Best Places to Stay in Kiroro
One of Japan’s true powder playgrounds, Kiroro is typically quieter than nearby Niskeo and Rusutsu yet offers some of Hokkaido’s best ski resort accommodation. On this page you will find the following information:
— Best Places to Stay in Other Hokkaido Ski Resorts
— Hokkaido Ski Resorts: The Stats & Facts
— Japan Ski Resorts: Everything You Need to Know
Located 60-minutes to the north-east of Niseko, Kiroro Ski Resort or ‘Kiroro Snow World’ is spread across two mountains and four ski areas that enjoy some of the deepest snow in Hokkaido. It is a medium-sized resort with good infrastructure and a number of high-end hotels. The resort offers fantastic sidecountry and backcountry, lots of kid’s activities and family-oriented services, and good accommodation options making it an excellent all-rounder with lots of powder.
WHERE TO STAY IN KIRORO?
Kiroro Ski Resort is notably less-busy than Niseko and Rusutsu, but still offers three large high-end hotels – Sheraton Hokkaido Kiroro Resort, The Kiroro Tribute Hotel and Yu Kiroro. Much like Rusutsu Ski Resort, most of Kiroro’s nightlife and dining is located within these hotels. The Sheraton brand will be familiar to many international visitors – a hotel offering ski in/out convenience, a wide range of rooms types, multiple restaurants and in-house ‘onsen’ (natural hot springs). Kiroro Tribute also offers a range of high-end room types, six restaurant and large range of in-house services with a free shuttle bus available to transport guests the short distance to the ski slopes. Yu Kiroro rounds-out the best accommodation in the resort, offering guests beautiful views of the surrounding mountains, ski in/out convenience, a range of room types, onsen and lots of in-house services.
Away from these hotels Kiroro doesn’t offer much other accommodation or nightlife, meaning that while the resort feels less developed than Niseko, you are more restricted to large hotels creating a resort-type atmosphere that will appeal to some while not appealing to others. For accommodation listings, see our ‘Kiroro Ski Resort Area’ hotel page.
BEST PLACES TO STAY IN OTHER HOKKAIDO RESORTS
Among the other major resorts in Hokkaido, the following four offer the best skiing and snowboarding, accommodation and dining options:
NISEKO UNITED SKI RESORT – RUSUTSU SKI RESORT – FURANO SKI RESORT – HOSHINO RESORTS TOMAMU
Each resort offers world-class powder and fantastic skiing and snowboarding with access to great backcountry. Niseko, Rusutsu and Tomamu offer the best / high-end accommodation while Furano offers large hotels targeted at the Japanese market. Let’s start with the resort with the largest overall and most popular resort in Hokkaido:
NISEKO UNITED SKI RESORT
Operating under the banner of ‘Niseko United’, Hokkaido’s best-known resort is in fact four connected resorts covered by an all-mountain pass. Accommodation is available in and around each of the four resorts with Niseko Grand Hirafu and Niseko Village having the greatest range of options, followed by Niseko Annupuri and Niseko Hanazono. Niseko is without doubt Japan’s most international and high-end ski resort, attracting visitors from all over the world. For more information including accommodation listings, see our ‘Best Places to Stay in Niseko’ page.
RUSUTSU SKI RESORT
Rusutsu Ski Resort is the largest stand-alone resort in Hokkaido. Less-crowded than Niseko, Rusutsu also caters to the high-end market with large hotels including Rusutsu Resort Hotel, The Vale Rusutsu and Westin Rusutsu resort offering luxury accommodation and good services for families. All three of these hotels are conveniently located in close proximity to the ski fields. For accommodation listings, see our ‘Best Places to Stay in Rusutsu’ page.
FURANO SKI RESORT
Highly-rated Furano Ski Resort is operated by the Prince Hotels group, with the resort featuring two large Prince Hotels. Both Prince Hotels offer a huge number of rooms, multiple restaurants, shops and in-house services including rental, ski schools and day-care. The hotels are targeted at the domestic market and cater well to families. In addition to the hotels, you will find a good number of smaller lodges and guesthouses dotted nearby the ski fields. For more information including accommodation listings, see our ‘Best Places to Stay in Furano’ page.
HOSHINO RESORTS TOMAMU
Hoshino Resorts Tomamu is another resort operated by a hotel group targeting the high-end market. While the resort itself is very good and receives excellent snow, Tomamu is very much designed for the market wanting a full ‘resort’ experience with everything revolving around two twin tower hotels – RISONARE Hotel and The Tower hotel. For more information including accommodation listings, see our ‘Best Places to Stay in Tomamu’ page.
HOKKAIDO SKI RESORTS: THE STATS & FACTS
Blessed with the longest seasons in Japan and huge annual snowfall, the ski resorts of Hokkaido rank among the best in Asia and enjoy some of the best powder in the world. The combined resorts of Niseko United are the largest and most popular ski fields in Hokkaido, while nearby Rusutsu and Kiroro attract plenty of fans in their own right. Rounding things-out, Furano and Tomamu lie further inland and receive slightly less snow but that bit of extra distance from the coast only means the powder is even drier, with some people claiming these resorts enjoy the best powder in the world. Our ‘Hokkaido Ski Resorts’ page has you covered for everything you need to know about each – a great place to start when planning your next winter adventure in Hokkaido.
HOW TO GET TO THE KIRORO
Our ‘How to Get to the Hokkaido Ski Resorts’ page has everything you need to know about how to get to Kiroro and Hokkaido’s most popular resorts – including bus, train and rental car information from New Chitose Airport, Asahikawa Airport and Sapporo.
JAPAN SKI RESORTS: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
Did you know that the resorts of Hokkaido are just some of the hundreds spread throughout Japan? Needless to say, when you choose Japan for your winter getaway you are spoiled for choice! Our ‘Japan Ski Resorts’ page has everything you need to know to start planning your ski and snowboard adventure including: LATEST NEWS & DEALS, THE BEST RESORTS IN NAGANO & JAPAN, FAQs and of course OUR SKI PACKAGES, ACCOMMODATION, TRANSPORT & TOURS.
