Golf in Karuizawa: Japan's Cool Highland Golf, an Hour from Tokyo

Karuizawa is a highland resort town about an hour from Tokyo on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. It sits around 1,000 metres up, so summer rounds are played in the mid-20s °C while the capital is in the mid-30s. The courses below all take non-member visitors. They run from a 108-hole resort to a short 9-hole course that beginners can manage. The season runs roughly from spring to late autumn, because most courses close for the winter snow.

Most visitors know Karuizawa for its outlet mall, Harunire Terrace and the autumn leaves. Japanese golfers know it as the place Tokyo goes to play golf in summer.

People have come here to escape the heat for more than a century. The larch forests and the cool, dry air that made it a summer retreat also make it one of the most comfortable places to golf in Japan from June to September. Mount Asama, an active volcano on the horizon, gives many holes their backdrop.

It’s also very easy to get to. You don’t need a regional flight or a long drive. You take one train from Tokyo Station, and roughly an hour later you’re in the mountains.

The courses visitors can actually book

Karuizawa has more private members’ clubs than most resort towns. Several of its best-known names don’t take outside bookings at all. The four below all accept visitors.

Karuizawa 72 Golf

Karuizawa 72 is one of Japan’s largest golf resorts — six courses and 108 holes, split into East, West, South and North areas. The North Course is the championship layout and hosts a professional women’s tournament. The East courses are the demanding ones. The West has wide, open fairways. The South runs an 18-hole through-play format with no lunch break at the turn, which is useful if you want the afternoon free.

Every course has GPS-equipped carts. Depending on the course, you can play with a caddie or self-play. If your group has mixed abilities, this is the easiest place to find a course that suits everyone.

Seizan Golf Course

Seizan is an 18-hole, par-70 course close to Karuizawa Station and the Prince Shopping Plaza outlet mall. Its wide, flat fairways are lined with Japanese larch. It’s mostly self-play with GPS carts, and the tee times are generously spaced, so the pace stays relaxed.

It also offers rental clubs and shoes. You must reserve them in advance, as at most Japanese courses — see our club rental guide. That makes Seizan the easiest choice if you didn’t bring your bag to Japan.

Karuizawa Prince Hotel Golf Course

This is a 9-hole, par-33 course in the grounds of the Karuizawa Prince Hotel, at around 940 metres. It’s short and flat and takes about half the time of a full round. It suits beginners, parents playing with children, or an easy afternoon between the outlets and dinner. It’s also the closest course to the station.

Mitsui no Mori Karuizawa Country Club

Mitsui no Mori is an 18-hole forest course that follows the natural contours of the land. Ponds and creeks come into play, and there are views of Mount Asama. It rewards thinking your way round more than hitting hard. Electronically guided GPS carts make it easy to find your way on a first visit.

It is also one of the few courses in the area that lets a solo golfer enter a booking at all — but it’s worth understanding how that works before you count on it. You enter on your own, and the course pairs you with other single players. The round is only confirmed once enough players have joined by the club’s cut-off. If the group doesn’t fill, it doesn’t go ahead. It’s genuinely useful if you’re travelling alone and your dates are flexible. It is not something to build a trip around.

What playing here is actually like

It’s a summer course, not a winter one. Karuizawa gets real winters. Expect most courses to close from around December until spring, and exact dates vary by club each year. The best months are June to September for cool weather and mid-October to early November for autumn colour.

August is busy. Karuizawa is a favourite with Japanese families during the summer holidays, especially around Obon in mid-August. Tee times, trains and accommodation all fill up early. If August is your only window, book as soon as your dates are fixed.

You’ll want a car or taxis. Seizan and the Prince course are close to the station. The larger courses are a short drive out. Taxis from the station work, but a rental car makes a multi-round stay much easier. For moving your bags, see our guide to getting to golf courses in Japan.

The weather changes fast at altitude. Mornings can be cool even in summer, and afternoon thunderstorms are common in July and August. Bring a layer and plan on an early tee time.

Where to stay: a golfer’s base in the forest

Where you stay in Karuizawa shapes the trip more than it does in most places. The town is spread out, and the best evenings here are usually spent at your accommodation rather than out on the town.

For a golf group, we like Karuizawa Forest Seasons Villa. It’s a set of four private, stand-alone villas in the forest, and each one is booked by a single group. The larger villas have three bedrooms and sleep six or seven, so a foursome has room to spread out and still share one living space. Each villa has a private garden for a barbecue or a fire after the round, a full kitchen, and a spa bathroom plus a Nordic-style outdoor bath for aching legs. If you’d rather not cook, HONO, the charcoal-grill restaurant on the property, serves one group per day by reservation.

The villas are within walking distance of the Hoshino area, including Tombo-no-yu hot spring and Harunire Terrace, so non-golfers in your group have plenty to do.

Fitting Karuizawa into a Japan trip

As a summer escape from Tokyo. Two nights in Karuizawa with a round each morning makes a good break in a Tokyo-based trip, especially in July or August. Take the Shinkansen up in the morning and you can be on the first tee after lunch.

As part of a Japan Alps route. The Hokuriku Shinkansen continues on to Nagano and Kanazawa. Karuizawa works as the golf stop on a route from Tokyo to the Sea of Japan coast.

Alongside Fuji or Chiba golf. If you want to play more than one region, pair two rounds in Karuizawa with a round under Mt. Fuji or at one of the courses near Tokyo. Each gives you a very different kind of Japanese golf.

For how Karuizawa fits the wider calendar, see the best season to golf in Japan.

Before you book

Karuizawa is easier to book than most of rural Japan. The courses above take visitors, and several are used to international guests. Tee times are still mostly sold in Japanese, though, and summer weekends go quickly.

That’s what we do. Tell us your dates and group size. We’ll confirm which courses can host you, book the tee times in your own names, and send you a written English guide for each round before you travel.

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