So, winter season is still faaar away... But I'm toying with the idea of doing a pow-trip to Japan the coming winter. But I have no idea where to even begin. Planning on going with a couple of friends, maybe renting a car and visiting a *couple* of spots during ~2 weeks.
Pals located in Japan – when's the best time to go there? And are the resorts on Hokkaido the place to be? What are some cheap and simple places to stay? Love
I don’t live in Hokkaido, just on the main island so I can’t answer specifically about Niseko.
While Hokkaido usually has fairly consistent snow, it’s still gamble with global warming fucking up seasons.
I’ve been on snow for 40+ years, and I’m not confident in encouraging anyone to spend a fuckwad of cash in advance to go anywhere, because snowfall is now becoming completely hit or miss.
We had 2 amazing seasons during Covid. But just before Covid hit, we had the worst season in record. And in the year before that was terrible too. It’s just too up and down now.
It’s also an extra kick to the nuts, because if the snowfall is low in Japan, it’s usually firing in North America and vice versa.
I suggest just waiting to see what the season does in your neck of the woods and then going somewhere where it snows within a reasonable distance with a better chance of getting decent snow. Try cat skiing if you haven’t already.
And contributing less to Global Warming by flying halfway around the world for a decreasing snowpack.
I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but travel agents and tourism boards only want to sell you shit with big talk about the snow, but with no guarantee. You won’t hear this from them.