fruity 0 Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 Just moved to Tokyo and have been considering my options for boarding - picked up a Seibu brochure, they offer Naeba and Karuizawa mainly - are those and GALA Yuzawa the only places do-able by train within 3 hours...? There seem to be quite a few transport options. I would like to know about people's experiences with... 1) Night buses leaving Tokyo 10-ish, you sleep in the bus and arrive at the resort 5:30 or 6:00am - How likely are you to be able to sleep on the bus? Also, why would anyone want to be at a ski resort at 6am? 2) Morning buses leaving 07:30 and getting to the resort between 9 and 10am: This seems to me like a good and cheap option. How likely are you to get a locker for your stuff at that time? Do you stow your boards and stuff in the bus or takkyubin it to the bus station or something? 3) Hotel option: you can also take a bus in the evening, stay at a hotel from midnight and just get up and board - I like this option too, but do hotels generally let you leave stuff there during the day? Or do you have to take it with you when you check out... 4) Shinkansen - is a little quicker but only services certain resorts. Is there anything else other than speed to justify the cost? Like, is it possible to stick everyone's bags on the train? Are there lots of lockers in a shinkansen station? ...yeah...the Seibu brochure only deals with Prince hotels, which are pretty expensive. If anyone can recommend a hotel near to a resort doable from Tokyo, I'd appreciate the info. Thanks in advance to all who respond! Link to post Share on other sites
Wizz 11 Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 Ditch Seibu as quickly as you can. Check out pensions and stuff (quite a few on here in Yuzawa, Hakuba, etc). Yuzawa is 90 mins from Tokyo. Add an hour and you can get to good places in Nagano too. Gunma has some decent places, but give Karuizawa a big miss. (Oh you've already dumped Seibu - good!) Check out the Reviews section of this site. Hope that's a starter, must rush off now... Link to post Share on other sites
Will Lee 0 Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 Japan has many ski areas but most of them are not within easy reach. If you don`t want to rent a car and face gridlock(almost certain, unless if you go on a weekday), my suggestion to you is to take the overnight buses. I do it all the time and I`m able to catch some zzz, for a few hours anyway. Yes, I do like the idea of arriving at the slope at 6am in the morning cuz then I can be the first one on the lift!*grin* It all depends how much you really want to ski/board. It is a bit uncomfortable but you get the most bang out of your hard earned money(got used to it pretty quickly anyway). Seibu`s a rip(they just want you to stay at one of their hotels), pick up other brochures in front of any travel agency. If you go with morning departure you may be fighting for locker space at some popular ski areas such as Tanbara. GALA may be the most hassle free destination but it WILL get packed once the season kicks into full gear. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 fruity - are you aware that Seibu = Kokudo = Prince? Link to post Share on other sites
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