Karuizawa is in Nagano, on the border with Niigata and Gunma. Karuizawa is a tiny mountain resort town. It has an altitude of about 1000m and great summer temperatures (22C), which makes it a haven from city dwellers escaping the heat. It was further popularised by celebrities, such as John and Yoko, enjoying their summers at holiday homes in the town. It has been called the “Aspen of Japan”.　

In the town itself, the main attraction is the Prince Hotel. It is set on park like grounds and boasts many gourmet restaurants (these parts are all open to the public). This brings us to our main reason for visiting - It also has a HUGE discount mall. The mall consists of top brand shops (Prada, Oakley, Armani, Nike, etc), but stocks all the discount stock from Tokyo. The range of stuff here is better than anything I have ever seen in Niigata. The discounts ranged from store to store, but were always substantial, often in the 50% off range, sometimes 70% or 80% off.

As far as natural attractions go, the town has great scenery and onsen. Also, there are apparently great mountain walks. Especially around the Asama mountain area where the devastating eighteenth century eruption has creating dramatic lava flows and rock gardens. The most popular season is summer. In winter Karuizawa becomes a ski resort town, however the ski fields are not reviewed as highly as in other close by areas.

Getting there from Niigata:

Shinkansen is the most convenient way to go, but is a little expensive. The trip by shinkansen takes about 1 hr and 30min and cost about 10,000 yen.

There is a Shinkansen stop in the middle of Karuizawa Take the shinkansen from Niigata to Takasaki, change to a Shinkansen bound for Nagano. Get off at Karuizawa Station.

Car - This is perhaps the cheapest way to go! We took the express-way from Niigata towards Tokyo and got off at Maebashi, before Takasaki. Then we took route 18 until it intersected with route 17, then took route 17 towards Nagano. This takes you directly through Karuizawa. It took us about 3hours and cost about 5000yen on the express-way.

Places to stay:

There are loads of places to stay in Karuizawa, ranging from Ryokan to Luxury Hotels. However, people go to Karuizawa to spend money and unfortunately that applies to Hotels too. 7000yen per night per person would be about the cheapest. Also, I would recommend booking in advance as it is a very popular destination, especially in the weekends.

We managed to find an internet cafe at a nearby town, Saku, about 10-15min drive away.

Useful Websites:

Karuizawa Prince Shopping Plaza