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For all those lucky people that have been to both Hakuba and Niseko, which do you think is better and why?

Some of the basic arguments for Niseko is that it gets a lot more powder, However Hakuba is steep an narly.

What do you think?

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I live near Hakuba, but I went to Niseko back on December 7 and it rocked. Before Christmas it's a no brainer. Niseko every time. Even early season though, it felt much much colder than Hakuba, so you've got to take the necessary precautions. The other amazing thing was how fast the weather changed. In less than three hours in Sapporo, it went from near whiteout to bright sunshine to near white-out and then back to sunshine. I grew up with changeable weather in the UK, but this was something else.

 

This is probably offtopic for a snowsports forum, but despite living in Nagano and doing outdoor stuff all year round, the scenery in Hokkaido still knocked me out. The area around the lakes Shikotsuko and Toyako is fantastic, much nicer and far more untouched than anywhere in Nagano. I'd love to go up there and get a mountain bike/canoe. I've seen photo collections of Ririshi, Akan, Daisetsuzan and Biei, and they look wicked too. There aren't the jaggy near-3000 meter mountains like here in the Alps but that's about all. The seafood too is heavenly. If you've got the time, I would strongly recommend doing more than just skiing/boarding on a Hokkaido trip.

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I prefer Niseko, but go to Hakuba more simply because of the travel problem. The other plus that Hakuba has is the choice of resorts that there is in the valley - at least 5 decent resorts near each other. Good place.

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