Hakuba, Japan

Spend your days gliding through powder, navigating tree runs and then ending up at the bottom of the run for apres. What a life!

How long should I stay?
If you're here for skiing, I'd definitely recommend the 6 day ski pass. It's enough time that you can get a real taste for a majority of the different mountains in Hakuba, but also gives you a bit of a rest, because let's face it, your body will ache from all that exercise. Definitely factor in a rest day or two into your trip. So 7-9 days total, with a couple of days off in between.

Where should I stay?
This is tricky, because it depends on your situation and how you want to get around to each of the mountains. However, I would say the town of Hakuba has the most amount of things to do and is the easiest option for public transport. It’s also very central, so that’s handy when you’re tripping between the different mountains to ski. If you stay somewhere like Cortina, although it’s pretty, it’s also the very last mountain and can take 40 minutes to get to. It’s just too far, if you’re doing that trip to the different mountains every day.

If you do stay in Hakuba, I would suggest picking a hotel near the Hakuba Happo Bus Terminal - not necessarily near the Happo One ski lift. The appeal of ski-in ski-out is very tempting, however it really is only good for the one day you choose to ski that mountain. The other days, you’re trudging to the bus station loaded up with all your ski gear to go to a different mountain.

Echoland is often thrown around as a good place to base yourself, because it has plenty of restaurants and has a cool vibe. It’s about a 20 minute walk outside of Hakuba, however, I probably wouldn’t choose accommodation there - the public transport isn’t quite as regular, and you don’t want to be stuck walking in the cold, with all your ski gear because you missed the last bus and the taxis aren’t picking up your calls. Definitely plan a lunch or dinner there one day though - it’s worth the trip.

OzSnow Package
We ended up going with the 7 night Hakuba Powder OzSnow package, which included our accommodation, transport from Tokyo airport, 6 day lift pass, all our breakfasts and a dinner. It cost us around $3000 AUD for two people, which I thought was value for money. We stayed at the Hakuba Gondola Hotel, which is right next to the Happo One lift. The saving grace about the location of this hotel, is that it actually has a couple of bus stop options right out the front of it, which meant we only had to walk to the main bus station 2 out of the 6 days.

The hotel was pretty good for the money we paid. It was small, but it had everything you needed, including a locker room for all of your ski gear. I definitely wouldn’t say it’s the nicest place to stay, but I was so tired after skiing every night, that I barely noticed the bed was hard. The showers were hot, and were able to soak my achy muscles - that was the most important part for me.

The breakfasts every morning were decent and it meant you didn’t have to source food daily before getting on the mountain. The ‘welcome dinner’ included in the package is a type of hot pot and is also delicious.

Ski Mountains
There are 10 individual ski resorts that are included in the Hakuba Valley ski pass that you can visit, and each are cool for different reasons. We had a 6 day Valley ski pass and we went to 5 different mountains in that time, so it’s awesome that you’re not just repeating the same runs over and over.

Hot tip: we follow the Hakuba facebook page and it is an awesome way to not only get excited for the trip, but the guy running the page gives his recommendations for which mountain to go to that day and why. He factors in the forecast into his suggestions and also gets very hyped up over good powder. I’d 100% give him a follow.

Can I drive in Hakuba?
The short answer is yes, there are plenty of parking options at each of the mountain ski resorts. In saying that, I wouldn’t drive. The main reason being, that the signage in Japan is just too hard to read. I would have no idea if I was parking in the right spot, if it has time limits, if I need to pay for parking - it would be too stressful to work it out. The public transport buses and shuttles are fairly easy to navigate, but the taxis are limited and hard to secure.

Black Cat Couriers
This is a super handy service that’s available at the bus station, if you’ve got a snowboard bag, where you can ship it back to Tokyo airport ahead of time and it means you don’t have to lug it throughout Japan. It costs around 2000 Yen, which is about $20 AUD and you can pick it up from the airport on the day you fly out. You can actually send it anywhere in Japan, but you just need to make sure you give them a few days to get it there, so it won’t work if you’re flying out the next day.

Good to know information about Hakuba
1. Sidewalks in Hakuba are basically non-existent, which means you’re dodging cars while navigating icy roads and trying not to drop your ski gear that you’re hauling up the hill to the hotel. Safe to say, there could be a few sore bums from all the stacks - some grippy shoes might be a good investment.

Good to know information about Japan
1. So many places are cash only and I never knew how annoying it was, until we constantly ran out of cash and the only ATM was a 15 minute walk away.

2. Vending machines are everywhere. They’re even used for ordering at restaurants, they spit out tickets and you go and collect your food. But my favourite is when they’re lined up in a row in the middle of nowhere, and you can literally buy anything from ice creams to cigarettes.

Food
We found some really great Japanese food options in Hakuba that are worth sharing. The first one is a very authentic feeling place, that seems to be run by a husband-wife team, where you have to take your shoes off and sit on the ground. It’s called Ohyokkuri and they don’t take any bookings, so we lined up in the cold for half an hour (twice) just to ensure we were able to be seated. And I can assure you, it’s worth the wait. Everything on the menu was delicious, you can’t go wrong - but I thought the karage chicken was the best I’ve had.

The next place is a great bar, which is right down the road called Yohei Club (与平倶楽部). The barman behind the counter was extremely friendly and it had a cool set up. It’s barely big enough to fit 15 people, but it has cool game options, including darts and board games, so you can play while having a drink. Happy Hour was between 3-7pm daily.

Yamagami Sokudou NEO is known for its party gyozas, where 30 of the delicious bite-sized gyozas are cooked together as one. It’s probably a meal that is best shared between two people - but in saying that, two people in our group ate a whole one to themselves. This restaurant is always busy, so make sure you book in advance. We made sure to walk in there on our first night and managed to secure a table for 8, three days later.

The Campfire in Echoland is known for its incredible sushi - so if that’s what you’re looking for, you won’t be disappointed here. Make sure you book ahead, as it gets really busy. The sashimi here is so fresh.

These next few options are definitely more westernised. I did notice though, that our meals were a lot more expensive, when we ate in places like that, as opposed to traditional. We ate at Unajune, which is a great burger place right near the Gondola Hotel. Its burgers are huge, so factor that in when ordering your sides. Also Blizzard is a great bar with cool snowboard decor, which has delicious pizzas.