private ski journeys in japan
Luxury skiing in Japancreated for you alone
Snow so dry it falls through the birches like smoke, an English-speaking instructor who knows where it lies deepest, and an onsen waiting when the lifts stop. Niseko, Hakuba and Myoko, planned and run around your party alone.
Deep snow in the birches of Hokkaido
- The mountains
- Niseko, Hakuba and Myoko
- We plan and run it
- From $3,500per person, per day, for two
- You travel it yourself
- From $550the whole itinerary
the snow
Japan's powder is made over the sea.
All winter, cold air from Siberia crosses the Sea of Japan, takes up its moisture and lets it fall on the first mountains it meets, as snow so light it barely holds a shape in the hand. Skiers cross the world for it. Under a ski it gives like down, and the turn makes almost no sound.
Niseko takes some fifteen metres of it in a year. The snow country of Honshu, where Hakuba and Myoko stand, is buried as deep, and between the trees it lies untouched long after the groomed runs are skied.
- 15 metresof snow in a year on Niseko, below Mount Yotei
- 212 hectaresof skiing at Lotte Arai in Myoko, most of it left ungroomed
- 1998the Winter Olympic downhill, run on Happo-one in Hakuba
- 3 mountainsNiseko, Hakuba and Myoko, each run in English
the three mountains
Three mountains, each wholly Japan.
Japan has hundreds of ski areas. We take our guests to three, each wholly Japan and each run in English: the instructors, the mountain guides, the ski schools and the front desk. On a mountain, that is the difference between a good day and a perfect one.
Hokkaido
Niseko
Mount Yotei stands across the valley from almost every run, and the snow is the lightest of the three. Here are the grandest hotels in Japanese skiing: Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono, Higashiyama Niseko Village, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, and the fifteen villas of Zaborin, each with two onsen of its own.
From TokyoNew Chitose, then about two and a half hours by private car
Niseko, the placeNagano
Hakuba
Ten ski areas strung along one valley beneath the Northern Alps, with Happo-one, the Olympic downhill, at its centre. Long, steep runs for the strong skier, and for a party, a chalet such as One Happo, taken whole, with its own onsen, sauna and wine room.
From TokyoTokyo, then about ninety minutes by shinkansen and seventy by car
Hakuba, the placeNiigata
Myoko
Lotte Arai Resort is a hotel and a mountain run as one: ski-in and ski-out, an onsen drawn from 1,750 metres below ground that looks out over the peaks, and 212 hectares of snow beyond the window. It sits on the line that runs on to Kanazawa and Kyoto.
From TokyoTokyo, then about two hours by shinkansen and half an hour by car
Myoko, the place
a private ski journey
The ski journey, as we create it.
Lotte Arai Resort, below the floodlit slopes of MyokoPhotograph: Lotte Arai Resort
Lotte Arai Resort, below the floodlit slopes of MyokoPhotograph: Lotte Arai Resort the room
A suite with the snow at the door
It begins with where you sleep. A residence at Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono, where the ski valet dries your boots overnight and the lift is a short walk across the terrace. A villa at Zaborin, snow building on the rim of its open-air onsen. Lotte Arai, with the mountain outside the window. Or a chalet in Hakuba, with nobody in the building but your party.
The birches of Grand Hirafu, with Mount Yotei across the valley the mountain
An instructor who speaks your language
A private instructor or mountain guide, English-speaking, for the whole party or for each skier alone: a first snowplough for the youngest skier, the deep snow between the birches for a strong skier, and the runs in between for everyone else. Lift passes, skis and boots are fitted and waiting before you reach the snow.
Tea at the window of a Hokkaido ryokan, the birches deep in snow the onsen
Hot spring water, and snow falling into it
When the lifts stop, the day ends in an onsen (hot-spring bath). Steam lifts off the water, snow settles on the cedar rail and melts on the surface, and the cold of the mountain goes slowly out of the legs. A private onsen is yours alone, in your own time.
Snow crab, the prize of the winter table the table
The winter larder of the north
Then dinner, at the pace of the evening rather than a dining room. Snow crab and sea urchin from the cold northern sea, kaiseki brought course by course to a private room, and sake from the snow country, where brewers work through the coldest months with water from the melted snow.
