Just spent four full days at Kiroro Ski Resort (Late March, early April 2018) and am a little torn as to whether we’ll go back again. Kiroro Ski Resort is located about 30 minutes east of Niseko and about an hour and half from New Chitose International Airport. As with Rusutsu, Kiroro Ski Resort often gets overlooked by people in favour of Niseko. This means that Kiroro has a lot more local feel, yet still has enough foreigners to make it quite international.

No Crowds Here

Without a doubt the best thing about Kiroro Ski Resort is the lack of people and crowds. Granted, during the time we went, which is heading into the end of the season, there’s going to be less people, but talking with the instructors, apparently it’s way less crowded than Niseko even in peak season. Kiroro Ski Resort is higher up than Niseko so the season tends to last longer. In the four full days we spent here, we didn’t wait more than 30 seconds for a lift and it was basically ski down, get on immediately at every lift.

Normally, any place without crowds gets the thumbs up from me, but there is one negative at Kiroro Ski Resort that really makes it a hard decision to come back again, and that is the food. There’s two hotels at Kiroro Ski Resort, the Sheraton Hokkaido Kiroro Resort and the Kiroro, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton Kiroro Resort and had the unfortunate displeasure to eat here all 4 days (plus a dinner and breakfast either side of that). Now I’m not one for ponsy food and are by no means a foodie, I’m happy with something that tastes alright and fills me up. Unfortunately the food at Kiroro Ski Resort is atrocious.

And by Kiroro Ski Resort, I mean the Sheraton Hokkaido Kiroro Resort. Apart from perhaps the beef rice at the fast food cafeteria, which is only open until 4:30p.m, there is nothing, I mean NOTHING decent to eat here. As good as the lack of crowds were, the food was bad. Nothing seems fresh, and most dishes seem to be microwaved and re-served from days before. Even the expensive Hokkaido beef is poor and forgot about the seafood. I don’t know what’s going on food-wise at the Kiroro Ski Resort but it’s not good.

For kids, Kiroro Ski Resort is excellent, there’s two ski schools, and as with most places and ski resorts in Japan, the facilities for kids are amazing. There’s also a Snow Park at the Tribute Hotel which is good for little ones and non-skiers. For an explanation of the two hotels and what one to stay in, check out our “You Should Know This Section”.

Check out our complete guide pages for Kiroro or ask us any questions on Twitter.