would love some input on an interim snow itinerary please!
visiting for 14 days in january and want to spend about 5 days in the snow – nozawa onsen vs hakuba, but open to other recommendations! wanting to include tattoo friendly onsens as well
flying to and from tokyo, ideally would like to spend about 3 days in tokyo before heading to the alps. is this itinerary doable? don’t want to rush between places too much! happy to remove a destination or two (?matsumoto) so im not spending too much time commuting either.
accomodation hasnt been booked so any suggestions would be much appreciated thanks in advance!
Nagano City (2hrs shinkansen from tokyo)
Jigokudani snow monkey park
Shibu onsen hot spring town
Obuse chesnut town
Zenkoji temple
Hakuba
Hakuba valley
Happo-one ski resort (gondola ride)
Iwatake ski resort
Matsumoto
Matsumoto castle
Takayama
Sanmachi Suji historic district
Hida folk village
Hida beef
Day trips → Shinhotaka ropeway, Shirakawago (viewpoint, gassho-zukuri farmhouse), Gokayama
Kanazawa (little Kyoto)
Kenruko-en Garden
Old samurai neighbourhoods – Nagamachi, Katamachi
Omicho market (skmilar to Tsukiji)
Geisha district
Kanazawa castle
3 comments
If youre a beginner or lower intermediate skier I would go to Nozawa. Top of happo is always icy or bad visibility or both. Generally the runs at happo are steeper.
Goryu/tsugaike etc are a bit “easier”.
I love Nozawa and the town. Feels less touristy than hakuba, the onsen are cute and runs are nice too. But 5 days is a bit long maybe for Nozawa.
Sounds like fun! There’s also a ton of ski resorts in Echigo-Yuzawa, with great onsens.
I would suggest Hakuba anyways because there’s like 10 ski resorts within reach in Hakuba Valley alone, and there’s a ton more restaurants and “life” there for the apres ski. Happo has easy slopes too. There’s shuttle buses to many other slopes within reach and if you’re an experience powder chaser. Can’t go wrong with Hakuba for snow.