How to choose a sauna in Nagano.
Four axes that change with day use or a stay

Search for a sauna in Nagano and the first thing you meet is a list of famous names. Being famous, though, is a different question from being right for you.

Conditions differ a great deal from one sauna to the next: how long you get inside, whether you share the room with other guests, what you can see while you cool down outside, and how deep the cold bath is. Decide those four things first and you are far less likely to arrive and think, this was not what I pictured.

Below we go through the four axes in order. We also show where the two sauna buildings at The TOJI.ba MATSUKAWAKAN, in Takayama Village, Nagano, sit on each of them.

Your time in the sauna: 120 minutes on a day visit, three private hours if you stay

The first thing that settles everything else is whether you come for the day or stay the night. The amount of sauna time you get changes completely.

Take the Forest Sauna here. Day use starts at 2,300 yen (tax included) and comes as a 120-minute slot. Reception runs from 10:00 to 20:00.

If you stay overnight, the Forest Sauna is included in the room plan at no extra cost. From 20:00 to 23:00 it also becomes a time reserved for overnight guests only, and a fire is lit outside.

The hours of the inner bath change too. Day visitors can bathe from 11:00 to 20:00, overnight guests from 11:00 to 24:00. With check-in at 15:00 and check-out at 10:00, staying gives you roughly 23 hours here.

A day visit means entering a slot you have booked. Staying means going back in whenever you like, as often as you like. Same building, quite different use of time.

See day use and an overnight stay compared in figures

Private or shared comes down to whether you mind other people

The second axis is private or shared, and preferences here split sharply.

In a shared sauna you are in the room with other guests. The timing of the loyly and the turn at the cold bath are things you work out together on the spot.

A private sauna is used by one group only. How loudly you talk, when you go in, how long you rest — all of it is yours to decide.

At MATSUKAWAKAN the Forest Sauna is shared by default but can also be booked privately, while the Tenku Sauna is a private-only sauna by advance reservation. The Tenku Sauna is guided one group at a time, and because swimsuits are worn, men and women can go in together.

If this is your first sauna, or you want a quiet visit, the private option is the easier one to choose.

What you can see while cooling down: the sunset over the gorge, or the fire

After the sauna and the cold bath comes the time outside in the open air. What you can see there does more than anything else to decide what you remember.

The cool-down space at the Forest Sauna sits among the trees. At night a fire is lit, and the stars are overhead.

The cool-down deck at the Tenku Sauna looks out over the V-shaped Matsukawa gorge. In the late afternoon the sun goes down into the valley, straight ahead of you. In autumn the coloured mountains stand right in front of the deck.

The word is the same, but settling among trees and settling above a gorge leave you with different pictures. Choosing by the view you want to see is the way least likely to disappoint.

A cold bath 120 cm deep, so you can cool down to the shoulders

The cold bath is the part people overlook. Look past the temperature at the depth and at where the water comes from, and your day changes.

The cold bath at the Forest Sauna is 120 cm deep. You can sink in to the shoulders, so the whole body cools at once.

The water is drawn from Takayama Village. The Tenku Sauna cold bath uses the same village water: properly cold, and still soft on the skin.

It is worth checking the room temperature in advance as well. The Forest Sauna has two rooms, at 85 and 110 degrees, and the 85-degree room is scented with a blend our aufguss master mixes on the day.

See how to use the sauna and how to settle

The Forest Sauna and the Tenku Sauna, set against the four axes

Here are the two buildings placed on the four axes. They stand in the same grounds, yet they suit clearly different occasions.

Forest Sauna

Time you get	Day use is 120 minutes (10:00–20:00, last reception 20:00). For overnight guests it is included at no extra cost, with 20:00–23:00 reserved for them
Private or shared	Shared by default; private booking possible (up to 10 people)
View while cooling down	The trees of the forest. At night, a fire and the stars
Cold bath	Water from Takayama Village, 120 cm deep
Sauna rooms	Two rooms, at 85 and 110 degrees
Day-use price	From 2,300 yen (tax included) / 120 minutes

See the Forest Sauna in detail

Tenku Sauna

Time you get	A private 120 minutes per session
Private or shared	Private for one group at a time, by advance reservation (mixed gender permitted)
View while cooling down	The sun setting into the V-shaped Matsukawa gorge, the stars, and the coloured mountains in autumn
Cold bath	Water from Takayama Village
Sauna room	A room built in hinoki cypress, with a HARVIA tower stove and radiant heat from stone
Day-use price	From 9,800 yen (tax included) per group / 120 minutes

See the Tenku Sauna in detail

Prices are subject to change; please confirm on the booking site. How the two buildings differ, and how we think about the sauna as a whole, is gathered on the About the Sauna page.

Try it on a day visit first, then stay if it suits you

With a place you have never been, a day visit is the safest way in. How cold the water really is, how the cool-down chairs actually feel — you cannot know until you are there.

Day use here starts at 2,300 yen (tax included) for the Forest Sauna and 9,800 yen (tax included) per group for the Tenku Sauna. The baths alone are 650 yen, and for those no reservation is needed.

If it suits you, stay next time. Staying includes the Forest Sauna at no extra cost, the 20:00 to 23:00 slot reserved for overnight guests, and the sauna again the following morning.

From Nagano Station there is a free shuttle for overnight guests, by reservation. You will not have to drive after the sauna, so it works even without a car.

See the day-use sauna plans

Frequently asked questions