gerard 6 Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Originally Posted By: Jay and where is that??? I think that's overlooking Hakuba, on the west side of the valley in the mountains bordering Toyama. -In the Northeast corner of Nagano Prefecture. Looks really nice, eh Jay?! Link to post Share on other sites
HappyG 0 Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 J If you're good with spending that extra time getting another plane up to Hokkaido, having often bussed it to Haneda to catch that plane, then you've got more choice than me. As I noted before, I try to minimise that kind of hassle on holiday, and Hakuba is way easier from Singapore. One flight, a quick change of platform at Tokyo Station, and you're pretty much there: leave Sing at night, be on the slopes at lunch! I'm with you on spending a couple of days in Tokyo - always fun, and much better for cold-weather gear shopping than Singapore, strangely enough - but that again leads me to Hakuba, as it's always less than 3 hours door-to-door from Tokyo. Yeah, ok, maybe I'm just lazy! Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 I don't know the exact details behind the data being thrown around here, but from my experience, the fastest I can get from Hong Kong to Hakuba if I take a morning flight, say 9 am, I can get to Hakuba by before 7 pm if I take the Shink to Nagano and then taxi to Hakuba. If I take a taxi from Narita directly to Hakuba direct I get there after 8 pm. On the other hand, if I take a 9 am flight from HK direct to Chitose, I can arrive and clear customs before 5 pm, I have been able to get to Rusutsu in 90 mins from there and do some night skiing, hitting the slopes before 7 pm on the same day. Niseko and Kiroro usually take about 2 hours from Chitose, so I can still get there by about 7.30pm. So my point is, the the arrival times at several Hokkaido resorts is similar if not earlier than that of Hakuba if one departs from HK and flies direct, so don't use that "ad line" for HK customers! Link to post Share on other sites
HappyG 0 Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 I believe you Markie - I haven't done it myself, but a lot of ppl in Sing go via HK to Niseko to cut out the whole annoying Haneda loop. Making Hakuba for lunch from Sing means leaving at midnight, not 9am. If I left Sing in the morning for Narita, I'd still be travelling way past my bed-time. Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 I don't know about the Narita-Haneda transfer thing, that must be a real hassle. When I can't get a direct flight to Hokkaido, I usually do a transfer at Osaka/Kansai. As for Honshu, Hakuba is a great place, but it is not the easiest place to get to from Narita. If you fly in at Nagoya, it is easier and if you get land at Matsumoto, that is really fantastic. I think Gala Yuzawa is the best place to go skiing in terms of convenience of transportation from Narita. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Markie we know that HK still has direct flights as does China and Korea. The point is after that there are no direct flights. Many tour companies are tacking on 2 days in Tokyo one on the front and one on the back. That picture is looking towards goryu actually looking directly south. Link to post Share on other sites
jaycb74 0 Posted October 27, 2007 Author Share Posted October 27, 2007 Man...looks real tasty!! Reminds me of the heliboarding I did in NZ this past summer! So I've spent the past 24 hours researching places and its definitely b/n Nagano (Hkuba) and Hokaido but really not any closer to a decision. I don't know at the end of the day, everything I read says Niseko has the best powder and really I'm a self confessed "powder hound". But also need to think about the wife and the overall trip experience...other things to do, nice village atmosphere, hot springs a must!!!...you get the idea. I'm leaning towards Niseko and taking the extra travel time although going through HK is probably an option. But again really looking for advice from people who have been too both and can give some 1st hand pros/cons. Thanks for the help so far! J Link to post Share on other sites
stemik 14 Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 There is also another route to consider i know they have direct flight from Korea and HK ASIA to Fukuoka (kyushu) and the direct flight to Matsumoto Airport only one hour from Hakuba Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 Jay, do not go through HK. There are too few seats to Sapporo already. You would be depriving deserving HKers who go to Sapporo just to walk around. No joke, two years ago, we were walking around Sapporo after skiing in Niseko during Christmas and New Year and we bumped into 2 couples we knew on 2 different street corners. They were there to "eat some crab" and "buy some lavender pillows". Nice place Sapporo. Link to post Share on other sites
2pints-mate 0 Posted October 29, 2007 Share Posted October 29, 2007 Are you all booked thursday? Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted October 29, 2007 Share Posted October 29, 2007 I believe you asked me the same question last year. Link to post Share on other sites
2pints-mate 0 Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 I must apologise. Link to post Share on other sites
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