How do you plan a first riding trip to Hokkaido?

Give a first Hokkaido trip about ten days and split it between two or three bases. Start around Niseko and finish inland at Furano or Tomamu. Book your beds before anything else, then build the days around them in our trip planner.

This guide draws on the resort, hotel and transport details in our files as we checked them in October 2026. Room rates in our files date from January 2024, so check current rates before you budget.

How long should a first trip be?

Ten days gets you seven or eight days on snow. Your arrival day goes to the airport transfer, and each move between bases eats most of a day. Expect to lose at least one more to weather. Kiroro has shut its gondola and top lifts in moderate wind in recent seasons, and storms often keep Niseko's peak gates closed. With two weeks you can add a third base or a guided touring day without rushing.

Which bases should you pick?

Base	What you can ride	Getting there	Trade-off
Hirafu or Kutchan	Niseko United, Moiwa, Rusutsu	Hokkaido Resort Liner from New Chitose about 2 hr 45 min, ¥6,000 one way (2026/27); about 2 hr by car	Prices in Hirafu run high, and Kutchan sits a 20-minute bus ride below the lifts
Sapporo or Otaru	Sapporo Teine, Sapporo Kokusai, Kiroro	Rapid train from New Chitose about 40 min to Sapporo or 75 min to Otaru	You commute to the hill every morning
Furano	Furano, Tomamu an hour away, Kamui and Asahidake from the Asahikawa side	About 2 hr by car from New Chitose; an hour by bus from Asahikawa Airport	The Furano Zone base sits 7 km from town
Tomamu	Tomamu, Sahoro about half an hour east	Limited express from Sapporo about 1 hr 40 min	No town at the bottom, so evenings stay in the hotels

Start in Niseko. Add up our OpenStreetMap measurements for the four Niseko United resorts and you get about 67 km of marked runs. That is the most of any lift network in our files, and the gates open real sidecountry under clear rules. Book a Sapporo or Otaru night in the middle of the trip if you want city food and a change of mountain. Finish inland for colder, lighter snow. Furano has a working town with restaurants, and Tomamu keeps everything inside the resort with a free Powder Area from mid-January.

Should you drive or take the bus?

Take buses if you plan two bases and want to drink at dinner. For 2026/27 the Hokkaido Resort Liner reaches Hirafu from New Chitose in about 2 hr 45 min for ¥6,000 one way. For 2026/27, Kamori's Big Runs bus takes about two hours to Rusutsu for ¥5,000 when you book online a week ahead, and Hoshino's Tomamu bus costs ¥6,000 from the airport and runs only when booked at least nine days ahead. JR trains reach Teine Station in under twenty minutes from Sapporo, and a bus climbs to the slopes for a flat ¥1,000 (fare listed in October 2026).

Hire a car if you want to choose a hill each morning or reach Kiroro, Kamui or Asahidake on your own schedule. Expect winter roads. Route 1 between Kokusai and Otaru closes nightly from 19:00 to 07:00 between early November and mid-April. Kiroro has no rental-car counters or ATM, and the nearest 24-hour fuel is about 30 minutes away in Otaru. Fill up before the last stretch to Tomamu too. Taxis in Kutchan can't be hailed, and at peak times the wait runs 30 to 60 minutes. Our getting around guide covers transport in more detail.

How much does a day cost?

We built these daily figures per person, with two people sharing a room. They leave out flights, transfers, rentals and insurance.

Comfort level	Bed	Lift ticket	Food (our estimate)	Per day
Budget	¥7,000	¥7,000	¥3,000	about ¥17,000
Mid-range	¥17,000	¥11,400	¥6,000	about ¥34,400
High end	¥52,000	¥12,000	¥15,000	about ¥79,000

The inputs come from our files. The budget bed is a Freeride Lodge Niseko dorm at about ¥7,000 a night in January 2024, and the budget lift ticket is an Annupuri day at ¥7,000 in the 2025/26 regular season. Food there assumes a ¥1,000 bowl of ramen at lunch and a cheap dinner. Kamui's Center House listed its ramen at that price when we checked in October 2026. The mid-range bed is half of a standard room with breakfast at Always Niseko. That room cost about ¥34,000 a night in January 2024. Its lift ticket is the All Mountain day bought online in 2025/26, and its food assumes ¥1,600 at lunch plus a ¥4,400 course dinner like the one Rusutsu Pension Clydesdale listed in October 2026. The high-end bed is half of a Yotei-view studio at Skye Niseko that cost about ¥104,000 a night in January 2024, and its lift ticket is the 2025/26 All Mountain counter price.

