Karuizawa Prince Hotel is a ski area (and hotel) located in Karuizawa Town in the eastern region of Nagano Prefecture.
Snow-making machines are used extensively at Karuizawa Prince Hotel due to the unpredictability of natural snow in the region. Cold temperatures during the winter make this possible.
With the help of the snow-making machines, a section of the ski area usually opens in early November. The 274m Kurinoki triple lift and 370m Prince pair lift are typically open during that very early period. It opened on 1st November for the 2024-2025 season and was the second ski area in Japan to open for the season.
Karuizawa Prince Hotel ski area features eight ski lifts in total, including two quad lifts (1000m, 1050m), one triple lift (274m), and six pair lifts (751m, 370m, 371m, 515m and 555m). The base is at an elevation of 940m.
This ski area has been operating since 1973.
Mountain
statistics
Top/peak (m)
1155
Vertical (m)
215
Bottom/base (m)
940
Beginner runs (%)
58
Intermediate runs (%)
21
Advanced runs (%)
21
Longest course (m)
1200
Steepest slope (°)
31
Number of courses
14
Ski lifts
8
Ropeway cable car
0
Gondola
0
Quad lift (4-person)
2
Triple lift (3-person)
1
Pair lift (2-person)
5
Single lift (1-person)
0
Surface lift
0
Information
Normal season dates
Karuizawa Prince Hotel usually plans to be open from early November until late March or early April. See below for the actual opening and closing dates in recent seasons.
Normal opening times
Karuizawa Prince Hotel ski area is normally open from 8:00am until 5:00pm in the main season. (Open from 8:30am until 4:30pm until 19th December 2025).
Night skiing
There is no night skiing at Karuizawa Prince Hotel.
Park
The Kurinoki Park is for beginners and open from 9:00am. There is also usually a special pole practice run available during the peak season.
Families & children
There are two main Snowman Park areas for children - the Day Trip (Higaeri) Snow Park and the East Park. These areas feature sledding areas, tubing, snow escalator and a bouncy castle type facility. The Day Trip area is open from 1st November 2025 through 31st March 2026 (the East Area opens from 20th December 2025). Entry is 2,300 yen. There is also a West Snowman Park kids park area with various items and playing-in-the-snow activities. This area is available only for Prince Hotel guests. For 2025-2026, there is a new Debut Park near the Karuizawa Prince Hotel East building.
Lessons
Ski and snowboard lessons are available at Karuizawa Prince Hotel.
Rental
Ski and snowboard equipment & wear rental is available at various base locations.
Lift ticket prices
2025-2026 season
Information for the upcoming 2026-2027 season will be added by December 2026
1 day
Adult: 10,000 yen
Child: 0 yen
Senior: 10,000 yen
Afternoon
Adult: 9,000 yen
Child: 00 yen
Senior: 8,000 yen
Season ticket
Adult: 85,000 yen
Senior: 75,000 yen
Season ticket (weekdays only)
Adult: 70,000 yen
Senior: 60,000 yen
Cheaper lift tickets are available for early season (until 19th December 2025) and spring season (from 23rd March 2026) and also for SEIBU PRINCE CLUB members.
Children up to elementary school age can ride the lifts for free.
A 'sightseeing' ticket that is valid for one (return) ride on the East high speed lift is available for 2,300 yen (1,500 yen children).
Historical snow depth data
The following ski season and official snow depth data have been independently compiled by SnowJapan for publication on this website. Where available, the data is updated annually after each ski season.
First and last dates of recent seasons
2025-2026 season: 1st November - 31st March (151 days)
2024-2025 season: 1st November - 31st March (151 days)
2023-2024 season: 1st November - 31st March (152 days)
2022-2023 season: 3rd November - 2nd April (151 days)
2021-2022 season: 3rd November - 3rd April (152 days)
Deepest recorded snow depth
2025-2026 season: 100cm on 29th January - 14th March
2024-2025 season: 120cm on 12th February - 16th March
2023-2024 season: 100cm on 9th February - 26th March
2022-2023 season: 120cm on 12th February - 5th March
2021-2022 season: 140cm on 22nd February and 24th February - 10th March
2020-2021 season: 100cm on 15th January - 15th March
2019-2020 season: 100cm on 13th February - 2nd March
2018-2019 season: 120cm on 31st January - 7th March
2017-2018 season: 120cm on 29th January - 13th March
2016-2017 season: 140cm on 18th February - 2nd March
2015-2016 season: 120cm on 11th February - 20th March
2014-2015 season: 150cm on 16th February
Resources
Weather & snowfall (Japan Meteorological Agency) [open in new window]
Introduction to the region
Nagano Prefecture is located in the Chubu region of the main island of Honshu. It is one of only eight landlocked prefectures in Japan, bordered by Niigata, Gunma, Saitama, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu, and Toyama.
Nagano Prefecture is sometimes referred to as 'the roof of Japan' because of the steep, rugged terrain of the many 2,000-3,000m mountains that comprise the Japan Alps. The Northern Alps are located along the northwestern region bordering Gifu and Toyama. The Central Alps are in the southwestern region, and the Southern Alps are along the southeastern border.
After Hokkaido, Nagano Prefecture is home to the second-largest number of ski areas in Japan. It has multiple world-class winter sports resorts within its boundaries, and some were venues for the main events of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. There are ski areas throughout the mountains of Nagano Prefecture, but the majority are in the northern and central regions.
Karuizawa Prince Hotel is the only ski area currently operating in Karuizawa Town.
About the information on this page
SnowJapan independently researches, checks and updates the information on this page at least once each year, in the lead-up to every ski season. We also update it whenever we become aware of other changes. The information published on SnowJapan is based on independent research using official Japanese-language sources and is not supplied by ski areas. If you are planning to visit a ski area, we recommend checking the official ski area website for the latest operational information. We take great care to keep the information on SnowJapan accurate and up to date. However, SnowJapan accepts no responsibility for decisions made based on information published on this website.
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