Skiing in Niseko
Summary
Niseko has a strong shout for being the world’s best skiing destination. Yes, yes, I know the North American sites have vast slopes and every other room has a hot tub; the Alps are wonderful for their apres and interconnected communities; and I get that Queenstown has bungee jumping, but there are 3 killer reasons for why Niseko has to take the crown:
- It is the undisputed King of Powder, with 15m / 50ft of wonderful light powdery stuff on AVERAGE each year
- Its Japan. This means that everything works perfectly, people are 10/10 polite (no fighting over chair lifts), you finish your ski with an Onsen and the food . . . even the most basic of meals demands a quality zat wud mek even ze french jelos!
- The views. Think less endless mountain chains, and more looking at the perfect conical volcano of Yotei-zan, aka Hokkaido’s Mount Fuji
highlights
1. The powder! 15m / 50ft dumped on average each year
2. The amazing views from the slopes, including the iconic Yotei-zan volcano that can be seen from most runs
#3 The food!
#4 Some of the quirky bars, especially ones like Bar Gyu with its famous fridge door entrance
#5 That it is Japan - every works and is just done perfectly. Especially the Onsens after a long day of skiing
Travel Tips
- The hotel prices seemed on the high side. We got 2 AirBnBs right by the Hirafu Gondola, which worked out well as it was a great location. Came to around USD800 per person (there were 7 of us), which included accommodation for 6 nights, plus cleaning and a 4 day ski pass
- There are heaps of great restaurants, but I’d particularly recommend Abucha 2 (Izakaya) and Ezo Seafoods
- There’s also plenty of bars ranging from the just-get-lashed-style of Wild Bill’s to the super cool Bar Gyu with its fridge door entrance
- Avoid Chinese New Year, sounds a shit show
- Consider staying for a little longer in Hokkaido. We headed over to Toya National Park to stay by the volcanic lake in one of the Ryokans. Worth a trip to see a different side of Hokkaido and Japan and see Staying in a Ryokan by Lake Toya-ko for more ideas and tips
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Snowy Adventures around the World
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone