12 Places To Visit In Karuizawa

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Filter (12)
Church & Cathedral (2)
Volcano (2)
Commercial Street (1)
Waterfall (1)

1. Shiraito Falls

7 km from city center

Waterfall

Not a single drop but a 70 metre curve of rock with spring water seeping out of the whole face in fine white threads, fed by groundwater from Mount Asama rather than a river, so it runs at the same volume all year. A flat five minute walk from the road and free. Be careful searching: the far more famous Shiraito Falls is in Shizuoka near Mount Fuji, and image libraries mix the two up constantly.

Top Attraction

1 km from city center

Lake

A small still pond ringed by larch and maple with a 20 minute path around it, and the reflection shot that sells Karuizawa in autumn. Peak colour is roughly late October into early November and it is worth planning around, because for the rest of the year this is a pleasant pond rather than a destination. Free, and walkable from Karuizawa station in about 20 minutes.

Top Attraction

1 km from city center

Church & Cathedral

A church of overlapping stone and glass arches half buried in the hillside, built for the Christian thinker Uchimura Kanzo, with water running through the interior and light entering only from the curved glass bands. There is nothing else like it in Japan. One practical caution: it closes to sightseers during weddings, which happen often and are not published in advance.

3 km from city center

Church & Cathedral

A small wooden church of 1935 by Antonin Raymond, who worked under Frank Lloyd Wright, with a steep shingled roof, a thin spire and an interior of exposed timber trusses. It is free, it is right off the Ginza street, and it has been photographed so often that it has become the town's emblem. Five minutes of your time, and the natural pairing with a walk down the old high street.

3 km from city center

Commercial Street

The old resort high street, where the missionaries and Tokyo families who made Karuizawa a summer retreat in the 1880s did their shopping, now jam shops, bakeries, coffee houses and boutiques. Note it is not at Karuizawa station: it is about 20 minutes north, and that trips people up. Many shops shorten hours or close through the winter.

4 km from city center

Viewpoint

A deck on the ridge above the old town looking east over the Kanto plain, with Mount Asama on one side and the jagged Myogi range on the other. It is the one genuine panorama in a town otherwise made of woodland and streets. Free, reachable on foot from the Ginza in about an hour or by seasonal shuttle bus. Best early, before haze builds over the plain.

7. Onioshidashi Park

11 km from city center

Volcano

A field of black lava boulders left by Mount Asama's catastrophic eruption of 1783, with paths threading through it and a temple built in the middle. It looks like nowhere else in Japan. Two things to know: it is in Gunma rather than Karuizawa, about 40 minutes by car, and public transport out here is seasonal and thin, so this is a drive or a tour.

9 km from city center

Volcano

An active 2,568 metre volcano that stands over every view in the town and has shaped the whole landscape around it, Onioshidashi included. Climbing is governed by the alert level: the summit crater of Maekake-yama is normally off limits and walkers are routed to Kurofu-yama instead. Restrictions change, so check the current level before setting out rather than relying on any guide.

1 km from city center

Garden & Park

A lakeside park holding Meiji and Taisho era villas moved here and restored, including houses connected to the writers who summered in Karuizawa, plus small museums and a rose garden. You can row on Lake Shiozawa. It combines a walk with real architectural heritage in one ticket, which is why it earns a place over the town's several small standalone museums.

3 km from city center

Forest

A hundred hectares of protected woodland with boardwalk trails and observation hides, holding around 80 species including woodpeckers and the Japanese green pigeon. Trail access is free and guided walks run from the gate. It is the best easy forest walk in the town and it sits at Naka-Karuizawa, a different station from the main one.

7 km from city center

Hot Spring

A single hotel in the larch forest west of town, and the one genuine hot spring inside Karuizawa rather than an hour away at Kusatsu. The water is clear and mild, the outdoor bath faces trees on every side, and day visitors can bathe without staying the night. It is a fifteen-minute drive from the station with no bus worth planning around, so pair it with Shiraito Falls on the same road.

30 km from city center

Day Trip

Japan's most famous hot spring town, where 34,000 litres a minute pour through the wooden Yubatake channels in the centre of the square and steam rises off the whole place day and night. Public bathhouses are free. It is in Gunma, 80 to 90 minutes away, and bus only: the railway that used to run from Karuizawa closed in 1964.