Beginners friendly!!! Love that we could easily ride from Yodel Gelande in the morning and make our way to Kumado Gelande in the afternoon, ending close to the hotel. Alternatively, starting from Akakura Kanko Resort and finishing near Yodel Gelande made for another perfect day route.
Probably the most popular ski area in the Myoko area. Akakura Onsen Area is connected with Kanko Area which you can buy a ski pass for both areas. It’s more suitable for beginners and intermediate skiers/snowboarder.
There are ski rental and ski school right at the bottom of the mountain where the Main Street is located. And most restaurants and bars are also there.
Very nice ski area. The difficulty stated on the course map is a bit overstated. E.g. red ski course at Akakura are rated as black difficulty in other ski resorts. The liftchair speed is quite fast, which I found it useful when getting off the lift chair. I enjoy skiing in this resort very much. I highly recommend to everyone.
Came here on the back of recommendations from friends. Was here mid/late Dec and resort just opened a week so it was still early from skiing season perspective. The resort is catered more for beginners and intermediate but it suits our needs. That said, the adjoining resort, Kanko, have more intermediate and advanced runs. It's only 5 mins away by the free shuttle and a joint lift pass is only an additional 1,000 yen (at the time of writing). The chairlifts and magic carpet are a bit dated and access to them can be a bit of a pain (think traversing up) particularly with younger kids. Also the rationale in terms of which lifts are open is a bit random for example the whole week we were there, only 2 lifts were operating (except for the last day) whilst Kanko had all the lifts opened in the same period. With all being said, the family still had plenty of fun. The runs that were operating varied from tree lined runs to wide open spaces. Even on the busiest days, queue was max 15 mins and not much crowd to compete with. Lift pass is 1/3 or less of what we paid in Australia and good thing is, you can just buy on the day. The attached town is decent size and have all the amenities you'd need. Definitely worth a return visit.
It's a quiet "one street" town and at the tail-end of the ski season it's even quieter, seemingly populated by more Australian ski instructors than locals or even tourists. Food choices are limited and did not pass muster for the more discerning taste buds. Ski slopes are definitely very comfortable for the absolute beginner. Runs are relatively short and combined with the leisurely lifts makes for a very relaxed ski experience. It has gorgeous views and with a little bit of investment this town could really light up.
More about Akakura Onsen Ski Resort, Myoko from our blog
