Hakuba Valley

By Jean-Luc Brassard

An all-inclusive resort where you can ski Japan’s prime powder for less than $4,000? Talk about a great deal! At this price, you’ll surely be checking Japan off your bucket list a lot sooner than you think. Hakuba is a sector in the Nagano Prefecture, where you’ll find several of Japan’s biggest ski resorts. Gendron Travel’s chosen hotel is located in Cortina, the most westerly ski resort of Japanese Alps, not to mention the snowiest! Hakuba regularly gets twice as much snow as Happo One—another great resort with fabulously steep slopes and amazing off-piste skiing you can explore with a guide. At Cortina, your hotel is located just a few metres away from the lift and features an onsen (Japanese hot springs), which is great for relieving those tired muscles at the end of the day!

Hakuba’s glades are an indisputable powder hound’s dream. And, even though the hotel is relatively big, the vast majority of Japanese skiers prefer to hone their skills on well-groomed slopes, reserving all of the marvelous untouched powder just for you! If luxury accommodations are on your wish list, I recommend you book the Tokyu Hotel at Happo One. Take note—although you have the option of walking along a country road to make your way to the resort, you might want to save your energy for carving up the slopes. After all, if Hakuba was good enough for the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games, you know for sure