Champagne bubble snow at Echigo Yuzawa Gala Ski resort

#wintertrip It was a beautiful day with sunshine, after taking the Shinkansen from Tokyo Station for 1 hour 20 min, we got off Echigo Yuzawa. Right after crossing the final train tunnel, you are suddenly surrounded by beautiful white snow. We got off station, took the hotel shuttle bus and stayed at Naspa New Otani Hotel. The hotel costs like 90k yen which is really expensive, but has all the luxuries and amenities. The rooms are huge all with a side room with sofa that can be a third bed, good for families. The best is really the public bath which has a few hot baths that’s free to use. The only downside is the decoration is quite old style and of course the price tag. There is free shuttle from hotel to Gala ski resort which is 10 min away, around every 30 min. As we don’t usually ski, we rent everything from ski resort, which you expect to spend around 11k yen per pax including ski outfit, helmet, ski shoes and skis. The equipment are all new. You have to also pay for gondola and lift to go up the skiing area. For beginners just need to buy gondola only pass - 1200 yen for kids, but for experienced skiers need to buy gondola plus lift. Around 5000 yen for adult half day and 6000 yen for full day for full package. I don’t ski so I just rented a pair of wellies for 1500 yen which prevents you from slipping. It’s also worthwhile for non skiers to go up the gondola and look at the beautiful view of the surrounding snow-capped mountains. My daughters took a 2-hour ski class. They enjoyed it so much and took another 3-hour ski class. Ski class is 30k yen for two hours and 39k yen for three hour private class up to 2-3 pax. The ski coaches were flew in from Europe and are very nice. Our coach is from Uk and she said Japan has the best snow around the world - she said it’s called champagne snow. We are so lucky to catch the champagne snow in the best weather and if money is no issue, it’s really worth coming to this ski resort which is so close to Tokyo.