso hot pot. 2027 prices are not out; in 2026 dinner was ¥6,800 and lunch ¥6,300, booked online from 19 December. The town has a temple walk, a doll museum, washi paper and the Madarao and Togari ski areas. Tokyo to Iiyama is about 1h 40m, ¥8,890 reserved.
Most visitors change at Iiyama for the bus to Nozawa and never leave the platform. That misses a town the novelist Shimazaki Tōson is credited with calling the "little Kyoto of the snow country" (雪国の小京都), and a hot pot you eat inside a hut made of snow. Below: the village in numbers, seven things to do, how to get there, and where to sleep.
The huts stand in a snow-covered rice field and are lit by lanterns after dark. Reserved guests eat noroshi-nabe, a Shinshu-miso pot of local vegetables and mushrooms, with rice balls, inside a hut. The lunch plan is a short midday slot; dinner is the popular one. Book the moment the bureau opens the 2027 plans in December. Official page.
Iiyama grew as a castle town under Uesugi Kenshin, and more than 20 temples and shrines stand around the castle site, linked by a stone-paved walking route. The easy course joins six: Daishōji, Jōfuku-ji, Myōsen-ji, Shōnen-ji, Chūon-ji and Shōjuan, in 1 to 2 hours. Shōjuan is a thatched Zen hermitage, free to enter, about 15 to 20 minutes on foot from the station. Stamp booklets cost ¥200. Paths can close in heavy snow.
The dolls of village people and country life by Takahashi Mayumi, shown in scenes of the hometown landscape. Open 10:00 to 16:00 from December to March (9:00 to 17:00 from April to November), closed on Wednesdays unless a public holiday and over New Year. Entry is ¥620 for adults and ¥410 for elementary and middle-school children. Go in the afternoon after the temple walk.
Uchiyama paper is a nationally designated traditional craft made from mulberry (kōzo) fibre only, and bleached white by spreading it on the snow in sunlight. The workshop at Iiyama 1439-1 lets you make your own sheet with pressed flowers, including postcards and bookmarks. Phone ahead for hours and to book, because winter opening varies.
Madarao has 52 courses of 100% natural snow, plans to open on 12 December 2026, and sells an all-mountain day ticket at ¥9,000 for 2026–27. Togari Onsen, across the valley from Nozawa, charged ¥5,500 for an adult day ticket last season and runs night skiing on set dates. A winter shuttle linking Nozawa, Iiyama and Madarao ran at ¥1,400 in 2025–26; check Madarao's access page. Nozawa Onsen is the bigger mountain.
Rapeseed on the east bank of the Chikuma River, with the last snow on the Sekida range behind. Free to enter, peak late April to mid-May, with the Iiyama Nanohana Festival on 3 to 5 May in 2026 and a shuttle bus from the station on those days. In 2026 the flowers peaked before the festival, so check the bloom camera. This is the reason to come back after winter.
The station opened with the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension in March 2015. The local Iiyama Line runs from Toyono, near Nagano, through Iiyama and on down the Chikuma and Shinano valleys to Echigo-Kawaguchi, 96.7 km of snow country on a diesel train. A reserved-seat scenic train, Oikotto, runs between Nagano and Tokamachi on some weekends and holidays; check JR East for dates. The JR East Pass covers the Iiyama Line.
| From | Route | Time and fare |
|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | Hokuriku Shinkansen (Hakutaka) to Iiyama | About 1h 40m, ¥8,890 reserved. Not every Hakutaka stops at Iiyama |
| Nagano | Shinkansen to Iiyama | 11 min |
| Kanazawa or Toyama | Hakutaka east to Iiyama | About 1h 30m from Kanazawa |
| Iiyama to Nozawa Onsen | Nozawa Onsen Liner bus from the station | About 25 min, ¥600; the slower town bus takes about 40 min |
| Iiyama to the snow huts | Shuttle on package plans, route bus about 20 min, car about 15 min | The bureau does not take winter taxi bookings; confirm transport when you book |
| Iiyama to Madarao | Bus from the station | See Madarao's access page for the timetable |
The JR Pass, the Hokuriku Arch Pass and the JR East Pass all cover the Shinkansen to Iiyama; buses are paid on board. The 2026–27 Nozawa bus timetable is not out yet. See Nozawa Onsen and the JR East Pass.
The village is a short season with limited seats, so the planning is the whole trip.
Iiyama has a few simple hotels, and the villages round it have ryokan and ski lodges. Prices move by date.
47 rooms about 15 minutes on foot from Iiyama Station, close to the doll museum and the temple route. A simple base for the snow-hut dinner.
A ski hotel with its own hot spring within 5 minutes of the slopes, about 30 minutes by route bus from the station. All-inclusive plans start at about ¥17,918.
A family-run minshuku 3 minutes on foot from the Togari slopes, with 12 Japanese-style rooms and rice cooked over a wood-fired kamado.
Kamakura no Sato (かまくらの里) is about 20 snow huts built each winter in a rice field above Iiyama, in Nagano. Restaurant Kamakura Village serves noroshi-nabe, a Shinshu-miso hot pot with local vegetables and mushrooms, inside the huts. The 2027 season runs 22 January to 28 February.
2027 prices are not published yet. In 2026 dinner was ¥6,800 for adults and ¥5,200 for elementary-school children, lunch ¥6,300 and ¥4,800, and preschoolers were free. Weekday dinner was a single 18:00 slot; weekends had three evening slots from 16:30.
Online, through the Shinshu Iiyama Tourism Bureau. For 2026 web booking opened on 19 December 2025 and phone booking on 15 January 2026 (0269-62-3133, weekdays 8:30–17:15). Weekend evenings fill within days of opening, and cancelling from 3 days before costs 100%.
Take the Hokuriku Shinkansen (Hakutaka) to Iiyama Station: about 1h 40m and ¥8,890 reserved. Not every Hakutaka stops there. From Nagano it is 11 minutes. The village is about 15 minutes by car from the station, and the tourism bureau does not take taxi bookings in winter, so confirm the shuttle when you book.
You can look, but you cannot eat without a reservation. In 2026 walk-in entry was ¥300 for adults and ¥100 for elementary-school children. The 2027 terms are not published yet.
For a quiet night, yes. It is a castle town with more than 20 temples and shrines, a stone-paved temple walk, a doll museum and a washi workshop, and it is where you change for Nozawa Onsen (bus 25 minutes, ¥600). Madarao and Togari ski areas are on its doorstep.
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