17 Dec Day Return Ski Trips from Tokyo

With the snow finally falling in Yuzawa, it is time to turn your mind to getting up here for some playtime on the slopes. The day return packages from JR are a great value way to travel as they include return bullet train tickets and lift passes.

We’ve always recommended going to the View Plaza travel agencies in the major stations but you can also sort it out online with a little bit of Japanese and some determination. You can order your tickets up to 6pm the day before, and pick them up from one of the vending machines in the station. (We haven’t tried this yet so are not sure how simple it is in practice!)

The JR-SkiSki site is for all things train and ski related (and is in Japanese.)

Their day return page has a whole array of options – packs with onsen, packs for families, with rental included, or even with hotels if you can manage longer than a day trip.

We work out of the resort on Joetsu area page, and in this neck of the woods there are day return trips to GALA, Kandatsu Kogen, Kagura, Ishiuchi, Maiko, Yuzawa Kogen, NASPA, Yuzawa Park, Yuzawa Nakazato, and Iwappara. That is just about everywhere.

There is a handy calendar that shows availability (the circle means available) and prices for each day. As expected, if your schedule is flexible then weekdays are the best value, with weekends and National Holidays the ones to avoid.

If you need help with anything, or would like to book a ski or snowboard lesson with your day return trip, drop us a line.