Hakuba Valley – One Pass, Ten Resorts

Hakuba is one of the few places in Japan where a family without a car can still ski easily. The valley links about ten resorts, and free shuttle buses run between them and the main villages.

If you are staying without a car, I suggest a base in Wadano or Echoland. Both have many shuttle buses each day, so you are not stuck waiting in the cold with children. I have watched these shuttles run often on my trips, and they come by frequently in the morning and at the end of the day. (Earlier we suggested staying near Happo. We have changed that advice: Wadano and Echoland are easier for families without a car.)

For lift tickets, Happo-One is a good guide for cost. A one-day adult pass is about ¥8,700, a child pass (ages 6–17) is about ¥4,350, and children under 6 are free. Please check the official Happo-One site for the exact price in your season, as prices change each year.

Hakuba also has the most international families and the most English support of any area we cover, so it is a gentle place to start if this is your first family ski trip to Japan.

Experience incredibly light, dry powder with consistent snowfall all season.

Hakuba hosted several alpine events at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, and you can still carve the same steep Olympian faces on Happo-one today.

Hakuba Valley sits in the Northern Japan Alps, in Nagano. It links about ten separate ski resorts into one large area, with around 135 lifts, more than 200 runs, and roughly 960 hectares of terrain. There is a slope for every level here, from wide beginner runs to steep off-piste. Hakuba also has the most international families and the most English support of any area we cover.

Storms sweeping across the Sea of Japan bury the valley in an average 11–13 m of light, dry powder each season..

Bullet-train to Nagano, then a 60-min coach brings you from downtown Tokyo to Hakuba in about three hours door-to-door.