Advices

[hkgal 0]

Sorry that I was too busy to get online and didn't respond earlier. First of all thank you for those who understand and have the interest to help. My English may not be the best but I hope I can make myself easy to understand. I came to this site because I believe I can get some good first hand information and recommedation from the keen and expert skiers.

 

Here is more information:

 

I have just join the company for one month, so I don't know well about my boss'level. He is an American who has lived in London in the past 7 years and have just moved to HK. The company has an annual ski event for clients in the US and in Europe. I cannot remember where in the US and it is St. Moritz in Europe. May be this can tell a little of the type of place. I guess my boss is a pretty good and keen skier because he has booked ski holiday with family. If I would guess, he would want to have good snow, nice piste, nice hotel/chalet and good restaurants. He is not familiar with the ski resorts in Japan and neither do I even I read the places listed here.

 

Will this extra info helps?

[Fattwins 0]

book him into le neige and he will be fine.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

hmmm, nice amenities - hows the Prince at Naeba peeps? Ive never been but heard. Maybe Markie can chime in on that one.

 

The Prince at Higashiyama (Niseko) may not be the bomb place to stay though it looks nice. Another form vs. function aspect maybe? But youre guaranteed great snow up there. On the Hirafu side of Niseko it seems a big portion of the village has had a face lift with loads of new places to stay and restaurants which could be good as well.

 

Your English is fine

 

Options:

 

Niseko (Hokkaido)among Japan's best powder, diverse crowd of peeps, good onsens, family oriented resort, best night skiing in Japan.

 

Naeba (short bullet train ride from Tokyo)never been but seems to have excellent hotels.

 

Nozawa Onsen (not sure from Tokyo but maybe 4-5 hours by bus??) Nice little village with loads of onsens and a more trad. Japanese feel maybe.

 

Hakuba (5 hr bus ride from Tokyo or train option) has from 1 star to 5 star hotels, tons of resorts, onesens, and some decent restaurants.

[gerard 6]

Nozawa Onsen sounds like the best cultural experience combined with good skiing and good snow.

[muikabochi 208]

Naeba Prince is NOT deluxe.

It's stuck in the 70s.

 

How I feel anyways.

[soubriquet 0]

Welcome back hkgal

 

Appi is purpose built, and has nice snow.

[quattro 1]

Club Med Sahoro may not be bad. OK skiing, one of the big pluses is excellent child care. Especially if your boss brings family. Plus it's all includes all you meals.

[Ocean11 0]

Book them into a backpackers in Hakuba so they can bond.

[Markie 0]

Sounds like Arai still is the best fit, based on that, too bad it's closed.

 

If you're going with the family, Karuizawa is good too. The ski jo (ski 場）is relatively small, but the Prince Hotel there is good and has a great adjoining mall with lots and lots of shops, cinemas and even a bowling alley. So lots of non-ski fun for the family. But not great ski-fun.

 

Naeba boasts the biggest ski resort hotel in the world. Facilities are good and the ski jo is also good but that place is quite crowded, not only for the ski-lifts but in the evenings, I remember waits of up to an hour for dinner (just to get a place) at the good restaurants there. Their night skiing is really good though.

 

If he wants to go somewhere big with a lot of skiable terrain, then I recommend Shiga Kogen. That is the biggest inter-linked resort area in all Japan and the Prince Hotel there gives good service.

 

In Hokkaido, the Prince Hotel in Higashiyama Niseko is a good hotel with the gondola to the mountain top running right down into the hotel itself at the base. Now that's what I cal a ski-in ski-out experience! Niseko is the biggest in Hokkaido for skiing and as the slopes are full of Australians, most of the resort is English speaking.

Tomamu is also really good. Great hotels, good terrain, but most of all, the best selection of restaurants I have ever had the pleasure of trying out. The also have an incredibly big indoor spa and swimming pool which is also a "wave-pool". Great family fun.

Rusutsu claims to be No. 1 in Hokkaido and is also a great place. The slopes are good and the hotel is also great but it does not have onsens. All the other places have onsens.

Kiroro is also a lavish resort if you stay at the Piano Hotel and it has a 50 metre indoor pool and a really great onsen.

