Hanazono Ski Resort

Hanazono Niseko is one of the four Niseko United ski areas and it’s interconnected via the slopes and lifts with Niseko Hirafu and then Niseko Village and Annupuri. The Niseko Hanazono area has transformed itself from being primarily for day trippers to a playground for the affluent at the massive Park Hyatt Niseko, which is now the primary feature of the Hanazono base.

Pros and Cons of Niseko Hanazono

Pros

• Hanazono is very family friendly, with an enclosed magic carpet, kids’ group lessons (in English), child care, indoor play centre, and other kids’ activities.
• The Niseko snow is renowned for often being phenomenal, but on those rare days when the sun comes out, the Hanazono snow quality is superior to its neighbours due to its mostly north-easterly orientation.
• Niseko Hanazono has decent terrain parks.
• Hanazono Ski Resort is better than Hirafu for beginners due to the gentle slopes and easy progressions.
• The sidecountry is plenty of fun and minimal ingress/egress effort is required.
• Hanazono can be a nice ski area to play on inclement days because there is a gondola, the two main lifts have hoods, and it’s a fraction more protected than the other side of the mountain.

Cons

• With the exception of the ritzy Park Hyatt Niseko, there’s negligible Hanazono accommodation so most beginners have to catch a shuttle from Hirafu in order to ski Hanazono.
• For those staying in Hanazono accommodation, the options for evening restaurants and bars are rather limited.

Hanazono Ski and Snowboard Terrain

Niseko United provides plenty of terrain variety, but Hanazono Ski Resort itself is rather small with only 12 courses. The ski area has a gondola, a 6-person hooded chair lift, a hooded quad, a standard quad chair lift, and a covered magic carpet at the base for novices. The ski area covers 732 metres of vertical drop (308m - 1,040m). The official trail stats are 22% beginner, 66% intermediate and 12% advanced (only 1 black run which hits a mere maximum gradient of 30 degrees and has an average of only 14 degrees!), which doesn’t quite express the extent of the beginner terrain considering that a few of the red runs are very easy and good for progression. And one of the runs near the base is so flat in parts that it sometimes traps snowboarders!

Hanazono has some off-piste tree skiing (ie inside the resort boundaries) from Lift #3 and also in the famed Strawberry Fields and Blueberry Fields where freshies seem to last about 5 minutes. And if you don your avalanche safety gear and the backcountry gates are open, the slackcountry offers amazing tree skiing.

Hanazono Niseko is popular for the terrain park features, which includes a main park with different sized kickers and banks (sadly there is no longer a pipe). There is also a beginner and intermediate park with a couple of boxes and rails.

Hanazono has plans afoot to install a gondola in the future to connect with Weiss, which would set Hanazono up to become an even bigger player at Niseko Japan.

Where is Hanazono Niseko?

The Niseko Hanazono Ski Resort and the little village that sits at the base are located between Niseko Hirafu (Hirafu and Hanazono are interconnected via the piste) and the old Weiss Ski Resort where Weiss Cat Skiing currently operates.

There are shuttle buses between multiple locations in Hirafu and Hanazono that operate every 20 minutes between 7:50am and 5pm. The Park Hyatt Niseko runs shuttle buses for its guests between Hanazono, Kutchan and Hirafu during the day and into the evening.

Hanazono Accommodation

There isn’t a proper village at Hanazono, with the base primarily consisting of the Park Hyatt and a couple of daytime buildings. The Park Hyatt Niseko offers a range of luxury hotel rooms and suites, along with residences. Otherwise there are only a few options for Hanazono accommodation.

Hanazono Accommodation Listings

Ski Resort Facilities & Activities

Niseko Hanazono Ski Resort has well developed amenities. NISS (Niseko International Snowsports School) offers Hanazono ski and snowboard lessons. Kids’ group ski lessons are available for ages 3-6 whilst ski and snowboard lessons are available for ages 7-17. Adult group lessons are also available, and of course NISS also offers private lessons.

Edge Restaurant & Bar sits near the base of the Hanazono #1 chair lift. It serves up expensive cafeteria food, but it seems that people are willing to pay the elevated prices because it’s often jam packed.

Hanazono 308 is the other base building which has a rental shop, retail shop, the ski school, a small coffee shop, and child care that incorporates an amazing indoor play area. In the late afternoon the play area is opened up for others to use (for a hefty fee). The Park Hyatt features restaurants as well as a very upmarket ski boutique.
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Hanazono activities include snowmobile tours, snowshoeing tours, winter horse riding, tubing and Weiss Cat Skiing.