japan ski itinerary

A Japan ski itinerary, decided to the last lift before you fly.

Our experts choose the mountain for how each of you skis, then write every day of the journey: the runs for each skier, the rooms, the tables and each transfer through the snow. You book it from the document and ski it on your own.

From $550

With you in seven working days, one revision included

Begin your ski itinerary Read a day from a ski itinerary

Niseko, Hakuba and Myoko, with Rusutsu, Kiroro, Furano, Tomamu and Nozawa Onsen

the planning

A ski trip to Japan is a hundred small decisions, and many of them are made in Japanese.

Niseko is four ski areas on one mountain and Hakuba is ten along one valley, and which suits you depends on how each of you skis. Then come the flight north or the train into the Alps, the car through falling snow, skis sent ahead by courier, hire for the deep days, the lift passes, and the ryokan and restaurants that take a booking only in Japanese. The rooms and the tables worth having are taken early.

Most people give it weeks of evenings and still arrive unsure of the plan. Our experts give you a single document, with every decision made and the reason for it written beside it.

why experts

Three ways to plan it

On your own: Resort pages, forums and booking sites, read an evening at a time, much of it in Japanese, with no way to tell which advice still stands this winter.
With an AI planner: Fast and fluent, and written from whatever is already published. It cannot know which runs suit a nervous learner, which counter in Kutchan takes a booking from abroad, or how long the drive takes in heavy snow, and it sounds equally sure either way.
With our experts: The people who plan and run our journeys through Japan. They know these mountains, the transfers and the tables, and every booking route and every timing in your document is set to your own dates.

a day, as written

Day four in Niseko, from a family itinerary

A short passage from an itinerary written for a family of four: two strong skiers and two who are learning. The whole document covers every day of the journey, every booking and every transfer.

Two skiers climbing a sunlit ridge of fresh snow between bare birches in Niseko, the plain of Hokkaido behind them — Above the birches, Niseko

Day four, Niseko

Two strong skiers, two learning

07:45The morning: Read the mountain report at breakfast. With fresh snow overnight, keep to the plan below; on a hard, bright morning, swap this day with Friday, which stays on the groomed runs.
08:30On the snow: The two learners take the gentle ground beside the lifts at the foot of Hanazono, where the runs are broad and easy, until noon. The strong skiers ride up from the village and cross to Hanazono through the birches with your mountain guide, by the gates the mountain opens that morning.
12:15Lunch: All four together at the restaurant at the foot of Hanazono, with Mount Yotei across the valley from the window tables. Reserve it when you book the lift passes; the way to do it is on the facing page.
16:30Onsen: The open-air onsen of your hotel, or ten minutes by taxi to one of the dozen the Niseko Hot Spring Pass opens.
19:00Dinner: An eight-seat counter in Kutchan for the Hokkaido crab. Ask the front desk for a taxi at 18:40 and hand the driver the card printed in Japanese at the back of this document.
TonightThe skis: Ski bags to the front desk by 20:00 for the courier. They reach your Tokyo hotel the day before you do.

what you receive

Every day of the ski journey, written out

The mountain, and why: Chosen for each skier's level and the evenings you want, with the reasoning set out.
Where you stay: Two places we would choose ourselves for each stop, the room named, with how to book it.
On the snow: The runs and the mountain guide for each of you, with the lift pass and the hire shop.
Every transfer: Flights, first-class seats on the shinkansen, the car up the valley and the day the skis leave by courier.
Off the snow: The onsen worth the drive, the days in Tokyo, Kanazawa or Kyoto, and a table for every evening.
Before you go: What to book first, what to pack, and the rail pass question answered for your route.

how it works

From your answers to your itinerary

Tell us who is skiing
Answer our questions online, at your own pace: each skier's level, the mountains in mind, where you would like to stay and the Japan you want around the snow. You pay at the end.
Our experts write it
We choose the mountain and write every day, checking each booking route and transfer against your dates.
Your itinerary arrives
By private link, in seven working days. Read it, tell us anything you would change, and the revision is included.

the fee

From $550 for the whole itinerary

One document carries every decision you would otherwise make over weeks of evenings: the mountain for each skier, the rooms, the runs, every transfer through the snow and a table for each night, every one of them set to your own dates.

Included: The whole itinerary
Revision: One full revision is included
Delivery: Seven working days, by private link
Length: Up to fifteen days; longer is a Custom Tour of Japan

Begin your ski itinerary

All prices are in US dollars.

questions

Questions before you begin

The Japan ski itinerary is written for you to travel yourself. For the ski journey we plan and run, see skiing in Japan.

What is in a Japan ski itinerary from Luxury Japan Travel?

Every day of your ski journey, written out: the mountain and why it suits your party, two places to stay at each stop with the room named, the runs and the mountain guide for each skier, every flight, train, car and courier date, the onsen and a table for every evening, each with how to book it. From $550, delivered in seven working days.

Why not plan a Japan ski trip myself, or with an AI planner?

You can, and many people spend weeks of evenings doing it. An AI planner writes quickly from what is already published, but it cannot tell you which runs suit a nervous learner, which restaurant takes a booking from abroad, or how long a transfer takes in snow. Our experts plan and run journeys through Japan, and in yours every booking route and every timing is set to your dates.

Is it written for us, or is it a template?

It is written for your party from your answers: each skier's level, who teaches whom, the evenings you want and anything already booked. Two parties on the same dates receive two different itineraries.

What if we want changes?

One full revision is included: read the itinerary, send everything you would change in one reply, and we revise it as a whole.

Do you book the hotels and the lift passes?

The itinerary is written for you to book and travel yourself, and every hotel, lift pass, train and table comes with how to reserve it. If you would rather the whole journey were ours to run, that is the Custom Tour of Japan.

Niseko or Hakuba: which is better for a ski holiday?

They suit different parties. Niseko has the lightest snow of the three mountains we lead with, the birch trees and the widest choice of luxury hotels, and suits every party, families above all. Hakuba has the longest, steepest runs, with the 1998 Olympic downhill on Happo-one, and suits strong skiers. Myoko, with Lotte Arai Resort, is the one for a journey by rail to Kanazawa and Kyoto.

What does a Niseko itinerary or a Hakuba itinerary look like?

A Niseko week often begins with two nights in Tokyo while the skis travel ahead, then the flight to New Chitose and some two hours by car, with five days across its four linked areas and a day in Otaru. A Hakuba week takes first class from Tokyo Station to Nagano, about ninety minutes, then seventy minutes by car, and can end in Kyoto. Two weeks allow both islands.

Where can you ski in Japan with an itinerary from us?

We lead with Niseko in Hokkaido, Hakuba in Nagano and Myoko in Niigata, because each is wholly Japan and each runs in English, from the mountain to the front desk. We also write ski itineraries for Rusutsu, Kiroro, Furano and Tomamu in Hokkaido and for Nozawa Onsen in Nagano.

Tell us who is skiing, and we will write the rest.

From $550, with you in seven working days.