- One Valley: Bags of choice
In the Hakuba Valley you can indulge in every type of skiing or riding imaginable at one of the ten resorts, from floating through deep powder, gliding down tree courses to perfectly groomed intermediate trails.
You can even try Nordic skiing at the purpose-built Snow Harp Olympic Nordic center. Off the slopes have a go at snow-shoeing or fat bike riding.
- Access couldn’t be easier
With great road, rail and bus access, Hakuba is the perfect destination from Japan’s main cities international airports. Transfer times from Tokyo are short with the drive easily done in 3.5 hours, or relax on the train with direct Azusa express train daily from Tokyo’s Shinjuku station., or take the combination of Shinkansen bullet train to Nagano and bus to Hakuba.
- Magnificent Mountain Scenery
Hakuba is located in the Northern Japanese Alps, with the peaks rising to 3,000 meters. With its high elevation in the Alps Hakuba benefits from a long winter season lasting from December to May and has an excellent snow record. Summer isn’t too bad either, the Hakuba Valley becomes lush green, when the snow is gone footpaths appear dotted with alpine plants and flowers; the sun glances off the deep azure blues of the lakes and rivers, and picks out the gleaming white peaks along the mountain range.
- This is Japan – dine in style!
Japanese cuisine has countless specialties to try from fresh sushi and sashimi caught at the close, only 45km Sea of Japan to gourmet mountain food. If Japanese is not enough, there is French, Mexican, Italian, American, Thai, Indian and more to choose from!
- Memorable experiences
Get up early for sunrise skiing at one of the valley’s resorts. The snow turns an amazing shade of pink as the sun shines its first rays on the slopes. Go night skiing on the floodlit slopes of Hakuba Goryu, they groom the slopes after 5pm and reopen one hour later for the best night skiing experience. If it gets too cold pop in the Escal Plaza base area for a hot chocolate or even spicy ramen.
- Meet the locals
Experience the art of living deep in Japanese snow country. Before they took to winter sports the valley was a mixture of small villages, and in essence they still area, Venture out in the morning say ‘Ohayo Gozimasu’ to your neighbors before you hit the slopes for the day. The lift attendant on the mountain is probably a local farmer during the green season.