Feature · 5 min read
Should you book The Tower or RISONARE at Tomamu?
Tomamu has no town at the bottom, so the hotel you pick decides how far you walk to the lifts and what you come home to. Both hotels belong to Hoshino Resorts, and they suit two very different trips.
By Adam BognarPublished
Book The Tower if you came to ride, because it stands at the foot of Tower Mountain with the first chair a short walk away and costs far less. Book RISONARE if your group wants space, since every room is a suite of at least 100 square metres with its own sauna. Plan on the free shuttle each morning whichever tower you sleep in, because the gondola, the steeps and the Experts Only Powder Area sit on Tomamu Mountain across the resort.
Hoshino Resorts Tomamu is a resort with no village below it. The Tower and RISONARE hold its rooms, and Club Med runs a separate all-inclusive at the Tomamu Mountain base. We compared the two Hoshino hotels on lift access, rooms, price and season.
| The Tower | RISONARE | |
|---|---|---|
| Suits | Riders, families on a budget | Families and groups who want space |
| Lift access | Tower Express and Nipo Chair beside the hotel | Ski-in on a beginner run to the same two chairs |
| Rooms | Twins of 24–27 m² up to family rooms of 58 m² | Suites of 100–120 m², 200 rooms |
| In-room extras | Low beds in family and baby rooms | Private sauna and window jet bath in every suite |
| 2026/27 sample package | About US$1,318 per person | About US$2,045 per person |
| Open | 1 December 2026 – 4 April 2027 | 1 December 2026 – 31 March 2027 |
| Station shuttle | About 5 minutes | About 10 minutes |
| Drawback | Small standard rooms | Higher on the hill and much dearer |
The package figures come from PowderHounds' 2026/27 early-bird samples for two adults sharing for seven nights outside holiday periods, with breakfast, lift passes and airport transfers included. Treat them as a guide to the gap between the hotels. Neither hotel publishes a rack rate on its own pages.
How close is each hotel to the lifts?
The Tower is closer. It stands in the middle of the resort beside the GAO Outdoor Center, with Tower Mountain rising behind it, and a tour operator's listing puts the Tower Express and Nipo Chair under a minute's walk away. The Tower Express starts at 08:45, fifteen minutes before the upper lifts. From 26 December to 31 March those same two chairs run until 18:00 for the night session, and Moonshine is the steep run under the lights.
RISONARE sits on higher ground in the forest above, and Hoshino sells it as ski-in, ski-out. The route is a beginner trail that runs past the Hotalu Street restaurants down to the Nipo and Tower Express chairs, according to PowderHounds.
The UNKAI Gondola, the Powder Express and every advanced run live on Tomamu Mountain, away from both hotels. To join the Experts Only Powder Area, which opens in stages from mid-January, you also need the password posted at the Snow Kart reception in the Resort Center. The free area shuttle links the resort's facilities about every 15 to 20 minutes, though at some times of day you call it from the front desk.
Who should stay at The Tower?
The Tower suits riders who want to spend their money on lift days and families who need practical rooms. A Standard Twin covers 24 to 27 square metres. Families get a lot of choice. Family Quints take five people in 58 square metres with low beds and a bunk, and the Baby's Room has low beds for parents with a toddler. A 100-square-metre salmon-themed room called Shake sleeps up to four, for the children who keep asking about it.
Ski and board rental is on the ground floor, which saves carrying anything across the resort. The hotel opens from 1 December 2026 to 4 April 2027, four days longer than RISONARE, and check-in is at 15:00. The drawback is room size, since a Standard Twin with two people and their kit leaves little floor to stand on.
Who should stay at RISONARE?
RISONARE suits families and groups who want to spread out after a day on the hill. Every one of its 200 rooms is a suite. Couples take a 100-square-metre Suite Twin on the 16th floor or higher. A family of four gets 120 square metres in a Suite Quad lower down, and there's a Suite Sixth on the 6th floor for six. A private sauna and a jet bath against the window come with all of them, so the post-ride soak happens upstairs.
