Yeah, 6 hours later would mean arriving at Myoko at about 2 AM which would be not great with the kids.

Just watched this vid and am now just about sold on Myoko.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH9Cf0fw2a0&feature=player_embedded

Here, I'll sell Myoko to you just a little more. This was our trip report from last year when we went with our two kids. (plenty of pics)

http://forums.ski.com.au/forums/ubbthrea...rue#Post1204491

Are you planning to spend any time in Tokyo ?

Just to remind people again that Chuo Taxi does not have rights to deliver guests to Myoko. However guests can take a taxi to the parking lot at the Shinetsu Ohashi bridge on Nagano side in Shinano-machi. The taxi driver will call the guest’s hotel or the tourist office an hour before arriving so that a pickup will be waiting. The fee is JPY 12,000 per adult. If you want door to door you have to book IM Taxi which costs around the same.

Dave I'd suggest a) as Smitty said, staying in Narita that night. It's only 15 minutes at the most and saves trying to find your hotel in Tokyo. Get the train next morning. You'll be there before lunch and can ski the afternoon, or b) get the taxi direct. You'll get into your hotel by about 1-2am.

I had already read that TR thanks B2S.

Not sure about spending time in Tokyo. Maybe. I had no intentions of planning a trip this early so I hadn't thought about it.

The current J* flights are about $1000 from Coolangatta which is pretty good. Not sure whether to jump in and get these or wait and see if there is a sale later in the year.

Wait for a sale. $1000 is their normal price so I wouldn't be rushing out to purchase tickets. If this year is like the past few years then there will be a number of sales throughout the year.

I like option A. Have an easy day travelling to Myoko and get the kids set up with rentals etc.

Thanks MG for those links you provided. They have been most helpful.

That was my original plan, but I wasn't sure if last years sales covered travel in January.

Um, they often don't, however I think one of the sales last year covered some of January. Can't remember how much though.

wait for the traditional J* birthday sale in first week of may which may or may not have cheap fares for next winter. if that doesn't happen and you are weak of constitution then start thinking about paying full retail, otherwise wait it out and you may catch sales as late as next january like there were earlier this year (buy and then fly within a few days...)

last years sale covered travel 11th Jan onwards

Jstar Japan will be flying by then so timetables and connections may change..

Also Air Asia does some decent specials via KL to Haneda/Tokyo.

Hopefully will see J*J domestic fares up soon as I need to organise my internal summer (Japan) flights. I get the mails from them (in Japanese) and the most recent one said that fares are coming soon. Peach have some great fares out of Osaka at present but they only run until the end of June. Fuji Dream in/out of Matsumoto aren't too bad (advance fare 14,500 to Fukuoka) but schedule is limited.

Air Asia seem to run their specials more regularly than J* so maybe get on their mailing list. Their J domestic arm starts in August.

JAL is quite competitive ex BNE through January. $1084 return with conx via HKG.

They have overnight flights outbound as well which has you arriving into NRT in the AM, saves accommodation in Tokyo.

As an alternative

Catch the Narita Express to Ueno on the night you arrive.

Ueno is the first Shink stop and hotels are cheaper than around central station

Stay at a hotel close to Ueno station like
http://www.tougane-h.com/e/room_e.html - good price and right across road from station

Then Shink Ueno to Nagano and local train to Myoko - your hotel or pension will pick you up from the station - arrive fresh just after lunch after a family Shink adventure - the local train from Nagano is a very picturesque 50 min ride. Too easy.

Talking about Ueno hotels. I stayed at this one last Friday and also previous Saturday. http://www.newueno.jp/english
Also hard to beat for convenience of access to the Shinkansen. 1 min walk from the Asakusa exit. Take a hard left from the JR exit gates up a short set of stairs, cross the road to 'First Kitchen' restaurant, continue for about 20-30m and your'e there. It is about a 5min walk to the Keisei station.

Also a note on travelling on Shinkansens from last week. I noticed that one of the newer ones had a lack of storage space at the end of the carriage. This wasn't a real problem for me - I was able to store my single ski bag in the overhead rack. BUT I wouldn't want to try and store double ski/snowboard bags loaded with other gear up there.

We came back Air Asia via KL this year, and Haneda was GREAT . Will definitely be looking to go through there again.

Interesting option. It would be good to avoid the overnight stay in Tokyo.

There are even some JAL flights for $844 for some dates in January going via Singapore. Total travel time is 27 hours though.

