International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Planning a modest ski trip to Japan: how to start?

[DavidSkis]

Hi all,

Looking for some help from the amazing community here.

A group of friends will be traveling to Japan next winter for an 8-10 ski day vacation. Our abilities range from level 3 instructors on down. We all have Ikon passes, so our home base will likely be either near Niseko United, or Lotte Arai.

We'd like to keep costs as reasonable as possible, hoping for $200CAD/$150USD/night accommodation per person. Open to driving or shuttling 5-10 minutes to destination.

Skiing priorities are snow conditions (chance of powder), terrain (off-piste steeps, trees, bumps), and variety.

We'll also want to be in an area with some restaurants and things to see/do.

Which resort should we base ourselves out of? What additional hills are worth skiing in the area?

How could we go about searching for accommodation?

Any suggestions regarding trip timing?

What are your recommendations for transportation, both which airport to fly into, and best way to travel to and around the resort area?

 

[Lauren]

Dug up this question as I was searching for some nibbles of information for myself (planning a trip for next winter). Figured I'd give it a bump and send a little information your way @DavidSkis .

First...personally, I would not base your trip solely on your IKON...lift tickets are very reasonably priced, so go to places that interest you rather than following your pass. Of course, if the places on your pass line up with your personal interests, great.

I have no experience with Lotte Arai. But I stayed in the Niseko area in 2020, skied Niseko (only Annupuri though), Rusutsu, and Kiroro while there. Rusutsu was the fan favorite for my group (outside of backcountry days where we hired a guide). We did a couple of guided days with Hokkaido Backcountry Club. I would not hesitate to recommend them, they were awesome. While in the area we stayed at the Milky House near Annupuri...also a great experience and very reasonably priced. It's worth noting that many traditional Japanese accommodations don't open up reservations until about 3 months out, anything more westernized opens up reservations earlier. We then moved to Rusutsu and stayed in an AirBnB in the Rusutsu town (more activity is going on around the base of the mountain, but the town is more traditional...so depends on what you're looking for, as far as where to stay).

Prior to being in the Niseko area, we spent a week in Furano...awesome area too...if you're considering something outside of Niseko/Lotta Arai, that you mention.

For accommodations I mostly searched Booking.com, Agoda.com, AirBnB, and Google Maps (just find the area you're interested in and browse for the "hotel icon"...lots of little pensions and ryokans don't show up on searches).

For Honshu, fly into Tokyo...for Hokkaido, fly into Chitose. I haven't taken the train out of Tokyo, but probably will for my next trip. I've heard it's pretty easy to navigate. In 2020, I flew into Chitose, and rented a van (we were a group of 7). I've heard of people taking shuttles/public transportation to the Niseko area...seems readily available. If you do end up renting, note that you need to get an International Driver's Permit (available at any AAA location).

I recommend checking out this Australian ski forum for more information and digging around for tips on travelling/skiing in Japan.

 

[Even_Stevens]

Hi all,

Looking for some help from the amazing community here.

A group of friends will be traveling to Japan next winter for an 8-10 ski day vacation. Our abilities range from level 3 instructors on down. We all have Ikon passes, so our home base will likely be either near Niseko United, or Lotte Arai.

We'd like to keep costs as reasonable as possible, hoping for $200CAD/$150USD/night accommodation per person. Open to driving or shuttling 5-10 minutes to destination.

Skiing priorities are snow conditions (chance of powder), terrain (off-piste steeps, trees, bumps), and variety.

We'll also want to be in an area with some restaurants and things to see/do.

Which resort should we base ourselves out of? What additional hills are worth skiing in the area?

How could we go about searching for accommodation?

Any suggestions regarding trip timing?

What are your recommendations for transportation, both which airport to fly into, and best way to travel to and around the resort area?

As someone who just booked a trip to Niseko in February 2024 I’d say here’s what I’ve found:

- Hirafu Village is where you want to stay. Hanazono is basically a couple high end hotels and not much else. The same is true for Niseko Village (at a slightly cheaper price point) and Annupuri (which is slightly cheaper still; ie more midrange - if you’re cool with hotel restaurant food or having to get a rental car; Annupuri makes a lot more sense). If you are OK catching a shuttle or doing a short drive to the lifts, stay in east Hirafu.

I’d look at Booking.com for accomodation. They have more properties than say Expedia and I’ve booked accommodation with them reliably in the past. SkiJapan.com and SamuraiSnow.com also have a ton of properties; but use Powderhounds as an aggregator for the best info that skiers care about (ski in ski out? Walkable to lifts? Etc)

For restaurants, they get absolutely slammed especially over Christmas or Chinese New Year. Make reservations if you can. We’re staying pretty near Lawson and Seicomart in a place with a kitchen so we won’t have to eat out all the time.

We’re going to take the bullet train at least one way and catch a local train between Hakodate and Kutchan, aka the closest town to Niseko. For flights we are flying into Haneda on Japan Airlines which has tons of connections to Sapporo; which is the airport most convenient to Niseko.

Good luck and hopefully the japow is absolutely puking for our respective trips

 

[Poolskier Vinny]

We went for a month in 2019- so keep in mind my comments are from back then.

(I wrote "First Timers Guide to Skiing Japan"...I'll include it. There is a ton of general logistic "how to" info plus a lot of specific "second level/beta" info in there....I should probably post it up on the trip reports section for historical purposes as even though some things may have changed - a lot of the info I'm sure is still useful.....

I don't think you need to look further than Niseko. There lots of tour companies offering day trips going to Rusutsu or other areas for some amazing tree skiing. (we did that - well wroth it)
Niseko United has several mountain/faces and lots of areas for ppl-given varying skill sets. Also "free ride/off piste" areas. For the most part (in bounds) Japan is not the place to go for "Steeps"...on Honshu Hakuba/Happo One has some steeper stuff but not like Kicking horse/Revy/Big Sky...etc. There will be plenty of bump runs as they love bump runs in Japan. (Look for names like "Super/Champion/Dynamic run"....) But really - Japan is about powder....endless runs of pow...and open tree skiing. (Mostly deciduous trees not tight conifer forests)

I'd stay in Grand Hirafu - has the most services/shops/restaurants. All the other Niskeo United resorts can be accessed from the top...so you can ski back to grand hirafu base. Skiing back down to the lowest lift/by the ski school is fine at end of day but for mornings I'd use the shuttle busses OR goto the hirafu low lift and then walk up the ridge (5-7 min with skis over shoulder) to get over slight ridge and then ski over to the main hirafu lift to avoid all the ski school/family traffic in the morning. Accommodations above the main road (343) are closer to Hirafu lift area but we stayed just below the road as it was still an easy walk (with gear). Plus we used the shuttle bus system. You have a lot of ppl in your group so that's a consideration too...so I'd recommend that if possible you try for accommodation that has it's own shuttle. Times might have changed but when we were there the shuttles were busy and a bit chaotic - once you figured out "the system" it was easier.

Timing: Japan's big pow season is compressed: Jan-Feb. AVOID the Chinese New Year period (Feb. 10, 2024)...go before or after. Personally I'd aim to arrive for the second last or last week in Jan. (ie: somewhere between Jan 14 or Jan 21- Feb. ish )

Intra -Japan flights are cheap so you can fly into Narita/Haneda and hit up Tokyo for a few days - before or after - and then fly to Sapporo if you want...

Airport transfers to/from Narita or Haneda airports are plentiful and easy. We didn't bother with getting a car as there are plenty of direct shuttle busses to get you from Sapporo/Chitose airport to Niseko United

Cheers!