Hi — I’m Tabiiku. I travel around Japan with my daughter on the principle that experience is the best thing you can give a child. This is the getting-there half of our trip to Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono. The hotel itself is a separate post.
The great enemy of travelling with a child is the journey: boring, and they are not allowed to make noise. And Niseko is far. The flight from Haneda to New Chitose is manageable; it is what happens after New Chitose that is the problem.
The conclusion, up front: from New Chitose to the hotel, use nearMe. It is genuinely the only answer worth considering.
All the options, in order
1. Train. Cheap, but infrequent, and even with perfect connections it takes three and a half hours. New Chitose to Otaru is about eighty minutes, Otaru to Kutchan another eighty, then roughly ten minutes by taxi.
2. Direct bus. More expensive than the train but not unreasonably so, not many departures, and relatively quick at two and a half to three hours. In winter several operators run direct services — Hokkaido Chuo Bus, White Liner and Resort Liner. Each is around 5,000 yen per adult, so a family of four is looking at 30,000–40,000 yen return.
3. Hire car. In the end not much more than the bus, and far more flexible — but driving on snow is frightening. I saw long queues at the rental counters at the airport, so plenty of families do it. Expect 10,000–20,000 yen for one night, or 20,000–60,000 for two or three. The roads are well cleared, but if you are not used to snow driving it will be daunting. I lived in the north-eastern United States and am comfortable driving in mountain snow, and even I gave up on the idea of doing it on unfamiliar roads.
4. Private taxi. Convenient and extraordinarily expensive. This is genuinely the easiest option, but both the taxi companies I contacted and the hotel’s own hire car service quoted more than 50,000 yen each way.
Those are the four everyone considers. We had more or less settled on the bus — and then found something much better.
The answer: nearMe
It is described as a shared ride, but with three of us plus luggage we had the vehicle to ourselves. And not just any vehicle: an Alphard, with leather seats that recline. My six-year-old was extremely comfortable. Our driver said they do occasionally share a larger van, but that having it to yourself is the usual outcome.
The price: 25,000 yen each way (it varies with the number of passengers). Book early and there is a 10% discount. More than the bus, but the difference is easily worth paying, and it is dramatically cheaper than going direct to a taxi company.
The one frustration with nearMe is that it still only serves a limited number of airports. I was planning a ski trip to Tohoku and the disappointment on finding they did not operate from that airport was considerable. I hope they expand.
From New Chitose to Niseko, nearMe is the only sensible choice. I have now said that twice, because it matters.
I hope that helps. The hotel itself is in the next post.
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