The Hokkaido Indy Trip does a fantastic job at showing off several uncrowded ski resorts/areas across 3 ski towns/cities throughout Japan’s northern most island.

The mountains themselves offer a range of experiences, from small, local mountains with plenty of hidden powder stashes to larger, resort-like mountains with so much to explore. The locals are super friendly and excited to have you, the mountain food was nothing but delicious, and there was always good snow to find.

The cities/towns (Asahikawa, Furano, Otaru) didn’t feel too touristy, but weren’t so far out there that you felt stranded. If you want to take a day off from skiing, there’s plenty to do in each town (including a sweet zoo and a top notch sake brewery in Asahikawa). The hotels were very nice, with plenty of space in each room and great food options for breakfast. Plus, two of the three hotels had great spas right in the building.

The staff were incredible and super helpful, answering questions and taking the time to make sure everything is going right for you and the group. If you’re trying to figure out what to do after the trip, they’ll help you do that. When one person’s ski gear hadn’t showed up at the hotel on time, the staff sat on the phone with the shipping company for 30 minutes to make sure the gear would arrive before the first ski day.

If you want to experience what Hokkaido has to offer while avoiding the tourism hot spots, this trip will go above and beyond for you.
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A lovely time exploring and skiing Hokkaido. The small, locally owned resorts we visited were hidden gems and a highlight of the trip—no lift lines, little to no crowds, just plenty of space to enjoy the slopes at your own pace. Everywhere we stayed and skied went above and beyond to make us feel welcome. The accommodations were beautiful and comfortable, with a great mix of modern amenities and traditional Japanese charm. The ski tour allowed me to feel more grounded and experience things I would have had a harder time finding on my own, some of these resorts don’t even have websites.

The guides were super kind and welcoming and being part of a tour group made the experience even more fun. I met some awesome people, and we enjoyed karaoke, sharing laughs, and finding powder pockets in the trees! It’s the perfect balance of making new friends while also having plenty of freedom to explore. The group dinners were definitely a personal favorite.

Beyond the skiing, Japan’s culture is something truly special, from hospitality to the food. And for me having a guid that is fluent in Japanese really allowed me to get the most out of my time there!
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This ski trip in Japan is the perfect mix of adventure and chill. We visited 5 awesome resorts with zero lift lines, super comfy accommodation in 3 different authentic towns, and delicious meals all within the span of 10 days.

What I loved most was the flexibility. You can ski as much or as little as you want, or even take a day off to sightsee, or just relax. They have a pamphlet of recommendations for activities to do other than skiing for each town. The trip is unguided, but a Japan Ski Tours trip facilitator is there the whole time, so you’re always in good hands and have someone to reference. Plus, the locations are perfect—walking distance to local restaurants and karaoke spots. It’s a laid-back vibe with enough structure to make sure everything goes smoothly. Definitely recommend this trip for anyone looking to explore Japan’s ski scene without all the stress.
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Japan is one of my favourite countries, and this was my third trip to Japan (previously a 10-week homestay in 2015 and a solo trip during cherry blossom season in 2022). I will absolutely return to ski in Japan, but I will never book with Japan Ski Tours again.
While the tour guides were friendly and the accommodations and ski resorts were fantastic, the execution of this tour was shockingly unprofessional.

Misleading Expectations:
There were 10 people in total: 2 tour guides, 8 travellers. However, 3 of the 8 travellers were actually employed to create content and blog about the tour—2 of whom were employed by Japan Ski Tours to produce media content. This was not disclosed to us beforehand. Additionally, we were not told that this was the first time this tour had ever run. We unknowingly paid to be guinea pigs for their "real" tour of 20 people, which was scheduled after ours. No compensation or discounts were offered for essentially helping them test-run their itinerary.