A guided powder day pushes the top tier much higher. A seat on the Weiss snowcat costs ¥175,000 a day in the 2026/27 regular season, and Tomamu lists its weekend snowcat at ¥110,000 for 2026/27.

What should you book first?

1. Beds. Always Niseko set a five-night minimum over New Year and February on its January 2024 rates. The Vale Niseko set a five-night minimum that January, and Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono set three nights.
2. Guides and cat days. Weiss group days need at least seven guests for 2026/27. Iwanai refunds a cancelled cat day in full only 30 days or more ahead, and Tomamu opens its snowcat bookings in early November.
3. Reserved buses. Hoshino's Tomamu buses run only when booked nine days ahead. Kamori wants ten days' notice for its Big Runs bus to Teine, and its Rusutsu airport bus costs less a week out.
4. A rental car. Reserve one before the peak weeks if you plan to drive.
5. Lift tickets. Buy them online a few days before you ride, and check our lift pass guide for the discounts.

Furano's First Tracks sessions close bookings at 17:00 a week ahead, so add them to the list if you want one.

What does a 10-day trip look like?

• Day 1: Land at New Chitose and head to Niseko.
• Days 2–5: Ride Niseko United on the All Mountain pass. Take the peak gates on a clear morning after snow, and ride the trees at Moiwa or the lower Hirafu runs when wind holds the upper lifts. Give one day to Rusutsu. Its Powder Day Trip bus left the Hirafu Welcome Center at 8:30 in January and February 2026 for ¥9,000 return.
• Day 6: Drive toward Sapporo by way of Kiroro, then sleep in Otaru 40 minutes down the road.
• Day 7: Ride Sapporo Teine by train and bus, or Kokusai if a storm is coming in. Eat in Sapporo.
• Day 8: Travel to Furano and ride the night session. Night laps run until 18:00 on weekdays and 19:30 at weekends from mid-December.
• Days 9–10: Ride Furano, or Tomamu an hour away by car, then fly out of Asahikawa or drive back to New Chitose in about two hours.

Swap Tomamu in as a base for the last two nights if you'd rather sleep at the lifts. Plot your version in the trip planner, and check our snow season guide for the opening dates in your week.

Sources

• Hokkaido Resort Liner, New Chitose to Rusutsu and Niseko: https://www.access-n.jp/winter2026/skibus/detail/101chitose_rusutsu_niseko.html
• Niseko access: https://www.niseko.ne.jp/en/niseko/niseko-access/
• Rusutsu access and Big Runs bus: https://rusutsu.com/en/access-shuttle-bus-new-chitose-airport/
• Hoshino Resorts Tomamu access and snowcat: https://www.snowtomamu.jp/winter/en/access/, https://www.snowtomamu.jp/winter/en/ski/ski-slope/cat/
• Kiroro winter access: https://www.kiroro.co.jp/access-winter/
• Sapporo Teine access: https://sapporo-teine.com/snow/lang/en/access
• Sapporo Kokusai access: https://www.sapporo-kokusai.jp/en/access/
• Furano Ski Resort: https://www.princehotels.com/en/ski/furano/
• Niseko Annupuri tickets: https://www.annupuri.info/en/lift-tickets/
• Niseko United lift tickets: https://www.niseko.ne.jp/en/lift/
• Hanazono Weiss cat skiing: https://hanazononiseko.com/en/winter/activities/weiss-cat-skiing
• Iwanai Resort snowcat terms: https://iwanairesort.com/en/terms-and-conditions-snowcat
• Freeride Lodge Niseko: https://www.freeridelodgeniseko.com/
• Always Niseko: https://www.alwaysniseko.com/
• Skye Niseko: https://www.skyeniseko.com/
• Rusutsu Pension Clydesdale: https://clydesdale.jp/