Excuse the language, but if you go during peak season (i.e Xmas) prepare yourself for an extraordinarily long wait getting through security. They have 3 security points for at least a couple of thousand passengers and we took 2 hours to get through – no exaggeration there at all. Absolutely diabolical and a bad way to end your holiday. I don’t know if this is normal throughout the holidays (we did go though there and back during summer and don’t remember it being that bad) but whoever is running that show needs a good kick up the bum because that was bad. Bad enough to make you think twice about ever going back. It was snowing a lot and I know they had a lot of flight cancellations throughout the week we were there, but on the day we left everything returned to “normal”, or perhaps they were still clearing the backlog. Whatever the reason, prepare for the worst at New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido.
Based on a previous trip to Hokkaido in the summer where the traffic was painfully slow, I decided not to rent a car from New Chitose Airport to Rusutsu. We ended up in a private car transfer, which was rather expensive, and still just as slow so in hindsight, it might have been better to just hire the car at the airport. Having said that, it would have just stayed in the carpark collecting snow for 5 days because there was no need to leave. On the last day we got a taxi over to Niseko and hired a car from there to drive to Sapporo and then back to the airport on our last day.
Rusutsu is much quieter than Niseko, there’s limited food options but if that doesn’t bother you, and avoiding crowds is high on your list of priorities, then give Rusutsu a go.
The Westin Rusutsu isn’t what I would call a true ski in-ski out hotel, you need to walk a bit to get to any left, and take a train to the other side to get to one part of the mountain. It’s a few minutes but let me tell, it becomes a real pain the ass when you’ve got to take skis, poles, your kids skis and poles, packs and other shit back and forth. You can read more about that in my review of the Westin Rusutsu.
You need to book way in advance, and if you’re looking for English instructors, you’ll need to book even further in advance. There’s not many people on the slopes but the hotel is busy and you have to wait to even eat.