Ski Hokkaido

Based in the far North of Japan, if you ski Hokkaido it's not a defined ski region as you may be used to in Europe. The whole island gets some of the world's best champagne powder snow thanks to the Siberian winds. With 12 key ski resorts, you have plenty of choice for skiing or snowboarding here.

Right across Hokkaido there are ski resorts you can take advantage of, but travelling from Europe on a package holiday you will most likely be in Furano or Niseko which are the larger resorts. In Niseko you have 40 runs with over 30 lifts to help you get around the marked pistes not to mention lots of off-piste too!

Visiting Hokkaido

Your first thoughts are probably the distance, language and actually accessing Hokkaido. There are a number of direct flights now into Sapporo and of course you can fly to Tokyo airport and then change. Ski Hokkaido and you will very quickly learn why it is legendary for it's powder. It is perfectly situated to take advantage of Siberian winds, which mean the powder is light and fluffy and the season lasts from November until May at all but one resort. The fresh, light powder can beat almost any other resort. It also has a habit of snowing every couple of days throughout the season!

The resort caters for all abilities, but particularly beginners and intermediates. At most ski resorts, the off-epistle also increases the intermediate and expert potential - with champagne powder making every day a perfect day when it's snowing! You can't compare the infrastructure to French or Austrian resorts in terms of the Hokkaido ski area as a whole, but the Niseko United ski lift pass does cover all the Niseko resorts and pistes on Mt Niseko.

Niseko is now a truly international ski resort and to cap it all they have a very good night skiing set up, which means you can carry on until late into the night - where else do you get that! For snowboarders there's an awesome terrain park and generally across all the resorts there's enough virgin powder to satisfy anyone.

Nightlife within the resorts is fairly limited, however you are only ever a short transfer away from Sapporo or Kutchan if you crave a bit more lively entertainment. From a food angle, there's a lot of choice in the larger resorts - especially in the past few years. Finally, from an accommodation point of view, there is plenty of choice from pensions, to hotels, apartments to the odd chalet, so shop around if you are travelling independently. There are plenty of winter activities.

What else can we say? If you want a truly amazing ski experience, then ski Hokkaido this winter to experience the world's best powder, friendly and welcoming hosts and to do something a bit more unusual for the average UK skier or boarder!