Skyliner goes to Ueno and N'ex to Tokyo. Better to get the Skyliner to save changing trains. IMHO a single person would be okay but dragging around two kids late at night would be a hassle. You can be in your Narita hotel room within half an hour of collecting your bags - esp if the hotel has an airport shuttle. The trip to Ueno/Tokyo then finding your hotel with bags and kids in tow would likely take 2 hours. If you booked one of those hotels right outside the door of Kesei Ueno Station (there's 3 or 4 there) it would be okay maybe.

Agree about Haneda. Last trip we went via Haneda and stayed at the Hotel Marutani in Okachimachi - about 5-6 minutes walk to Ueno. Only cost 6,800 for the three of us in a tatami room. I'd happily stay there again. So convenient to the Ameyoko markets and all the restaurants too.

Yes only Keisei goes direct to Ueno. Should have picked that up.

The new Skyliner is very good. Ueno - Narita in around 45m though at Y2400. If you have a bit more time you can get the regular Cityliner at about half that price - takes a bit over an hour.

Yes, there are a couple of hotels right by the park exit to Keisei Ueno - think they were Japanese govt hotels - tried to find them on the internet once before - couldn't.

Agree with the suggestion though that with a family getting a Narita hotel (with free shuttle from the airport) would be the easiest option.

A note on the Shinkansens while I think of it. The Asama ones to Nagano that I travelled on had a number of unreserved carriages so you didn't need to reserve a seat, although I did anyway when exchanging my voucher for a JR East pass. Otherwise the sign on the platform tells you which carriages are unreserved, so you just line up to one of those.

The Hayate Shinkansens to Tohoku on the other hand that I used were only reserved seating, so you did need to reserve a seat. Only takes a minute the ticket office so can do it when you get there. Not so many people way north, but plenty of business people travel between Tokyo & Sendai.

When I took the Shink back to Osaka from Tokyo in January this year with my wife, we decided to reserve our seats as the time we getting the train would have been coming into peak hour (plus it was an express to Nagoya and then all stations to Shin-Osaka).
We were quite suprised when we realised that the reservations clerk gave us seats in a Green Car, at no extra cost.

Which shink was that ojisan?

Nozomi? hikari or kodama?

Jetstar Japan has just started a domestic sale for 1 yen each. Might be an idea to check it out for those wanting to head to Chitose. Only in Japanese though at this stage (that I can find) http://www.jetstar.com/jp/ja/Special-Offers-1YENsale20120417 or http://www.jetstar.com/jp/ja/home/

Correction - special flights between 5 Sep-4 Dec only

It was either the Hikari or Kodama.. can't remember.
The Nozomi is the one you can't catch with your JR Pass.

Can't be the Kodama, because the Kodama stops at all or almost all of the stations. So it had to be a Hikari.

Jetstar's .com page is now taking bookings for domestic flights in Japan now - not 1¥ for when I was booking, but expedia has JAL / ANA one way CTS-NRT for $412 pp next year, and I got 2 people on jetstar, exit row, 25kg luggage, taxes etc for ¥16160 ($193)

Thats gold

looked at jstar site
4590 for one way NRT to CTS

wow

Ah, got English now. Good. Wasn't there this morning.

If you fly Skymark to Asahikawa instead of Chitose you can get some really good prices. It only cost us something like 3,800 each one way last February. I got in right in on the super cheap fares 2 months ahead.

Alright we've done some more talking and discussing our plans. Looks like we will be leaving Melbz on either the 11th or 14th of Jan, returning on the 29th/30th. I would be looking to fly into Tokyo (Narita or Haneda doesnt bother me) then going to visit my brother in Otawara. I assume a JR East pass will do the trick to get there. Spend a couple of days there then weather depending get a train back to Tokyo then shink to Nagano and on to Hakuba. We will probably spend 7-10 days skiing there before doing a few days sightseeing then back home. The days are pretty loose and will be snow-dependent, if the shit is going off I aint sightseeing!

So I am looking for recommendations for the following:
- PT from Tokyo -> Otawara and back
- PT to Hakuba
- Accomodation in Hakuba. We will be looking for a 2-3 bedroom apartment, suggestions welcome. Near some sort of lift would please the women going with us, although we will have a car aswell.
- Must see sights while I am in the area

There is also the possibility we will do a couple of days in either Nozawaonsen or Myoko, but again snow-dependent.

Looks like Otawara is in Tochigi prefecture so definately JR East. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Ctawara,_Tochigi

A 4 day flexi pass (Y20,000) will be perfect in that case. Covers Tokyo-Otawara (or the nearest station) return and Tokyo-Nagano return.