Prince Hotels and Resorts Karuizawa
No snow yet. The 2026/27 season is planned to open on 31 Oct (the resort’s announcement; it moves with the snow). Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear here once snow starts to fall. Until then, the long-run record comes first.
- Elevation
- 942–1,156 m
- Across
- 1.7 km
Snow-making machines and snow guns supply the cover on these runs. The base is about a 10-minute walk from the South Exit of Karuizawa Station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. Two intermediate courses, Parallel and Panorama, point straight at Mount Asama on the way down. Sources: princehotels.co.jp (sources read 12 Oct 2026)
Below are links to its official live camera, plus 2 road cameras on the way up.
How much snow it gets
Measured by us across 3,069 ski areas by one identical method. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
The tick marks the median across every Japanese ski area we measure. All four bars run the same way — longer is better.
The quality score leaves out how much snow falls (it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind).
Compared with what is nearby
Within 50 km in a straight line. Ski areas in the same weather-model cell (about 30 km across) get the same figure.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karuizawa Snow Park | 9.5 km | 115 cm | 2167 |
| Saku Ski Garden Parada | 13.0 km | 90 cm | 2478 |
| Takamine Mountain Park Ski Area | 18.0 km | 145 cm | 1729 |
| Kazawa Snow Area | 24.0 km | 136 cm | 1860 |
| Palcall Tsumagoi Resort Ski & Hotel | 30.0 km | 178 cm | 1335 |
Compare side by side with Karuizawa Snow Park and Saku Ski Garden Parada →
Runs and lifts
Counted from the runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Run map
Slope shape, difficulty and lift types
The shape of the mountain
Which way the slopes face
Only 43% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. More of the terrain faces the sun.
By difficulty
Lift types
- Chairlift8
See past trail maps on Skimap.org ↗
Source: OpenSkiMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Vertical is the difference between the highest and lowest points of the mapped runs and lifts.
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in March. March brings as much as January, or more. In amount, March brings 31 cm, less than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 81 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2025/26 with 39 cm; the biggest was 2015/16 with 126 cm (3.2 times as much).
Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.
Model estimates: on Japanese mountains they run at about 60% of measured snowfall. Compare ranks, not resort-published totals. How we measure
Live cameras
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Karuizawa and Asama webcams & snow report — all 3 ski areas →
Worth seeing nearby
Places within 20 km (straight line) of this ski area, for a day off the slopes or an evening. Chosen from those most read about on Wikipedia, favouring places with an English Wikipedia article, and listed nearest first. Some lie over a mountain pass that is closed in winter.
Show the list
| Place | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Usui Pass碓氷峠 | Nature | 0.7 km |
| Karuizawa軽井沢町 | Old streets | 4.4 km |
| Usui Bridge No. 3碓氷第三橋梁 | Landmark | 5.5 km |
| Usui Pass Railway Heritage Park碓氷峠鉄道文化むら | Museum | 8.1 km |
| Yokokawa Station横川駅 (群馬県) | Landmark | 8.4 km |
| Mount Asama浅間山 | Mountain | 13.3 km |
Based on the Japanese Wikipedia lists of sights in each prefecture, as compiled in travel-log-data (CC BY-SA 4.0). English names from Wikidata (CC0). The content of this section is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Going with children
- Kids’ area
- Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)
- Childcare
- Not checked
- Parking
- Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)
- Rental
- Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)
Checked on the official site (12 Oct 2026) · Source . “Not checked” means we have not looked yet. Compare with other ski areas →
Places to stay nearbyPR
Contains advertising. Property names and Rakuten Travel’s booking pages are in Japanese.
