Tomamu

I recently had the pleasure of staying at Hoshino Resorts Tomamu, and we mostly enjoyed this stay We loved the ice village and access for kids (and kidult activities such as sledding) We’re a family with kids and there were plenty of time to do with kids. For the skier family you might need a bit more time to get organised What we liked - From the moment we arrived, the staff were warm, welcoming, and attentive to our every need. - The resort itself is beautifully designed, lots of enclosed walk ways making it easy to navigate the reaper facilities ave restaurant. - Room: Our room was spacious, comfortable, and had a stunning view of the surrounding mountains. And importantly some bay window space that you can try some laundry on - Skiing - great! fairly short runs but when there is powder this resort really transforms. - Food: good but prepare yourself for average 3500-5000 yen per person for dinner. Lunch OSS around 1500-2000 depending on what you choose. That days serving sizes are generous. - The snow- so fluffy and we were lucky to have hit a snow week so lots of powder skiing - Indoor pool- I mean heated pool in snow under cover - amazing - Childcare - really loving and caring teacher who accommodated the need for our kid to have lunch but still cost around ¥3500 per hour Didn’t like: - Food options were centralised between the towers ands risonaire so every dinner requires a walk in the walkways- which is lovely unless you have young tired kids which makes them feel longer than needed - Ski lessons- limited English slots and only my for 2 hours so you’re popping around the resort to meet pick up times - Daycare- expensive but generally available. Really kind teachers. About 3500 yen per hour as at Jan 2025 - not linked to the ski school so you have to do the pick up drop off yourself - Dinner wait times- for the cheaper options really long wait queues - esp if you have a kid asking when it’s our turn - Ski hire- limited information on the ski hire - in summary as at 2025 - for normal carve skis it’s about ¥3000 per day - really cheap but also really heavy which makes skiing on powder a lot of work. If you want higher spec skis go to the Tomamu resort centre (a 5 mins resort bus away) - where ski rental double to 6000+ per day but you’ll get proper powder skis / all mountain skis- this was not quite available on the site to read - Onsen - off site to have to take a bus to get there and though the buses run frequently it’s annoying to wear full snow gear after skiing to catch a bus - that said it is nice and quiet most of the time for this same reason - Limited on piste dining- really interesting spot in the it’s the first mountain I’ve been on where on piste dining was limited - most dining options were at the bottom of runs which make it really family friendly if you have non skier but also lines were long All in all a really great ski trip as there are mainly new skiers on the mountain so if you like the more advanced routes it’s usually quite free. Might not go back til the kids can ski independently though as the lessons time are a killer for pick up and drop off

Had cool experience here! We came unprepared, but there was activities for noobies like us. We went for the snow cart -- perfect activity for beginners. Snow was powdery. Skiers and snow boarders were polite. Lanes were clearly marked.

How to ski Tomamu, Hokkaido, Japan. As a very happy but first timer to Tomamu, thought I’d write up some tips for others planning to come here. Nobody at the company I booked through (Sno and Ski Australia) had been here so I was quite in the dark. Ok, bring EVERYTHING. There is no supermarket or even a 7-11, so bring absolutely everything you might want: Panadol, anything at all medical, snacks and of course all ski related accoutrements. The only shop is a souvenir shop which sells some local/ expensive produce like cheese, a bit of milk, some local wines, some cans of beer. Very very limited - I did spot a packet of bandaids. There’s a North Face and another very high end ski clothes shop but very expensive to buy ski clothes on the mountain. The Hokkaido Resort Liner - the bus from New Chitose airport was supposed to stop on the way here so that we could stock up on provisions but our bus didn’t stop - so best to bring things from home or grab what you can at the New Chitose Airport. On the skiing side, if you need powder skis you can only get them from the resort centre, not the rental shop in the Towers. Mine were excellent but it was a hassle not being able to get them at the Towers given that it is the same company. Food: If staying at the Towers there are 3 breakfast venues to choose from but they pretty much all serve the same food - Mikuku is the only one that does Japanese pancakes/omelettes though. The only restaurant I tried was the seafood one - kanemaru goto shoten- it was pretty ordinary. Check your dates carefully against school Holidays and Chinese new year. It’s a family friendly resort and there were screaming children absolutely everywhere - even in the onsen. I thought kids weren’t permitted in onsen? The onsen is outdoors,serene and very very lovely (though not geo thermal) and if you can avoid screaming children it’s divine! Can highly recommend the sports massage (shiatsu) in Tower 2. Back to the skiing: it’s a small resort suited to intermediate unless you’re into back county. Then I imagine it’s phenomenal. The blue/black options are phenomenal but the conservative approach to opening/closing lifts means that the best runs might not be accessible due to lift closures - the run status shows they’re open even though the lifts to access them are closed btw. You need a week to take into account lift closures - and you can also go to nearby Furano etc for a day trip if there’s a miracle and everything is open at Tomamu - you’d get a bit bored skiing Tomamu every day for a week. Can highly recommend kiwi Barbara at the Ski School who taught me how to negotiate so much powder! I loved the terrain signs everywhere even though not all were bilingual- the resort doesn’t issue terrain maps so print one out before you come if you want a hard copy! The snow this week (first week Feb) has been phenomenal - in January there was quite a bit of rain evidently! Would definitely recommend Tomamu if you can avoid peak screaming children dates😀

Can’t ask for more! Everything is more than perfect. Slopes are friendly for newbie, coaches are nice and speak different languages. And you won’t get bored even you don’t ski.

This place was very nice, beautiful. Shuttle service is good, ski in and ski out. Only reason why I out 3 stars is you can’t get reservations to the best restaurants unless you book 30 days in advance. They have other walk in restaurants but you kinda get tired of the same food if more than 2 days. Staff is very friendly though and the hotalu village is super cool.