The Skier's Suite on the 27th floor is built for a ski trip. It has a boot heater that dries four pairs at once and a single lift chair set by the window. Hoshino also provides free diapers and children's pyjamas at both hotels, and children up to six can share a bed with a parent.
The drawback is cost. On the PowderHounds samples a week here runs more than half again the price of The Tower, and RISONARE closes after the last check-out on 1 April.
Where do you bathe at Tomamu?
Neither hotel has a natural onsen. Guests of both enter Kirin-no-Yu free, and the resort says on its own page that the outdoor bath uses heated bath water. Day visitors pay ¥1,500. Cover tattoos with stickers. RISONARE's in-room sauna gives you a second option, and guests at both hotels get free entry to the Mina-Mina Beach wave pool.
The map
The map marks every place this piece visits.
Contours come from AWS Terrain Tiles, and the coast and water from OpenStreetMap.
What do lift tickets cost?
Tomamu's counter day ticket rises to ¥9,500 for 2026/27, or ¥9,200 online, and guests of The Tower or RISONARE save ¥500. Children aged six and under ride free once registered. Multi-day tickets cost the day rate per day, so buy as you go. The Hokkaido Powder Belt Pass covers Tomamu with Furano and Kamui Ski Links. Ikon and Epic don't include Tomamu.
How do you get to Tomamu?
Limited express trains from Sapporo reach JR Tomamu in about 1 hour 40 minutes. A free shuttle meets the trains and takes about 5 minutes to The Tower and about 10 minutes to RISONARE. Book the return run at the front desk when you arrive. Sahoro is about half an hour away by car for a change of scene. Our guide to riding Hokkaido without a car covers the trains and the Hoshino bus liners in detail.
How we compared
We read both hotels' room, facility and FAQ pages on the Tomamu winter site and Hoshino Resorts' own RISONARE page in October 2026, along with the Ride Hokkaido resort and stay files. Lift distances come from the operator listings we link, because the resort publishes none. Package prices are early-bird samples for 2026/27 and will move with the exchange rate. The method is desk research, and nobody from Ride Hokkaido stayed at either hotel for this page.
Sources
- Tomamu The Tower
- Tomamu The Tower room types
- RISONARE Tomamu
- RISONARE Tomamu room types
- Hoshino Resorts: RISONARE Tomamu
- Tomamu winter FAQ
- Tomamu Kirin-no-Yu
- Tomamu lift tickets
- Tomamu Experts Only Powder Area
- PowderHounds: RISONARE Tomamu
- PowderHounds: Tomamu The Tower twin-share packages
- PowderHounds: RISONARE Tomamu twin-share packages
- Sno: Hoshino Resorts Tomamu The Tower
Quick answers
Is Tomamu The Tower ski-in ski-out?
Tomamu The Tower stands at the foot of Tower Mountain, and a tour operator lists the Tower Express and Nipo Chair under a minute's walk from the door. The Tower Express starts at 08:45. The UNKAI Gondola and the steeper runs sit on Tomamu Mountain, which guests reach on the free area shuttle every 15 to 20 minutes.
How big are the rooms at RISONARE Tomamu?
Every room at RISONARE Tomamu is a suite of 100 to 120 square metres. Each one has a private sauna and a jet or whirlpool bath at the window. Suite Twins sit on the 16th floor and above, and the 120-square-metre Suite Sixth sleeps six.
Does either Tomamu hotel have an onsen?
Neither Tomamu hotel has a natural onsen. Guests of The Tower and RISONARE enter the Kirin-no-Yu outdoor bath free, and the resort states that Kirin-no-Yu uses heated bath water. Tattoos must be covered with stickers there.
When are The Tower and RISONARE open in winter 2026/27?
Tomamu The Tower opens from 1 December 2026 to 4 April 2027, with the last check-out on 5 April. RISONARE Tomamu opens from 1 December 2026 to 31 March 2027, with the last check-out on 1 April. Both hotels check in at 15:00 and out at 11:00.
We write from operators’ and agencies’ own pages, open map data and published research, and we date every fact we check. How we research.