Season guide · Tue 27 Oct 2026
Japan's ski season 2026-27: when the big resorts open
Six of the resorts international visitors use most have published their planned opening dates for 2026-27, from Shiga Kogen's first lifts on 14 November to GALA Yuzawa on 19 December. Five more, including Furano, Happo-One and Appi Kogen, are still to announce. Every date here comes from the resort's own website, and every one of them depends on snow.
The short answer: the 2026-27 season starts in stages. Shiga Kogen plans to open its first two areas on 14 November 2026, Hakuba Goryu follows on 21 November, and Niseko, Rusutsu and Nozawa Onsen all plan to open on Saturday 28 November. GALA Yuzawa, the Tokyo day trip resort, starts skiing on 19 December. Furano, Hakuba Happo-One, Hakuba 47, Myoko's Akakura Onsen and Appi Kogen had not published a 2026-27 opening date on their own websites when we checked on 27 October. Every date in this article is a planned date taken from the resort's official site, and every one of them can move with the snow.
The planned opening dates
| Resort | Planned opening 2026-27 | Notes from the official site |
|---|---|---|
| Shiga Kogen (first areas) | 14 November 2026 | Yokoteyama and Kumanoyu open first; all 18 areas open by around 20 December 2026 |
| Hakuba Goryu | 21 November 2026 | Opening day is the Toomi No.1 Lift area only; a new ice snow system lets Goryu set the date in advance for the first time |
| Niseko United (all four areas) | 28 November 2026 | Grand Hirafu, Annupuri, Niseko Village and Hanazono all plan the same opening day |
| Rusutsu | 28 November 2026 | Early Season 1 runs 28 November to 11 December; regular season from 19 December 2026 to 14 March 2027 |
| Nozawa Onsen | 28 November 2026 | First-ski period runs to 18 December; the official opening festival is on 19 December |
| GALA Yuzawa (skiing) | 19 December 2026 | Gondola and sightseeing lifts only from 12 to 18 December, with no skiing; slope operations run to 5 May 2027 |
Niseko is the simplest to plan around: all four areas plan to open together on 28 November, but they close on different dates in spring. Grand Hirafu and Annupuri plan to run to 5 May 2027, Hanazono to 11 April 2027 and Niseko Village to 4 April 2027. Night skiing is planned from 12 December 2026 to 22 March 2027. The resort's own pass page warns that opening days and hours are subject to change.
Shiga Kogen opens in stages because it is 18 ski areas on one pass. Its official booking FAQ names Yokoteyama and Kumanoyu as the first to open, on 14 November, with every area open by around 20 December. Anyone booking a November or early December trip there should expect a small part of the mountain, not the whole plateau.
Hakuba Goryu is the valley's early starter. Its 21 November opening covers the Toomi No.1 Lift area only, and the resort says a new ice snow system is what makes a fixed date possible this year; operating hours for opening day are to be announced closer to the time.
Nozawa Onsen plans to start winter operations on 28 November and treats the first three weeks as a first-ski period, with its opening festival held on 19 December. Rusutsu splits its early season into two discount periods before the regular season starts on 19 December, and notes that opening dates may change with snow conditions. GALA Yuzawa has one change to know about this season: its South Area is closed for the whole of 2026-27, per a notice on the official site, so the skiing is in the Central and North areas.
Still to announce
Five resorts on most visitors' lists had no 2026-27 opening date on their official websites when we checked on 27 October 2026. Where the official site still shows last season's date, we give it, clearly labelled, as a rough guide to timing only.
- Furano: not yet announced. The official Prince Hotels ski page still carries 2025-26 information; last season its early season ran from 29 November 2025.
- Hakuba Happo-One: not yet announced. The official news list shows 2026-27 season passes on sale, but no opening date. Last season the resort said it was ready to open from 1 December 2025, while stressing that the date depended on weather and snowfall.
- Hakuba 47: not yet announced on its own site, which still shows the end of the 2025-26 season. It is lift-linked to Goryu, which plans 21 November, but 47 has published no date of its own.
- Myoko, Akakura Onsen: not yet announced. The resort's own site is selling 2026-27 season passes and early bird tickets, but gives no opening date.
- Appi Kogen: not yet announced. Last season the resort pre-opened on 5 December 2025 with one lift and one slope, adding slopes from 6 December as they were ready.
Every date is weather dependent
This needs saying plainly: a planned opening date is a plan, not a promise. Resorts open when the snow lets them, and a warm November or a thin base can push any of these dates back, just as a cold snap can pull skiing forward. Shiga Kogen's official FAQ says opening and closing dates vary with snow and weather; Niseko's pass page says opening days and hours are subject to change; Rusutsu says the same about its early season. If you are booking flights or hotels around an opening weekend, book the mid-season weeks if you can, and check the resort's own site again in the week before you travel.
Getting there
Most of these resorts are reached the same way: shinkansen to a regional city, then a local train or resort bus for the final leg, with Hokkaido trips usually routed through Sapporo. Two exceptions are worth knowing. GALA Yuzawa has its own station on the Joetsu Shinkansen, directly connected to the resort building; the official site gives the fastest Tokyo time as 71 minutes, and if your train terminates at Echigo-Yuzawa instead, a free shuttle bus covers the last stretch in about 10 minutes. For Shiga Kogen, the resort's official directions run by shinkansen to Nagano Station, then the express bus from Bus Stop No. 23 at the station's east exit.
The shinkansen legs are where the Japan Rail Pass earns its keep on a ski trip, provided the long journeys fall inside its validity window; our rail pass guide does the arithmetic route by route.
Buy the Japan Rail Passvia Klook · affiliate link
Mid-season anchors: the snow festivals
Opening dates are only the start of the season. The weeks when the snow is deepest are also festival season, and our snow season guide tracks all 25 snow events in the Japan What's On dataset. The biggest anchors, all with confirmed official dates, are the Sapporo Snow Festival (4 to 11 February 2027), the Asahikawa Winter Festival (6 to 11 February 2027), the Otaru Snow Light Path (6 to 13 February 2027), the Chitose Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival (30 January to 23 February 2027) and the Tomamu Ice Village (20 December 2026 to 10 March 2027). A ski trip in late January or February can pair Niseko or Rusutsu with Sapporo's festival week, and a Hakuba or Shiga trip with the smaller lantern and kamakura festivals in the same window.
Sources: the resorts' official websites (Niseko United, Rusutsu Resort, Shiga Kogen National Park, Hakuba Goryu, Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort, GALA Yuzawa, Prince Hotels ski, Hakuba Happo-One, Hakuba 47, Akakura Onsen Ski Resort, APPI Snow Mountain Resort), checked 27 October 2026. Snow festival dates from the Japan What's On dataset, verified against organiser sources. All opening dates are planned dates and depend on snow and weather conditions.
More reading on the articles page, or go straight to the events calendar.