Feb 2022 Ski trip itinerary and ideas

9 comments

1. We have had several snow trips as of 2018, and couriered the boards from 2016 onwards, excellent service.
   We always used the Blackcat service, Do you have anyone in mind? I’m unsure of the status of the office at HND and hopefully someone can answer that. At NRT the bag collection area is in the enormous departure hall (for us in terminal 2 that was) and was very very easy to find, and collect bags.I don’t have much to offer for advice for your first part of the trip, Kyoto would be awesome and we are yet to go. The shinkansens are the greatest thing in the world, but I’m biased towards trains.. My main advice, is spend the extra cash, book a Green Car seat, and enjoy shinkansens in relative quiet and high comfort. The cattle class from Tokyo to Kyoto will be likely be verrrrry busy and bookings are essential..The snow looks sweet as, enjoy! To say I’m envious is an understatement.Feb 25 in Toyko, Friday Night Ueno!!!!! I love Ueno.. the markets, the foods, its also walking distance to Akihabara which is also 4.7 seconds away by train… great fun

   My experiences in Tokyo have discovered that its not the fastest to wake up in the morning, so often we’d be wandering around a ghost town so we tended not to rush out after that.Every Tokyo segment of our trips was spent in a different hotel around a different Yamanote Line suburb, they’ve been interesting so far, Kanda, Akihabara, Shimbashi, Ginza, Shinjuku, Asakusa

2. Long way out, but in any event…

   Do takkyubin direct to the “Chalets at Country Resort” (I assume this is the place?) and ditto for vice versa – any reputable hotel will be able to arrange for luggage direct from hotel all the way to Narita (or to your Tokyo hotel). I’ve not done the airport delivery because takkyubin companies will only deliver at the same time as your flight is due to depart which tends to be inconvenient (as I always want to repack prior to the departure)

   The takkyubin at Haneda is easy to find (I won’t describe where as it depends on which exit you come out of & it’s been a while) – you’ll want to get the address in Japanese from Chalets at Country Resort for the delivery staff.

3. I was lucky enough to eat at Ezo Seafoods Oyster Bar while in Niseko as a walk in. You definitely need a reservation which can be hard to get during the ski season. Food was excellent quality and you pick the seafood you want to eat that’s in the walk-in counter. Pricey, but if you like fresh seafood it’s worth it.

4. For the first night in Tokyo, you probably want a hotel close to Shinagawa as you can take the shinkansen form there.

   Gion is not really “red light” district.

   In Kyoto, I would personally check to stay in the Gion or Sanjo area (Sanjo have a subway so might be a bit more convenient.) But considering you do not plan much in Kyoto, I would say closer to Kyoto station may make sense. You can do Osaka as a day trip from Kyoto (so you return to sleep in Kyoto

   Next morning you can leave your bag at the station in a locker on do something in Kyoto until you have to take the train to KIX (there is a direct train to the airport. You do not have to change hotel to go to Osaka. Actually, you can also decide to just go to Osaka at the end of the Kyoto day and stay there. The most popular area is likely around Namba station that is close to Dotonbori, perfect if you are more into nightlife.

   What to do and where to stay in Tokyo is really up to you, depend on your interest, there is lot of options.

   Not sure why it would be more complicated for the luggage if you get in and out of a different airport. If I understand correctly, there is Ski gear that you will not carry with you all the time, so it will not be a problem if you ship from hotel in Hokkaido to Narita. Otherwise, just bring it with you to the airport and fly with your luggage, then carry it to Narita at the end.

5. Is it possible to taqbin my snowboards with accomodations like niseko central?

6. How are you travelling there? So jealous !

7. you might want to consider going a few weeks earlier, by late feb the snow is already lessened , even flipping the trip and visiting tokyo and osaka after niseko would be wise

8. Gion is definitely not a red light district, so you don’t have to worry about any “unsafe” experiences there. I’m not sure where you got this impression – geisha, maybe?

   If you like nice restaurants, Tokyo is one of the best cities in the world for that. If that’s your priority, you can easily plan your stay in Tokyo around restaurants you’d like to visit, even if you don’t like seafood.

   I also highly suggest going to a bar in a high rise hotel at least one night in Tokyo to admire the skyline. It’s an otherworldly experience.

   What interests you about Japan besides skiing? It’s a little hard to recommend things/places without knowing your interests better

9. >9:15pm drop luggage to be sent to CTS (hints tips please)

   Just throwing this out here: I read in some comments above that you are arriving in Nieseko via a group tour (bus) and you believe it may be easier to receive your gear once arriving at Chitose (CTS airport) via the takkyubin/delivery service.

   You may consider having your things delivered to the Chalets or even a nearby ‘combini’ (convenience store- 7 Eleven, Family Mart, etc) or even the Nieseko Tourist office (which is one of the highest points of the village) rather than race down & find the takkyubin office at CTS (while your tour group is waiting for you). I guess it depends on where the Nieseko Chalets are relative to where you can pick up your gear & how much stuff/ how heavy it will be/ how far a walk to your Chalets could be. Taxi’s are not cheep and have limited space (although many taxi’s have roof racks in the townsite.

   There was three of us outside the tourist office in Anapuri and the taxi guy immediately called a van for back up and charged us appropriately (or course it is difficult to explain that you could have all fitted our gear in that little Toyota taxi in the first place.) I seem to remember that was a $50 USD cab ride for a 5 minute shuttle