Matsumoto Castle, a day from Hakuba beyond the snow
Japan around the mountain
A ski week sits inside a journey through Japan: Tokyo before the mountain, Kyoto after it, Kanazawa between the two on the same railway line. From Hakuba, a day at Matsumoto Castle; from Niseko, the canals of Otaru. A chauffeur meets you at the airport, and your Tour Director is beside you from the first evening.
why us
We were the first to offer luxury tours of Hokkaido.
We plan, organise and run every one of our tours, and a ski journey is no different: one team from the first conversation to the last run, the hotels named and booked, the instructors chosen, the trains and cars arranged, and a Tour Director at your side the whole way.
The Michelin Guide awards its Key to the hotels we plan around in Niseko: Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono, Higashiyama Niseko Village, Muwa, Setsu and Sansui.
Our group of six had a tour designed by Luxury Japan Travel, with restaurants and hotels beyond what we expected. A personal journey through Japan, planned just for us.
begin
Two ways to ski Japan with us.
the custom tour of japan
We plan and run it for you.
The mountain, the hotels, the instructors and the cities around them, created for your party alone and run by us from the airport to the last evening, with your own Tour Director throughout. From five nights, on your dates.
- Two guests
- $3,500
- Three to four guests
- $2,750
- Five guests or more
- $2,000
from, per person, per day
The design begins with a journey curation fee of $1,500, credited in full against your tour.
The Journey form asks who is skiing, how well, and what else of Japan you want around the snow. Every answer is read in person, and a call with our team follows.
the expert japan itinerary
Your expert itinerary, to travel independently.
The same planning, set down in writing for you to travel on your own: which mountain, which hotel and which room, the trains and cars between them, and the cities before and after. Journeys of up to fifteen days.
- Up to ten days
- $550
- Eleven to fifteen days
- $825
the whole itinerary
Delivered in seven working days, with one revision included.
Tell us who is skiing and how well, and the itinerary is written for your party.
All prices in US dollars, taxes included.
questions
Questions about skiing in Japan
Is skiing in Japan worth it?
For the snow alone, yes. Cold air from Siberia crosses the Sea of Japan and falls on its mountains as some of the driest, deepest powder skied anywhere, some fifteen metres a year at Niseko. Add an onsen at the end of every ski day and the food of the snow country, and a ski holiday in Japan becomes a journey.
Which are the luxury ski resorts in Japan?
Niseko, for the grandest hotels and the lightest snow; Hakuba, for long, steep runs beneath the Northern Alps; and Myoko, where Lotte Arai Resort puts the hotel, the onsen and the mountain under one roof. All three run in English, from the ski school to the mountain guide.
Where are the luxury ski hotels in Japan?
Most are in Niseko: Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono, Higashiyama Niseko Village (a Ritz-Carlton Reserve), the ryokan Zaborin, Muwa Niseko and Setsu Niseko. In Myoko the address is Lotte Arai Resort, and in Hakuba the grandest stay is a private chalet such as One Happo, taken by one party.
Can you arrange private ski instructors and guides in Japan?
Yes. On a Custom Tour of Japan we arrange private English-speaking instructors and mountain guides at Niseko, Hakuba and Myoko, for the whole party or for each skier, with lift passes, skis and boots arranged before you arrive.
How much does a luxury ski holiday in Japan cost?
A Custom Tour of Japan is priced per person, per day, from $3,500 for two guests, $2,750 for three or four, and $2,000 for five or more, in US dollars, from five nights. The Expert Japan Itinerary, for travelling independently, is $550 for up to ten days and $825 for eleven to fifteen.
How do you reach Niseko, Hakuba and Myoko from Tokyo?
Niseko is a flight from Tokyo to New Chitose, then about two and a half hours by road. Hakuba is about ninety minutes by shinkansen to Nagano and some seventy minutes on by car. Myoko is about two hours by shinkansen to Joetsumyoko, with Lotte Arai Resort half an hour beyond.
Is Japan good for a family ski holiday?
Very. All three resorts run ski schools in English for children, and the whole family can be on the snow together. Children travel with us on the Custom Tour of Japan, where every age is agreed when the journey is designed.
Can a ski holiday in Japan include Tokyo and Kyoto?
Yes, and it should. Myoko and Hakuba sit on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, so Tokyo, the mountain, Kanazawa and Kyoto join in one line without a flight. Niseko is a short flight from Tokyo, and Kyoto is reached by air or back through Tokyo.
the japan edition
Reading on the snow
Begin with the mountain.
Tell us who is skiing, how well, and what else of Japan you want around the snow. We create the rest.