Saku Ski Garden Parada is a ski area in Nagano, Japan, on slopes between roughly 751 and 907 m. Its mapped area is about 2.0 km across, with 7 marked runs and 8 lifts (about 4.6 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 90 cm of snowfall a season, 381st of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2014/15 (124 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2025/26 (59 cm). March is usually the snowiest month, with about 30 cm. Snowfall days average −1.8 °C at mid-mountain, close to freezing, so the snow is often heavy, and its snow-quality score ranks 357th of 397 in Japan.
Below are links to 2 official live cameras.
Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear here once snow starts to fall. Until then, the long-run record comes first.
Elevation range is estimated by sampling points across the ski area.
How much snow it gets
Measured by us across 3,069 ski areas by one identical method. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
The tick marks the median across every Japanese ski area we measure. All four bars run the same way — longer is better.
The quality score deliberately excludes how much snow falls — it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind. Snowing a lot and snowing well are different things.
Compared with what is nearby
Within 50 km straight line. Measured the same way, so the ranks compare directly. Ski areas a few kilometres apart share a weather grid cell and can return the same figure.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Hotels and Resorts Karuizawa | 13 km | 81 cm | 2572 |
| Takamine Mountain Park Ski Area | 14 km | 145 cm | 1729 |
| Karuizawa Snow Park | 18 km | 115 cm | 2167 |
| Kazawa Snow Area | 21 km | 136 cm | 1860 |
| Yachiho Kōgen Ski Resort | 27 km | 136 cm | 1860 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in March. March brings as much as January, or more. In amount, March brings 30 cm, less than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 90 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2025/26 with 59 cm; the biggest was 2014/15 with 124 cm (2.1 times as much).
Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.
Runs and lifts
Counted from the runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Run map
The shape of the mountain
Which way the slopes face
50% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. Those slopes get the least sun, so the snow lasts longer.
By difficulty
Lift types
- Chairlift8
See past trail maps on Skimap.org ↗
Source: OpenSkiMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Vertical is the difference between the highest and lowest points of the mapped runs and lifts.
Live Cameras
This ski area does not put a camera on its own slopes. The nearest live view is the road below.
Road conditions decide whether you can get there at all. Check before you leave.
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Hot springs nearby, as analysed
2 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 38.4 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a spring in 御代田町(御代田町御代田) | 4.1 km | 19.2℃ cold | 7.3 neutral | bicarbonate | 1965 |
| 一萬里温泉 | 4.7 km | 38.4℃ warm | 6.67 neutral | chloride | — |
These are analyses of hot spring sources, not a list of baths you can visit. They date from 1910 to 2005, many from decades ago, so today’s temperature and chemistry may differ. Names are as recorded in Japanese. Temperature and pH bands follow Japan’s standard for analysing hot springs.
Source: processed from the hot spring analysis data in the Geothermal Information Database (GRES-DB), Geological Survey of Japan, AIST
Worth seeing nearby
Places within 20 km of this ski area, for a day off the slopes or an evening. Chosen from those most read about on Wikipedia, favouring places with an English Wikipedia article, and listed nearest first.
| Place | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Komoro Castle小諸城 | Historic site | 9.8 km |
| Tatsuoka Castle龍岡城 | Historic site | 10.1 km |
| Karuizawa軽井沢町 | Old streets | 10.2 km |
| Mount Asama浅間山 | Mountain | 13.4 km |
| Usui Pass碓氷峠 | Nature | 13.6 km |
| Usui Bridge No. 3碓氷第三橋梁 | Landmark | 18.4 km |
Based on the Japanese Wikipedia lists of sights in each prefecture, as compiled in travel-log-data (CC BY-SA 4.0). English names from Wikidata (CC0). The content of this section is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Map
Where it sits relative to nearby resorts. For a piste map, see the official site.
Official piste map ↗Places to stay nearby
6 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ホテルルートインコート軽井沢 | ¥8,100 | 4.13 341 reviews | 3.3 km | JRしなの鉄道御代田駅から徒歩15分。JR長野新幹線佐久平駅より車で15分。 上信越自動車道佐久インターより車で7分。 |
| Ｐｅｔｔｉｔ Ｆｏｒｅｓｔ Ｃａｂｉｎ ＾ | ¥9,242 | — | 2.0 km | 御代田駅から車で8分 |
| ＴｉｎｙＣａｂｉｎＴＡＴＥＧＵ＃０１ ＾ | ¥12,760 | — | 2.0 km | 御代田駅から車で約１２分 |
| ＴｉｎｙＣａｂｉｎＴＡＴＥＧＵ＃０２ ＾ | ¥14,500 | — | 2.0 km | 御代田駅から車で約１２分 |
| ＳＡＵＮＡ ＦＯＲＥＳＴ ＣＡＢＩＮ 軽井沢 御代田 ＾ | ¥20,880 | — | 2.0 km | 御代田駅から車で約１２分 |
| 旅人の宿 三輪舎 | — | — | 1.4 km | 佐久平スマートＩＣからお車で５分佐久ＩＣから１０分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
12 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
Guides covering Nagano
- A Historic El Niño Is Forecast. Here Is What the Last Big One Did to Japan's Snow. NOAA gives a very strong El Niño better than a 90% chance this winter. We measured every Japanese ski area across the last 12 winters: El Niño winters ran 88% of normal, and the strongest of the twelve left Japan at 63%. But Hakuba held 92% of its average that winter while Niseko fell to 57%.
- Which Famous Ski Resorts Actually Get the Most Snow? 24 Names, Measured Niseko is 526th in the world for snowfall. Zermatt is 554th, Jackson Hole 924th, Aspen 1,201st. Measured identically across 3,069 ski areas, the names everyone books and the places it actually snows turn out to be two different lists.
- How Japan's Early-Bird Lift Tickets Work: At Hakuba Happo-One, Eight of the Nine Need a Japanese ID Card Hakuba Happo-One opened early-bird sales at 10:00 on 1 October. A day costs ¥6,400 against ¥9,800 at the window, 35% off. But every ticket on the list except one needs a My Number Card and a Japanese phone app. A visitor from abroad can buy exactly one of them, at 15% off.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52