Planning A Winter Ski Trip To Niseko, Japan, With A Stop In Tokyo!

Several months back, I shared how we were planning a trip to Niseko, which is one of Japan’s most popular ski destinations, near Sapporo. At the time, y’all provided some great advice (I’m leaving the comments that were left at the time intact on this post, in case they’re useful for others planning travel — this is an update on that previous post).

Well, we’re shortly going to be embarking on this trip, so I want to provide an update on what we ended up booking, as you can expect some live updates during the trip.

We try to go on one ski trip per year

Full disclosure upfront — I’m not a skier. I mean, I tried to ski in Dubai in 2015, thinking it would be easy, but that didn’t end well. Then I tried to learn to ski a few years ago in France, which actually worked out reasonably well. However, I think I might be too old/risk averse to do this consistently, and at this point maybe I should just focus on après skiing.

Nonetheless, Ford and I try to go on one ski trip per year. Ford likes to ski, and you know, happy husband, happy life, or something. Furthermore, I do very much enjoy the culture around skiing. What’s not to love about the beauty of snow, fireplaces, and warm drinks?

While the US objectively has great skiing conditions, we certainly don’t have the amazing culture around skiing that you’ll find in many parts of Europe, from the service, to the food and drinks, to the general atmosphere. France has some incredible ski resorts, and to this day, Airelles Courchevel is probably my favorite hotel I’ve ever stayed at (though Airelles Val d’Isère is amazing as well).

That’s quite a contrast to my last experience at a US ski resort in winter, which was at the St. Regis Deer Valley. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. This year, we’re not skiing in the United States or Europe. Instead…

This winter we’re skiing in Niseko, Japan!

We’re going to mix things up with our ski trip for this year, and will be traveling to Niseko, Japan. For those not familiar, Niseko is outside of Sapporo, and it seems to be one of Japan’s premier ski destinations. It’s amazing how much growth the area is seeing.

Among major luxury hotel groups, there’s currently the Park Hyatt Niseko and the Ritz-Carlton Reserve Niseko, with several more luxury properties on the way, ranging from a Hoshinoya, to a Rosewood, to a Six Senses. With the direction things are headed, this place will eventually be as concentrated of a luxury hotel market as Kyoto.

So, where are we staying? For a majority of our time there, we decided to book the Park Hyatt Niseko, given that I’ve heard great things about the property, in terms of the setting, dining, etc. (though I know it’s a distance from the center of the village). I am ridiculously excited to check out this hotel, as it’s one of the points hotels that has most been on my radar.

Initially I wasn’t sure if we were going to stay at the Ritz-Carlton Reserve Niseko, but ultimately I decided to add a brief stay there to our itinerary. I’m curious to see how it compares, especially since the Ritz-Carlton Reserve brand participates in Marriott Bonvoy nowadays.

Now, I’ve actually heard mixed reports about the Ritz-Carlton Reserve. I’ve heard some people say that the hotel is really disappointing and shouldn’t be a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, while I’ve heard others say positive things. So I’m curious to check it out for myself, and draw my own conclusions.

We’re also spending a couple of nights in Tokyo

While Niseko is our primary destination, we’re also going to be spending a couple of nights in Tokyo on the way out, both to add a buffer, and because it’s always awesome to visit Tokyo. However, I’ll be making the most of our limited time in terms of hotel reviews.

When I first wrote about our trip several months ago, I was leaning toward booking one of the two EDITION properties, since they’re a good opportunity to redeem Marriott Bonvoy points. At the time, I asked if we should stay at the Tokyo EDITION Ginza or the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon.

While I appreciated the pros and cons shared about each property, in the end, I decided to book each hotel for one night, so that I can report back and share our experience. Since these hotels are of a similar caliber to the Andaz Tokyo, I’m curious how the experience compares.

The airlines I’ll be flying to & from Japan

In a separate post, I wrote about the airlines I’ll be flying this trip. I’m most excited about the return journey, where I’ll finally be flying All Nippon Airways’ A380 first class. It’s the only A380 first class product that I’ve never flown, so I’m looking forward to experiencing the unusual “Flying Honu.”

Since that flight is from Tokyo Narita (NRT) to Honolulu (HNL), I’ll be connecting to the mainland in Hawaiian’s 787 first class, since that’s another product that has been on my list.

As far as the outbound goes, well, I’ll share details on that soon. It’s not an unfamiliar product, but I’m kind of pleasantly surprised by the availability that I found.

Bottom line

Shortly, we’ll be heading to Japan for a ski trip, which I’m very much looking forward to. Up until now, we’ve only done ski trips in North America or Europe, so it’ll be cool to see how the experience compares in Asia. I’m looking forward to checking out the Park Hyatt Niseko, Ritz-Carlton Reserve Niseko, and the two EDITION properties in Tokyo, so stay tuned. I’ll also have some fun flight reviews.

Any thoughts or tips for our Japan trip, beyond what has already been shared?