FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Hilton Niseko Village {JPN}
View Single Post
Old Jan 31, 2011 | 2:10 pm
  #10  
SNA_Flyer
All eyes on you!
25 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jul 1999
Programs: QF WP, AA EXP
Posts: 3,654
I just got back.

Flew into CTS, and took Skybus to the hotel (about 2.5 hours). Quick checkin, was given upgrade to a Panorama room. There are only one of these per floor. You don't get the view of Mt. Yotei (the big cone volcano), but you do get a great view of Annupuri (the mountain you will ride/ski). Breakfast was at Melt with a great selection of Western/Japanese/Korean dishes.

Gondola is right outside the door, and you can buy your lift tickets there. Bought a 2-day all mountain pass. You can charge this to your room, but you do need 1000 yen in cash to pay the (refundable) deposit for the pass card. They also have a board/ski/boot valet downstairs to keep your stuff overnight. I recommend getting the all mountain pass as Niseko Village is one of the smaller parts of the mountain (although it does have the only double diamond run on the entire mountain) - Grand Hirafu has a lot more variable terrain and was my favorite part to board (as well as terrain parks). Annupuri was OK as well.

The hotel has a few different restaurants, although we only ate breakfast at Melt and had some snacks/drinks at Ezo Pub. A bit pricey (although not outrageous), but no other options around the hotel unless you want to go to the town of Hirafu. Hirafu is about a 15 minute bus ride away on the Niseko United Shuttle bus (free with an all mountain pass). There are plenty cheaper food options in Hirafu - due to the amount of gaijin here English menus are very common.

Didn't use the spa or onsen (if you are going to use the onsen, just like anywhere in Japan, make sure you know the proper custom for doing so).

Overall the hotel is in great condition, staff are friendly and speak good English (with several westerners working various positions as well).

We rode for two days - got the best of both worlds - bluebird the first and a really nice powder day the second. I'll definitely be back.
SNA_Flyer is offline