i'm planning to travel a bit after i'm finally done with classes end of jan and wanted to go to nagano to ski for 3/4 days! i'm an advanced skiier (skiing since i was 4) and love to explore the mountains. i've seen the main 2 areas being Hakuba and Shiga Kogen, but not entirely sure which to pick. has anyone ever been and can give some recs? :) I'd also have to rent ski gear including helmet... after that i plan to take the train/bus to Kawaguchiko since i've never properly seen mt fuji yet and then tokyo to go to hokkaido. mainly wanna check out sapporo there and maybe maybe ski one day in niseko if my wallet allows it. other than sapporo, are there any off-the-beaten path spots in hokkaido (esp in sapporo vicinity) that you'd recommend? i plan to stay for around 5 days. Any insight/tips/personal experience is appreciated! :)
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If you're skiing for 3-4 days, I'd vote for Hakuba. Renting near the station is fine if you book ahead, and getting to Kawaguchiko from there is easy too.
Shiga kogen’s pretty good for a few days, huge resort and they’ve got an Olympic run in one of the areas, lots of places to stay, I think it’s like 3,000 yen to get up the mountain and then there’s free bus between all reports in Shiga kogen (you can just ski between them as well)
Oh also lots of rentals in each stop, yamanoeki has cheapest rentals outside of some hotels that rent only to guests
As far as Hokkaido goes, Niseko's about two hours from Sapporo, plus another hour or so to get on the slopes if you're renting gear. It's not impossible as a day trip, but I think you'd need to stay a night there to make it worth the travel. Closer to town, Teine has a famously challenging course (Kitakabe) if that's what you're after.