The Kiroro Resort is excellent for kids and if you stay at the Sheraton Hokkaido Kiroro Resort it’s a true ski-in, ski-out resort, with lifts less than 50m from the entrance of the hotel. There’s two ski schools, and as mentioned in our report of skiing in Kiroro, the kids area’s are fantastic. Whether you have really young kids who are first time skiers or snowboarders, or have kids that are ready to move onto the intermediate runs, Kiroro Resort is perfect and has awesome beginner and intermediate runs for all ages.

The chairlifts are all covered, the top comes down automatically and goes up, and if you ask, they can slow down the lifts for you to get on. However there’s really no need for that as the lifts already slow down to a very comfortable speed making it so easy to get even the smallest of skiers on. On the Nagamine No. 1 Chairlift at Kiroro Resort, there’s a little kids run with gentle turns and mounds to ski over, followed but a tunnel or bridge, and from there you can ski down the gentlest of slopes with no fear of reaching high speeds. Kiroro Resort is really setup for families and kids skiing and it doesn’t get much better than this.

There are two hotels at Kiroro Resort, the Sheraton Hokkaido Kiroro Resort and The Kiroro, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel.  Unless you want to rely on shuttle buses all the time, don’t stay at the Kiroro, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel.  This is down the road is NOT a ski-in, ski-out hotel.  The advantages of staying at the Kiroro would be more food options, and the Kiroro Snow Park, which is better suited for younger kids and non-skiers.  For skiers, and for families, you should definitely stay at the Sheraton.

The Sheraton can get very expensive during peak season and fully booked very quickly.  Don’t expect Sheraton quality here.   As I’ve mentioned in several places, the food here is totally crap, to the point of making me not really want to go back here.  And I’m not too fussed for fancy food so if you’re a foodie and fancy yourself as a food critic, you are not going to want to stay anywhere at Kiroro Resort. Is it that bad? Yes.  Everything else is fine, the lack of crowds is awesome, the skiing is good, the ski-in, ski-out part is fantastic, the staff are friendly and professional, the rooms are nothing great but certainly more than satisfactory, but the food is just so, so bad. Normally I would put up with shit food to have less people and no crowds, but not on this occasion.

When your kids have had enough skiing, take them to the Snow park at the Kiroro, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel.  You can read more about that in the kids section of our Kiroro Guide.  Some other things to know before or during your visit to Kiroro Resort:

• If you want to save money, fly Hong Kong Airlines.  It’s considerable cheaper than Cathay Pacific and really only the food is the major difference
• If you do fly Hong Kong Kong Airlines, show up in plenty of time at the airport because the lines tend to be long and slow.
• Helmets are worn by most locals at Kiroro Resort, regardless of level. It’s not something that’s mandatory but you’re going to feel odd without one
• If you’re staying at the Sheraton Hokkaido Kiroro Resort, you’ll have access to the hotels lockers.  Don’t get too excited because that’s on the basement floor and is a real pain in the ass to get to and from with all your ski gear.  You’re better off paying for the lockers upstairs and just leaving your skis on the racks in the mountain center.
• If you don’t take the above advice and insist on using the hotels lockers, don’t leave wet ski boots in them over night thinking they will dry off because they won’t
• Also related to above, if you leave rented wet ski boots in the locker, and go to change them in the morning, you’re going to be charged for replacing them at the rental center
• The rental center opens about 15 minutes before the lifts open
• The ski boots at the rental center are a bit shit and very difficult to get on, at least for me
• There are two ski schools, I used the Kiroro International Ski School which was absolutely fine
• If you book online, you get discounts for ski passes and rental equipment
• There is no nightlife, unless you consider a filipino singing Fleetwood Mac covers in the Hotel lobby bar entertainment.  If you want to get pissed with half of Australia, head to Niseko
• Shuttle buses are frequent between Sheraton Kiroro and the Kiroro, a Tribute Portfoilio Hotel, like every 10 minutes
• We booked a bus from Kiroro to New Chitose Airport on the way back. If you book through this website here, it’s quite a lot cheaper than booking through the link that is on the Kiroro website.

Back to our Kiroro main guide here.  Feel free to ask us a question on Kiroro Resort on Twitter.