1. If you are going to Japan only to ski, then you will have to carry your gear to and from the airport. It will be challenging to carry all of it to the shinkansen train (bullet train) because the luggage area in each car is not huge.
2. If you don’t want the hassle of carrying your gear and luggage, then use Yamato (Back Cat) service at the airport. It’s very affordable. The only downside to using this service is that you can’t get to the ski resort the day you arrive in Japan or even the next day and expect your luggage to be there. If you are going to Hakuba, 24-hr turn around time is possible but not guaranteed. If you are going to Niseko, then Yamato will probably deliver your items within 2 days but it won’t be guaranteed. If you will use Yamato to deliver your luggage to the airport, they require you to have them arrive at the airport 1 day prior to your departure date. Any 7-11 can handle Yamato pick up service or the hotel can arrange that for you. When you get to the terminal you will be leaving from, just go to the Yamoto counter at that terminal and pick up your luggage. Because of the delivery time, you will need to spend some time before and after skiing sightseeing in whatever city you choose.
3. If you have Capital One, you can use an ATM with Discover logo and exchange money without any fees. When you purchase shinkansen tickets, also get Suica cards to use for subways. You can also use Suica at 7-11, cab, and at the airport. Each subway ride is cheap (about 150Y) so depending on how often you will take, you don’t need to load a lot of yen on the Suica card. No need to get JR pass.
4. Shinkansen has 2 different types of tickets – non-reserved and reserved. Reserved is slightly more expensive but you are guaranteed a seat and you don’t have to get in line really early. If you buy non-reserved tickets, then be sure to get to the platform at least 20 minutes before departure time. Non-reserved seats are typically in cars 1-3 or 1-5. Make sure you stand in the correct area of the platform. There are two lanes painted on the platform – red and green. Lane 1 is for the train coming next. Lane 2 is for the train coming after that. You can find out which trains by looking at the digital sign. If both trains are for “reserved,” then you are on the wrong platform.
5. Hakuba Valley is rather confusing to get around. From north to south, the resorts are Cortina, Norikura, Tusgaike, Iwatake, Happo One, Hakuba 47, Goryu, Sanoska, Kashimayari, Jigatake. So if it’s a powder day, go to Cortina. Happo One is the largest resort but busiest as well. To get around, you use the resort shuttle bus that are labeled G-#, F-#, T-#, etc. The hotel you are staying at should give you shuttle schedule at the stop closest to the hotel. Not all the resorts are accessible by taking these resort shuttle bus because some resorts don’t have a shuttle bus that picks up people and/or the stop near your hotel is not part of the route to a specific resort. In addition to these FREE resort shuttle buses, there are town buses (V1 & V2) that look like regular tour buses and they stop at EVERY resort. These town buses also go to Happo bus terminal and JR train station. As long as you have a valid lift pass, these town buses are free. For example, if you want to go to Cortina, take a resort shuttle bus to Tsuigaike which is closest to Cortina. When you get there, wait for a V2 northbound bus to get Cortina. The whole trip takes about 1 hr or more. Another option is to take a taxi. Cortina and Norikura are connected. Goryu and 47 are connected. But you have to take a shuttle bus to get to Iwatake from Hakuba 47.
6. If you have an EPIC pass, you are in luck. You can ski for 5 consecutive days. If you plan to stay longer than 5 days, then it will be cheaper to buy an individual day pass at each resort you love instead of buying a whole valley pass for 5 days.
- We rented skis but took our boots. Rhythm was slightly more expensive than others but they had an extensive inventory of performance skis. They were within walking distance to Happo One and the staff seemed knowledgeable. After we arrived at Happo bus terminal, we walked over to Happo One to get lift passes. The hotel picked us up at the bus terminal and Rhythm picked us up at the hotel. After we got our skis, they drove us back to the hotel. We skied at One on our last day and returned our skis after we were done. We walked back to One and went back to our hotel via the shuttle bus. Contrary to what I read, the Happo bus terminal had a kiosk to purchase bus tickets to Nagano using CC.
by OdenNow