Where is Minowa?
Minowa Ski Resort on Mt Minowa on the NW flan of Mount Adatara is located in the Mt Bandai/Inawashiro region of ski resorts in the
Fukushima Prefecture, the most southern of the prefectures that make up the Tohoku region.
Minowa is northeast of Mount Bandai and 22km northeast of the town of Inawashiro (and its train station), 33km from Fukushima station (Tohoku Shinkansen) and 48km northwest of Koriyama train station (Tohoku Shinkansen).
Minowa is 284km north of
Tokyo.
Route 115 that connects Inawashiro to Fukushima, has a tunnel that passes under the slopes of the Minowa Ski Resort.
Driving to Minowa
Having a set of wheels is advantageous to get to Minowa, not only because any bus services to Minowa are irregular, but so you can also visit the many nearby ski resorts.
The Minowa phone number for GPS navigation is 0242-64-3377 and the ski resort is on R115 just before the Tsuchiyu Bypass. It’s about 27km from the Fukushima-Nishi IC on the Tohoku Expressway.
Parking is available in front of the rest house (day base) or at the hotel, and it's free on weekdays.
Train and Bus to Minowa
You could catch a train to Inawashiro and then get a taxi from there. Alternatively catch a train to Fukushima station, and there are buses from the west exit that take about 50 minutes. These only go a couple of times a day.
See google maps for train routes, timetables and fares.
Getting Around the Ski Resort
There are regular shuttle buses between the hotel and the day base area, which are about 700 metres apart. There are also shuttles from the former Yokomuki Onsen ski resort and Minowa.
Other Ski Resorts Nearby
There are lots of other ski resorts in the Mt Bandai area. Some examples include:
- Yokomuki Onsen ski area –1km away by road – currently closed
- Nekoma Ski Resort (north side) – 31km to the west
- Gran Deco – 31km northwest
- Nekoma south side (formerly Alts Bandai) – 35km southwest (front face of Mt Bandai)
- Inawashiro – 22km southwest (front face of Mt Bandai)
- Adatara Kogen – 20km southeast