Unsafe and Poorly Managed Transportation:
The van we travelled in was far too small for the number of people and gear. On travel days, we were dangerously crammed in with loose luggage. If there had been an accident, we would have been at serious risk.
Once we arrived at our first hotel in Asahikawa, we were left to check in ourselves—something that should have been handled by the guides. Then, for two to three days, we barely saw our guides at all.
Instead of using the van, we were required to take public buses to the ski resorts. This was frustrating, as it delayed our access to the slopes and made for an unnecessarily uncomfortable experience. On day 2 (first ski day), we took a public bus to Kamui Ski Links, only to find our guides already waiting for us at the door—meaning they had driven there in the van. Why on earth didn’t we go with them?
The worst transport day was day 3, when we travelled to Pippu Ski Area. The public bus was a regular commuter bus with no ski storage, meaning we were uncomfortably clutching our gear for the hour-long ride, inconveniencing both us and the locals. There was also a miscommunication with bus passes, which I—not the guides—had to resolve. I ended up organising the tickets for everyone, figuring out the correct bus, and ensuring we got on and off at the right stops. I felt more like a tour guide than the actual tour guides.
When we asked why we couldn’t just use the van for the following day, we had to push hard to convince them to drive us—because they were busy transporting the media team to a specific Onsen for a photoshoot, even though this is a ski tour. It was clear that their priority was content creation rather than the paying customers.

Lack of Local Knowledge and Support:
Shockingly, the guides had never skied these mountains before. Each day, instead of giving us the ins and outs of each mountain, they asked us what the conditions were like, where the best runs were, whether it was worth going back, and how many days we thought should be spent at each resort. Most of the time, they didn’t even go up the mountain to ride them for themselves. They also had no knowledge of good dinner spots and gave no recommendations, leaving us to figure that out on our own every night.
There was also no option for the tour guides to hire skis for you for the trip. If you need to rent gear, you will be hiring at each mountain individually. It is cheaper and easier to bring your own skis or snowboard. As lift tickets are not included in the tour, we had to purchase them separately, often without guidance from the tour staff.
On the final day, one of the tour guides arranged a guided resort tour only for himself and the 3 that are creating content about this tour —without asking if any of the paying customers would like to join or have one organised for them. There were three other advanced-level skiers/boarders in our group that probably would have been interested, but they weren’t even given the opportunity.

Final Thoughts:
This tour was disorganised, poorly managed, and catered more to their promotional content than to actual customers. Japan Ski Tours should consider taking a tour in New Zealand to learn how real tour guides operate. If you’re thinking of booking, save your money and organise your own trip — you’ll have a far better experience.
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I will preface this review with saying, we were, although we didn't know when we booked, the first Hokkaido Indy Trip that was run.
I would also like to say the guides were good guys.

I have done similar tours in NZ and Canada.

However, this trip was not well run, at all.

THE GOOD:
The guides were genuinely nice guys.
The accommodation as excellent.
The choice of mountains was pretty good and varied.

THE BAD

Firstly there were 2 guides and 8 people on the tour, 2 of which were employed by japan ski tours to cover the tour, media etc. and one was a ski journalist. So you would think they would have a lot of time to help the paying guests. this was not the case, when we were first taken to hotel, we were unloaded told to check ourselves in, and then did not see either guide for 2 whole days, they advised us, even though they had a van, to use a public COMMUTER bus from downtown to get to mountain each day, with skis and boards, on a packed Japanese bus with regular folk going to work. They had a Whatsapp set up, however plans were spread by word of mouth, changed frequently, and at no point in the tour were any of us asked about how were thought the tour was going etc.

The transport to get from accommodation to accommodation was a mini van, which we had to be packed into our seats, with luggage piled in the walkways and had to unpack the van at stops to allow everyone to get out. It was grossly inadequate and dangerous.

The guides, as they had not done this tour before had zero knowledge of the mountains, they asked us what the mountains were like, and if they should take people back there, and they didn't even ride the mountains that they hadn't been to before to find out for themselves. They did not really know how to get tickets for indy pass holders and those guys had to work it out themselves. And the rest of had to work out where to go etc as well.

The last day they arranged a mountain guide to take the media folk around one of the mountains, this was arranged the night before. They did not ask if anyone else wanted anything book the entire tour.

I could go on for far longer about the problems on this trip.

I HIGHLY recommend heading to Hokkaido its a great part of the world and the snow is fantastic.
However if you know how to book a hotel, and can high a car, i would not recommend Japan ski tours.
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