57 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within about 3 km of this ski area. The table shows the nearest 12 with a listed price.
| Property | Lowest listed (per person, tax incl.) | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 軽井沢プリンスホテル イースト | ¥15,082 | 4.33／5 210 reviews | 0.5 km | 軽井沢駅南口より8:00~21:00時の間、約30分間隔にて無料シャトルバスを随時運行☆ |
| ザ・プリンス ヴィラ軽井沢 | ¥33,302 | 4.00／5 10 reviews | 0.6 km | 軽井沢駅南口より8:00~21:00時の間、約30分間隔にて無料シャトルバスを随時運行。 |
| GLAMDAY STYLE HOTEL SUITE 山ノ麓 | ¥17,820 | 5.00／5 6 reviews | 0.7 km | 軽井沢駅よりお車で約2分、軽井沢ICよりお車で約15分 |
| 軽井沢プリンスホテル ウエスト | ¥8,275 | 4.32／5 2941 reviews | 0.8 km | 軽井沢駅南口より8:00~21:00時の間、約30分間隔にて無料シャトルバスを随時運行。 |
| アパホテル〈軽井沢駅前〉軽井沢荘 (2026年5月リニューアル) | ¥9,360 | 3.98／5 1402 reviews | 0.9 km | 北陸新幹線、しなの鉄道 軽井沢駅北口より徒歩2分/上信越自動車道碓氷軽井沢ICより車で約20分(約12km) |
| 東急バケーションズ軽井沢 | ¥10,210 | 4.83／5 37 reviews | 0.9 km | JR長野新幹線 軽井沢駅より車1分、または徒歩15分 |
| ザ・プリンス軽井沢 | ¥15,949 | 4.46／5 319 reviews | 0.9 km | 軽井沢駅南口より8:00~21:00時の間、約30分間隔にて無料シャトルバスを随時運行。 |
| HACIENDA KARUIZAWA HOTEL(ハシェンダ 軽井沢 ホテル) | ¥28,512 | — | 1.0 km | 軽井沢駅より徒歩1分(駅直結) |
| ゲストハウス シャコンヌ軽井沢 | ¥5,316 | 4.80／5 102 reviews | 1.1 km | 軽井沢駅より徒歩にて約15分 |
| DESIGN HOTEL SPACE.K | ¥7,000 | 4.18／5 128 reviews | 1.1 km | 軽井沢駅より徒歩にて約1.2km、15~20分前後(アウトレット内を通り抜けます) |
| 軽井沢フォーシーズホテル | ¥7,800 | — | 1.1 km | 軽井沢駅よりお車で約8分、関越自動車道上信越自動車道「碓氷軽井沢IC」より約40分 |
| The FOREST Retreat Karuizawa | ¥102,000 | — | 1.2 km | 上信越自動車道 碓氷軽井沢ICから約15分 |
Prices are the lowest Rakuten Travel lists, not the price for your dates. The button above, or a property name, shows prices for the dates you pick.
The button above also checks the other 45 for the same dates.
Contains advertising. Property names and Rakuten Travel’s booking pages are in Japanese. · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Places to stay on the map
29 places within 12 km of the slopes, as mapped on OpenStreetMap, including small inns and pensions that are on no booking site. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the name for the website or the map.
Nearest: 0.9 km
Show the nearest places
Nearest first
- APA Hotel 0.9 km
- Karuizawa Prince Hotel West 0.9 km
- Hotel Grand Vert 1.3 km
- キャンディタフト 2.5 km
- ジャックと豆の木 2.6 km
- ルーラン 2.6 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
“ad” marks links that pay us a commission if you book. Links without it are not affiliated.
Guides covering Nagano
- A Strong El Niño Is Forecast. Here Is What the Last Big One Did to Japan's Snow. NOAA expects a strong or very strong El Niño this winter. We measured every Japanese ski area across the last 12 winters: El Niño winters ran 88% of normal, and the strongest of the twelve left Japan at 63%. But Hakuba held 92% of its average that winter while Niseko fell to 57%.
- Which Famous Ski Resorts Actually Get the Most Snow? 24 Names, Measured Niseko is 526th in the world for snowfall. Zermatt is 554th, Jackson Hole 924th, Aspen 1,201st. Measured identically across 3,069 ski areas, the names everyone books and the places it actually snows turn out to be two different lists.
- How Japan's Early-Bird Lift Tickets Work: At Hakuba Happo-One, Eight of the Nine Need a Japanese ID Card Hakuba Happo-One opened early-bird sales at 10:00 on 1 October. A day costs ¥6,400 against ¥9,800 at the window, 35% off. But every ticket on the list except one needs a My Number Card and a Japanese phone app. A visitor from abroad can buy exactly one of them, at 15% off.