Sorry for what must be a simple question – I’ve been through many options and haven’t come up with much that works. I think my problem is a combination of I’ve left it too late / there are so many options / I’m not familiar with the region. Basically I’m looking for a family friendly ski trip on Honshu (Shinkansen is near us and I find airports add so much time) for a week, the first week in Jan. Yes there are a hundred resorts, but then the criteria’s something close to slopes and bars/restaurants and a hotel which includes food (ie. not self catering).
I love snowboarding (used to be a European ski bum before having a family!) and have been looking forward to experiencing Japan powder since I knew I was moving here.. but the wife and kids are inexperienced. If I select something that pisses them off future trips are less likely. The only one we’ve found is Club Med, but (apart from the ‘would rather not get on a plane’ bit) that’s a rather juicy 1.6m yen, and no matter how nice and inclusive it is, that is ‘a lot’.
If anyone has any pointers to look at a certain hotel / resort I’d appreciate it. (So far my tools have been googling family friendly resorts on Honshu and then going through [booking.com](https://booking.com) options).
Thank you
3 comments
Easiest: Echigo Yuzawa. Right off the shinkansen to the ropeway. Good for beginners.
Nicest town: Nozawa Onsen. Small onsen town connected to a nice ski resort. Can walk everywhere. Takes a bus to get there from Iiyama shinkansen station though.
Other places I’ve been to tend to have either too expensive hotels on the resorts (Prince, Lotte etc.) or Ryokan spread out away from the resort requiring shuttles or cars or long walks across roads to get to the slopes (Shiga, Hakuba).
https://www.rado.co.jp/ski/
I only used this once a few years ago. They sell bus tickets + ski lodge pass packages, and some also have hotels included in the package. You can choose which area you’d like to depart from (Kansai, Tokai etc). There’s also an option to go by car. You then pick which resort you want to visit, and pick which package plan you want.
The place I went to was in Gifu, and there was a practice slope/beginners school on the opposite side of the parking lot from the main hill. For that particular one, I definitely saw a few families with younger kids, but not that many. The hotel I stayed at was an older place, about 20 minutes away by shuttle bus (part of the package i bought). The hotel was old but very clean, and had an onsen inside, and included dinner.
If you have any knowledge of Japanese (or google translate for that matter), it’s easy to book all in packages on these links (can be shinkansen, bus, flight, or own car packages)
[JR skiski](https://www.jre-travel.com/seasonal/ski/)
[Orion](https://www.orion-ski.jp/)
[Bewave](https://skiski.jp/)
[Travel-inn](https://www.travel-inn.co.jp/ski/)