 

All of the above have ski-in ski-out facilities. But if you don't mind waiting for the shuttle bus to take you to the slopes nearby or walking about 10 minutes to the slopes, the you can try out the Tokyu Hotel or the La Neige (recommended by Fattwins) in Hakuba. Hakuba is the biggest ski resort town in Japan but it's many resorts are not inter-linked. If you have a car, it's great for getting around town and the different resorts but if you don't, you tend to feel a bit tied down.

 

HKgal, I suggest you print this out and show it to your boss and get his opinions. If you like, I can talk with you or with him directly on the phone and answer your questions.

Good luck.

[Fattwins 0]

he sounds like he has money so taxis arent an issuse. also le neige will drive you almost anywhere at any time. le neige is above and beyond the best kept secret in Japan. you should check each of the above hotels.

 

if he has skied europe then dont go to sahoro nice hotel but small.

 

karuizawa same dont even think about it.

[gerard 6]

"Naeba Prince is NOT deluxe.

It's stuck in the 70s."

 

I don't think anyone who has skied a lot in N.America or Europe would be at all impressed with Prince Hotels. You may want to go with a package tour from a travel agent in HK and maybe Prince is in tight with the agents but it's not what North Americans look for in a ski vacation. From what I have seen, 'Prince' is a cheap transparent attempt at 'luxury' and I would avoid them. Japan has so much more to offer!

[Markie 0]

Agree with Fattwins. Sahoro and Karuizawa is not going to give you good skiing. Karuizawa is good for after-ski family stuff. Don't like Club Med too much because their hotel is too basic. Yes, meals are provided, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner buffets and that's it. Forget about room service, forget about dropping into the Coffee Shop at any time for a snack, there's none. Forget about a drink (I mean just a Coke) in your room, no mini-fridge, no TV and (most important for my "stuck-up ass") no bidet (automated J-toilet seat).

[Markie 0]

Fattwins, I'm a bit skeptical about J-taxis. I still remember Mogski's story from years ago and remember last Easter we had no luck calling one to take us from your place back to the Tokyu?

[Fattwins 0]

yeah thats cause the taxis didnt know who i was etc. Im now signed up as a hotel and chou and alpico have been informed about us.

 

we are talking le neige though if they say jump the taxi says how high.

[Markie 0]

Yeah, that's what I don't like. It's like you have to connected just to get one. Like some private club or secret society. I'm used to just waving my hand and hailing one down.

[soubriquet 0]

That's it then. No techno-cyber dunny. Club Med's off my list.

[thursday 1]

what an easy choice.

 

HK direct flight to Sapporo, Limousine bus to resort. If there are nine in the party, you can hire a private minivan. But you clients may not want to travel in a group with your boss. If going to N, the journey from HK to resort would be 8 hours. And that's one flight and one coach ride, that's it. No Shinkansen after landing, no shuttle transfer.

 

The Prince Higashiyama sucks big time for all the reasons dogging a large hotel. You don't want to be breakfasting with 2000 other peeple do you?

 

You can check out the other smaller hotels simply by googling Niseko or hire a budding ski tour guide like Markie. Good luck.

[Fattwins 0]

you can hire a coach to any resort really if you so want to. also you can fly into mnatsumoto and then have a 1.5 hour coach to H.

[Markie 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by thursday:
what an easy choice.

hire a budding ski tour guide like Markie.

Well, I'm only going to places that have the toilet seat I want....BTW, Fattwins, I hope that will be installed by the time I get to your place, otherwise you'd better assign someone to do it for me manually.

[Markie 0]

Fattwins, Matsumoto has an airport? I think the closest international airport is Nagoya, though.

[gerard 6]

This is getting confusing. In no particular order, can we narrow this down to:

 

Niseko (stay in Hirafu, not the Prince)

Yuzawa onsen (for the Japanese experience)

Hakuba (le neige)

 

...and

Don't go to Club med/Sahoro or Prince Hotel

 

???

[soubriquet 0]

I'm right with you Markie. IMO, the techno-cyber dunny is Japan's richest cultural experience. I have it in mind to go to Club Med and crap in their car park, just to show them.

[HoTRoD 2]

The Japanese experience = most definitely Nozawa Onsen.

[Markie 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by HoTRoD:
The Japanese experience = most definitely Nozawa Onsen.

C'mon, don't just stop there. What's so great about it? I haven't been so would like to hear.

[HoTRoD 2]

Check the reviews etc. It certainly beats Yuzawa as a Japanese onsen experience, I was just correcting that point.

 

Will post again later.