December 2023 | by Julie Yamamoto
When my husband and I lived in Nagoya (prior to 2009), we often went to Nagashima Sports Land on Sundays to play golf with our good friends who were expats from England. After golf, we would head over to the Hotel Nagashima for lunch or afternoon tea. I was also familiar with the area as I had enjoyed the Nagashima Spaland amusement and water park on multiple occasions. So, in planning our two-week trip to Japan (travel in first half of December 2023), I decided to add Nagashima Onsen to our itinerary – I was super keen to introduce our teenage son to an area that I had enjoyed so much during my 15-year stay in Japan.
Our one-night stay at the Hotel Nagashima was one that we will long remember – it turned out to be a great decision for multiple reasons. There was so much to do:
- Exploring the incredible facilities including multiple restaurants, gift shops and perfectly manicured gardens
- Relaxing in the nine onsen baths (Yuami no Shima) – the eight outdoor baths are magnificent – beautiful pathways lead you from bath to bath – each with a different design and feel (and different temperatures) taking in the season – I was fortunate to be surrounded by tree leaves that were changing colour – vivid red, orange and yellow leaves known in Japanese as ‘kouyou’
- Enjoying the rides in the Nagashima Spaland amusement park – including roller coasters.
- An evening visit to ‘Nabana no Sato’ – it was a short 10-minute ride in the hotel bus to enjoy the most incredible illumination show.
- Buffet dinner and breakfast – a wonderful selection of both Japanese and Western foods.
Our one-night stay at Hotel Nagashima cost us around $650 for three people – which also included our buffet dinner and breakfast. Whilst the hotel is not a traditional Japanese Inn, it is family-friendly accommodation that is Japanese style with some of the familiar comforts of western accommodation.
I would recommend the Nagashima Onsen area to families with children. We also ran out of time to go shopping at the adjoining outlet mall (Jazz Dream Nagashima), Nagashima Strawberry Farm and Sports Land. We plan to include Nagashima Onsen again in our next trip – we will probably aim for two nights as there is just so much to do.
Access to Nagashima Onsen is convenient. We took the JR line from Nagoya Station to Kuwana Station – it took about 20 minutes. We then connected to the Nagashima Onsen bound bus. You can also catch a bus directly from Nagoya Meitetsu Bus Centre which takes about one hour.