Nagano, Japan · Asia
Karuizawa is worth a stop: 20 minutes from Miyota, 25km from Mount Haruna Touge.
Karuizawa is in Nagano, Japan, with about 20,000 people. You drive on the left here. The nearest town is Miyota, about 11 km away.
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Discover famous landmarks, scenic roads, and more near Karuizawa.
Within an hour or so of Karuizawa: Usui Pass (2 km), Mount Haruna Touge (25 km), Kusatsu Yubatake (31 km), Shibu Pass (36 km).
The nearest famous roads are Mount Haruna Touge, Shibu Pass and Venus Line.
Karuizawa is in Nagano, Japan, about 11 km from Miyota.
Road trip
Add it as a stop and the planner works out the driving, the nights and what's worth seeing on the way.
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Places within a drive of Karuizawa. Keep the ones you like and add them to your trip.
Essential numbers in Japan
Japan Helpline (24h English assistance): 0570-000-911. An International Driving Permit (1949 convention) is required to drive.
Full driving guide for Japan8 notable places within an hour's drive.
mountain pass
Historic pass on the old Nakasendo route between Gunma and Karuizawa, packed with 180-plus corners and the brick Megane-bashi viaduct. Another Initial D battleground beloved by drivers and rail historians alike.
2 km · about 5 min drive
famous road
The winding climb to Lake Haruna in Gunma, immortalised as 'Mount Akina' in Initial D. Gentle hairpins, a crater lake at the top, and constant pilgrimages by fans of Japan's street-racing manga.
25 km · about 30 min drive
photogenic
The steaming timber sluice at the centre of Kusatsu, where 4,000 litres a minute of highly acidic spring water is cooled across wooden channels before reaching the baths. Floodlit and clouded in steam after dark.
31 km · about 35 min drive
mountain pass
At 2,172 m this is the highest point on any Japanese national highway, on Route 292 between Nagano and Gunma. In spring the road is cut through snow walls several metres high.
36 km · about 40 min drive
landmark
A thousand-year-old spa at the foot of the Nagano hills, ringed by ancient temples including a rare octagonal three-storey pagoda. Three small public baths still serve the village for a few coins.
43 km · about 50 min drive
natural wonder
A unique hot spring area where wild Japanese macaques famously bathe in steaming thermal pools surrounded by snow.
45 km · about 50 min drive
landmark
A cobbled onsen village of wooden inns where guests in yukata and geta make a circuit of nine small public bathhouses. It is the road-end village below the snow monkey valley.
46 km · about 55 min drive
photogenic
A small irrigation reservoir whose acidic, iron-rich water holds a still green surface mirroring the birch and larch on its bank. It became famous as the subject of a Higashiyama Kaii painting.
47 km · about 55 min drive
Other places to explore near Karuizawa.
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