Niseko... PASSPORT or HIRAFU lift ticket?

[indosnm 0]

Have been to Niseko 2wice.Å The first time we bought a passport and never went off Hirafu! So our 2nd time we decided to go with the Hirafu pass instead. both stays were for 5 days and i was pretty happy with the course on hirafu side but am I missing out on something? so all u experts time to express what you would do... PASSPORT or HIRAFU pass?????

ta

[rach 1]

I'd go to Wada Toge myself.

[Ocean11 0]

Yeah me too. You don't got to show your passport at Wada Toge - no standing on ceremony there.

[Markie 0]

Definitely, Passport indosnm. My debut at Niseko was only for 3 days and 2 nights and in that time I did all the courses, except the blackies. I strongly recommend wandering about and trying out the different places to eat. It's great fun.

[scouser 4]

Pasupo-to

[jared 0]

Refresh my memory, where can you go with a passport? and is Hirafu just the gondola and the lift above it or is it for hanazono and alpen too but not the non connected fields?

You will deff want to be able to get to the bottom lift at hanazono so you can get to strawberryfields (and the inu zori)

[Markie 0]

Yes, Hirafu is just a Gondola at the base with another lift just a bit above it, though you can walk across to Alpen on the left and there are other lifts there.

The passport gives you access to Annupuri, Higashiyama, Alpen, Hirafu and Hanazono.

[jared 0]

I would say that you NEED the passport. there is so much exploring to be done on the hanazono side not to mention the run from the summet down to hanazono. - you can still do that without a pass though as i done it once and by the time i got down there the lifts had stopped (no night skiing at hanazono) the last bus had also left so we had to walk a long way then hitch bach to Hirafu.

[snurfer 0]

Hi,

That's not correct Markie.

The Hirafu ticket covers Hirafu Kougen, Alpen and Hanazono.

The passport also gives you Higashiyama and Annapuri.

Higashiyama is run by the prince hotel ski nazis and Annapuri is mostly family tame stuff. Both have some sweet spots though.

 

I don't think the passport is worth the extra cost for longer stays (> 2 weeks), but I'd get one for a short stay.

[Markie 0]

Hi, snufer. I'm sure you are correct. Thank you for pointing it out.

What I meant was that Hirafu is the place with just the Gondola and another ski lift at the base. I really didn't know what the Hirafu pass covered cos I was staying at Higashiyama so I thought the Passport was necessary.

If the Hirafu pass covers Alpen and Hanazono, then that's certainly a lot of skiable area.

If it were me and I was staying at Hirafu, I would probably do only the Hirafu pass for most of the days to save money since there is plenty to ski in Alpen, Hirafu and Hanazono. And then do one or two days with the Passport to try out everything.

Just a suggestion.

[Sydney 0]

does the niseko passport include night skiing?? or just access to all areas during the day

[Markie 0]

You can either buy a day-only passport or one that includes the night. If you buy a multi-day pass, it includes the nights in between. It gives you access to all the night skiing areas in Niseko, however, since not all areas have night skiing, it means the five ski areas are NOT inter-connected at the top as they are during the day. So if you are in Hirafu and you want to do night skiing in Annupuri or Higashiyama, you have to take a taxi over and back when you finish....unless you have a good torch and want to do night cross-country skiing.