2026-01 Japan and Hakuba Snowaboarding Trip!
Table of Contents
Background
We are going to Hakuba!! in January for 10 days snowboarding! More to come!
We are going to Hakuba!! and we are going to Tsugaike Kogen 栂池高原スキー場 to start with and here’s their resort page & resort main page!
There’s some interesting links on the area. Here’s a Tsugaike Kogen 栂池高原スキー場 resort guide with a YouTube review. There’s also the Powderhounds summary on Tsugaike Kogen 栂池高原スキー場. This is the Tsugapow details for pow pow running at Tsugaike Kogen 栂池高原スキー場.
Flights we booked
Qantas all the way baby! Well.. in the end not tied to Qantas but it just worked out the better way based on departure time and arrival times. It was more expensive than the alternatives but what swung me was my Gold status allowing me additional luggage capacity. Need that when travelling with snow gear.
We booked Qantas landing into Tokyo Haneda airport.
We booked Qantas out of Tokyo Narita airport.
Transfer to Hakuba we booked
We were landing at Tokyo Haneda airport with Qantas and found that Nagano Snow Shuttle has a direct bus transfer service to Hakuba AND they drop you off at the place where you are staying! #winning! So that is what we ended up doing.
The base fare was ¥11,500 with an arrival surcharge of ¥2,500 as Tsugaike Kogen 栂池高原スキー場 is further up north in the valley for the last to the door drop off. With excess baggage (given we’re travelling with snowboards etc.) was ¥2,000 and for two persons that ended up total one way drop off cost of ¥29,500.
The only thing is that we booked the 4:15pm shuttle as we were not sure if we could make it out from the plane with all the luggage in 2 hours. Should not be a problem but you never know so went with the safe option. Can always check then if there are seats available on the earlier shuttle.
Accommodation we booked
With where we ended up, we were looking for something decent and not too expensive but still right on the slopes… and we came across Arise Hakuba Lodge which for the area was not too bad at all. We were two parties and booked a double room with a private bathroom. That set up back ¥302,500, which was A$2,992 AUD. Not crazy but still not cheap cheap. But its right on the slope ski in, which was cool! And oh… breakfast was included as well, which was great… don’t have to fuss too much in the morning then.
Stuff we tried out whilst we were there
Yeah, more to come on that..
A few select photos
Yeah, more to come on that..
What?! Videos too?!
Yeah, more to come on that..
So what did we think?
Yeah, more to come on that..
Oh!? So what did you guys do each day??!
Monday January 5th, 2026
Tuesday January 6th, 2026
Wednesday January 7th, 2026
Thursday January 8th, 2026
Friday January 9th, 2026
Saturday January 10th, 2026
Sunday January 11th, 2026
Monday January 12th, 2026
Tuesday January 13th, 2026
Wednesday January 14th, 2026
Thursday January 15th, 2026
Friday January 16th, 2026
Saturday January 17th, 2026
Stuff that needs to be done to do a trip like this..
- Book flights. DONE!
- Buy travel insurace. Especially with skiing cover as you don’t want to pay $$$$ if something happens!
- Book accommodation. DONE!
- Book airport transfer to Hakuba. DONE!
- Book airport transfer from Hakuba to airport. DONE!
- Organize Wise physcial and ‘on the phone’ CC.
- Organize Suica travel card.
- Organize Airalo eSIM for Japan.
- Buy snowboard hear on sale in Australia!
- Buy Heavy Duty Lightweight Packing Bags. Just in case you end up having to pack that extra stuff that you did not account for.
- Buy Phone Tether Lanyard or something like it.. so you don’t loose your phone when on the lifts!
- Pack the GoPro with helmet mount attachments for those pow pow runs being recorded.
- Train a bit to keep muscles and stamina up to scratch to make the most of the days there.
- Buy some extra Apple AirTag to put in your luggage when getting it shipped and transferred. You never know!
- Buy some Alecks. Not tried these yet but thinking of getting some for thi Japan ski trip…