Travel: Japan - General

[celeste.08399chua]

EatNonStop:

dlye, does the ski lesson includes the daily ski pass? Or we need to purchase?

eatnonstop - you need to buy it separately. If the kids are on the slopes for the FIRST TIME ever, a tip - consider buying them the points system pass instead of the day pass. mine did not get to use the lifts till day 1.5 of their lessons (and from what I understand, they then took the ski lift a grand total of twice) = wasted pass.....

dlye - I am glad you brought up Good Sports - found them too and considering using them for next year's March ski trip... how are their equipment? and i know i am a little silly, but they are so cheap, I worry too. I have concerns cos can't try the boots on - and a pair of ill fitted boots is a killer on the slopes!

Thanks!

[dlye]

EatNonStop:

dlye, does the ski lesson includes the daily ski pass? Or we need to purchase?

Lift pass is included for the 1/2 day or full day group lessons.

But not for private

[dlye]

celeste.chua:

EatNonStop:

dlye, does the ski lesson includes the daily ski pass? Or we need to purchase?

eatnonstop - you need to buy it separately. If the kids are on the slopes for the FIRST TIME ever, a tip - consider buying them the points system pass instead of the day pass. mine did not get to use the lifts till day 1.5 of their lessons (and from what I understand, they then took the ski lift a grand total of twice) = wasted pass.....

dlye - I am glad you brought up Good Sports - found them too and considering using them for next year's March ski trip... how are their equipment? and i know i am a little silly, but they are so cheap, I worry too. I have concerns cos can't try the boots on - and a pair of ill fitted boots is a killer on the slopes!

Thanks!

Thats odd... My kids went up 4-5 times in the morning alone. But they had some basic experience and never even used the magic carpet.

[celeste.08399chua]

dlye:

celeste.chua:

[quote=\"EatNonStop\"]dlye, does the ski lesson includes the daily ski pass? Or we need to purchase?

eatnonstop - you need to buy it separately. If the kids are on the slopes for the FIRST TIME ever, a tip - consider buying them the points system pass instead of the day pass. mine did not get to use the lifts till day 1.5 of their lessons (and from what I understand, they then took the ski lift a grand total of twice) = wasted pass.....

dlye - I am glad you brought up Good Sports - found them too and considering using them for next year's March ski trip... how are their equipment? and i know i am a little silly, but they are so cheap, I worry too. I have concerns cos can't try the boots on - and a pair of ill fitted boots is a killer on the slopes!

Thanks!

Thats odd... My kids went up 4-5 times in the morning alone. But they had some basic experience and never even used the magic carpet.[/quote]Oh, mine were freshies. Completely. Never put skis on before - haha

And they were with NISS who conduct lessons at Hanazona. Were you with Grand Hirafu school? Last year, they were the only ones i found that included ski passes with the group lessons. But those were only conducted in Japanese and they were directing us to the new Go Snow for English lessons. Or were your kids' lessons over at Niseko village? I have not skied there before - hopefully we can revisit Niseko in March next year!

[dlye]

EatNonStop:

Is there any must try food and good to buy souvenirs in Otaru?

Uni, scallop and other assorted seafood... my favourite shop is Poseidon although I don't think that can be googled
music box
glass beads
Letao
soft serve ice cream

[MyPillow]

dlye, good to know so many gd points of Niseko Village


seems like Niseko Hilton ski sch is good to include lift ride in the grp lesson.

While at Rutsusu, we bought points ticket for my child n hubby

Is the grp lesson conducted in Eng?

[celeste.08399chua]

Yup dlye, just caught up on your past posts,and understand now we were talking about different resorts! Thanks!

[celeste.08399chua]

BTW, for the ladies and gentlemen planning their hokkaido visit - I wanna share this blog by a hokkaido tour guide - http://kimi-tourguide.blogspot.sg. It was really good - I planned quite a fair bit of my itinerary around her blog, especially re where to eat

[dlye]

MyPillow:

dlye, good to know so many gd points of Niseko Village


seems like Niseko Hilton ski sch is good to include lift ride in the grp lesson.

While at Rutsusu, we bought points ticket for my child n hubby

Is the grp lesson conducted in Eng?

Yes. Many of the instructors speak English.
About half of them are Caucasian.

I bought day pass for my boys and myself. For my wife and daughter who only use the gentle green slopes, I bought points since it was 1 point per chairlift ride.

[EatNonStop]

BTW, for the ladies and gentlemen planning their hokkaido visit - I wanna share this blog by a hokkaido tour guide - http://kimi-tourguide.blogspot.sg. It was really good - I planned quite a fair bit of my itinerary around her blog, especially re where to eat

[color=#0000BF]Still got months for details planning...this will be helpful

dlye:

Uni, scallop and other assorted seafood... my favourite shop is Poseidon although I don't think that can be googled
music box - yes, kids made personal music boxes last trip.glass beads - new to me...will try outLetao - this is a must from what I had read so farsoft serve ice cream - oh yes, yummy

dlye:

[quote=\"EatNonStop\"]dlye, does the ski lesson includes the daily ski pass? Or we need to purchase?

Lift pass is included for the 1/2 day or full day group lessons.
But not for private

[/quote] From what I read so far, Ski school in Niseko village includes ski pass where as Ski school at Hirufa not included??

Reference to Hyperdia.com that Dimitri_can provided, to take train from Hakodate to Otaru is almost 290mins which is 4hrs!!!! I am now wondering if this is a good idea to lug along 4 large luggages from Niseko==>Hakodate==>Otaru and can the train allows us to onboard big luggage? (Mmm...1st time trying to take public train in Japan)
I do know whiteliner bus have transport from Chitose airport to Niseko and Niseko to Sapporo...
Any suggestions to other places that are nearer to Sapporo so I might consider switching destinations. Looking for more options