Originally Posted by
shuigao
Wow has it already (almost) been a year?
Planning for a late-Jan/early-Feb 2019 trip (4 nights). Hokkaido waaaaaaaay above my budget so looks like it'll be Honshu again.
- Sheraton Kiroro is us$450/night (for two)
- Westin Rusutsu us$548
- Hilton Niseko Village us$547
a. Thinking of Naeba at the moment even if the hotel might be a bit crap (us$212/night), mountain seems decently sized + we can hop over the dragondola to Kagura. They seem to have english ski school too which is a plus.
b. For Hakuba Cortina that you guys suggested, are you talking about the 'Hotel Green Plaza Hakuba' (us$179/night)? Not sure if the mountain's big enough for 3 full days of advanced beginner / intermediate, even combined with norikura.
I've never skiied Cortina or stayed at Green Plaza Hakuba. But when I'm not working or doing family stuff, only thing I do is research ski resorts. So let me comment on Cortina. We're a family of beginners and intermediate. So my criteria are much like yours. I don't have very high expectation, but I want at least 3 intermediate runs and 2 beginner runs of >700metres each. At Cortina/Norikura, you get 4 beginner and 3 intermediate trails of acceptable lengths for total of 8 & 6. I'm not sure how seamless it is to go from one resort to another. From everything I've read, going between the two resorts is easy enough. But once you get over into Norikura, it seems like Norikura's layout is such that it seems like you have to ride different lifts multiple times to get from one end of the resort to another. Based on reviews I've read, Hakuba Green Plaza and its onsen are quite decent, better than Green Plazas at Joetsu Kokusai or Oku-Karuizawa.
At Niseko Hilton, prices drop progressively the later you go in the season.
There's plenty of snow usually at Niseko and Kiroro all through March. Can you go in March?
In early March, Hilton Niseko's lowest refundable rate will be ~$300/night for 2.
At Kiroro, did you check out Tribute? Although it's not ski-in/out, there's frequent shuttle to the slopes. Plus you have the pool, bigger onsen and more food options at the Tribute than at Sheraton.
I've never skiied Naeba, but I know the Prince there is mediocre as you say. If lodging and onsen are important to you (they are to me, esp lodging), then I would scratch Naeba off the list.
We're going to either Rusutsu or Niseko in spring. I'd really love to head to Rusutsu, but the Westin there is so expensive.
For this winter, I'm sort of torn between NASPA, Hakuba Cortina and Kiroro.
I've skiied NASPA and Kiroro, not yet Hakura Cortina.
One thing all those places have in common are what's important to me... decent hotel with decent onsen.
NASPA's really limited. But they pack a punch considering how small the mountain is. Unlike most Honshu resorts with weird lift layouts and lack of high-speed lifts, NASPA has the high-speed quads placed strategically and they have this one run that I never got tired of doing.
If you like decent terrain, nice ski-in/out hotel and you're considering Honshu, you should also look into Ski Jam, Akakura, Tangram Madarao, Aomori Spring.