How to Best Utilise the Indy Pass in Japan? A 2026 Guide to Hidden Power Gems & Unmatched Cultural Pass
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Skip the big-name resorts. Instead, unlock Japan’s best-kept secrets with your Indy pass. With Indy Pass resorts spanning various prefectures, you’ll be able to discover some of Japan’s best-kept secrets & authentic regional culture. With 2 days per resort on the pass, you’ll want to hop around and try out different resorts and areas during your Japan stay. Booking transportation with TokudAw can help you alleviate the worry about transferring in the middle of storms, while also helping you experience the local culture.
Here’s our list of recommended accommodations, regional cuisine, and experiences across every Indy Pass resort cluster in Japan.
Yuzawa Region (Niigata)
Indy Pass Ski Resorts: Maiko Snow Resort / Nakazato / Muica
Stay at ryugon, a luxury hot-spring ryokan set built from 19th-century farmhouses and regional manor houses. The property, which was carefully renovated, continues to preserve traditional elements of Japanese architecture, including a sitting room that has been registered as an Important Cultural Property of Japan.
Explore Kiyotsu Gorge’s Tunnel of Light, one of Japan’s three great canyons. This 750-metre tunnel was transformed into an contemporary art installation for the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field, with four viewing stations. The final station, also known as the Mirror Pond, is the famous reflecting pool that captures the V-shaped Kiyotsu Gorge, snow-covered cliffs, and surrounding mountain scenery
Travel to the world-famous Hakkaisan Sake Brewery (Saru Kurayama) to sample premium Niigata sake, such as Junmai Daiginjo, alongside locally-produced snow-aged foods and regional specialties. Visitors can also explore the Hakkaisan Yukimuro, which is a natural snow-cooled storage facility where sake is matured at below-zero temperatures.
Participate in the Yukiguni Lab Experience, a TokudAw Exclusive experience led by Wanping Aw, Ph.D., and Nagai Takumi, Ph.D. Explore “Snow Country” through the lens of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math), with activities covering snow crystal science, snow-domes (Kamakura), snow-aged (Yukimuro) food fermentation, and custom board building.
Enjoy a Niigata-exclusive sake tasting experience at Ponshukan, located inside Echigo-Yuzawa Station. There are more than 90 different varieties of local sake from breweries across Niigata Prefecture, offered using coin-operated dispensers. Each dispenser also includes tasting notes and popularity rankings, making it easy to compare different styles and varieties. The adjoining Niigata souvenir store also sells full-sized sake bottles, alongside regional products like soy sauce and rice snacks.
Gunma Region
Indy Pass Ski Resort: Palcall Tsumagoi Resort / Hodaigi Ski Resort (Minakami)
Stay at Kyukamura Tsumagoi-Kazawa, an onsen resort surrounded by the mountain scenery of Joshin-estu-Kogen National Park at 1,400 metres elevation. Alternatively, stay at Bettai Senjuan, a Relais & Châteaux luxury ryokan known for its private onsens and views of the surrounding mountains.
Participate in a series of Local Adventure Packages at Yamawarahu, hosted by a TokudAw Partner. Ride Palcall Tsumogoi’s gondola to 2,100 metres for majestic mountain views, before heading out for a guided snowshoe trek along ridge trails, paired with a hot outdoor snow lunch. Alternatively, join a guided winter forest therapy trek in Joshin’estu-Kogen National Park, followed by an evening of campfire and stargazing below Tsumagoi’s clear mountain skies. Visitors may even try traditional wakasagi ice fishing, which involves drilling through the frozen lake surface to catch Japanese smelt.
Head over to Tsutsuji-no-Yu Hot Springs, where visitors can soak in the natural green, mineral-rich waters to unwind after an intensive day of skiing. Alternatively, travel ~40 minutes to Kusatsu Onsen, one of Japan’s best-known hot-spring towns. Catch the traditional Yunomi performance, where Kusatsu’s natural hot spring water is cooled down with large wooden paddles.
Nagano & Western Honshu
Indi Pass Ski Resort: Cupid Valley
Stay at Akakura Kanko Hotel, one of Myoko’s best-known mountain resorts. For visitors looking to stay closer to the region’s ski areas, stay at LIME Resort Myoko instead. Alternatively, Cupid Valley’s Yukidaruma Kogen Cabins, which are Canadian-style rental cabins located on the base of the ski slopes, are also a good option for travelers looking for a cosy, rustic mountain atmosphere during their stay.
Explore the historic kuramoto (sake breweries) located in the nearby Joetsu and Takada sake districts, where sake production is shaped by the Prefecture’s heavy snowfall, pure water, and rice-growing culture. Visitors may also explore the area’s Yukimuro snow-storage culture, tasting regional beef and root vegetables that have been aged naturally in these snow cellars.
Discover Japanese traditional craftsmanship by learning more about the production processes of sugi-dama, a traditional cedar-ball displayed outside sake breweries. The lifecycle of the cedar ball, which changes with the season, serves as a time indicator for the sake aging process.
Alternatively, learn more about the production process of Kanzuri, the region’s unique fermented chilli seasoning. This process involved spreading red peppers across fresh snow, before fermenting them with various ingredients like yuzu and koji.
Indy Pass Ski Resort: Togakushi Snow World
Stay at Shukubo Fuchinobe for an authentic temple lodging experience in the historic district of Togakushi, surrounded by the forests and mountain culture of northern Nagano.
Visit Togakushi Shrine, a 2,000-year-old sacred Shinto Shrine located in the forested mountains of northern Nagano. Leave with a memorable winter walk by trekking through Togakushi Shrine’s 400-year-old avenue of giant Japanese cedar trees, before arriving at the snow-covered upper shrine.
Warm up with a bowl of handmade Togakushi Soba, known as one of Japan’s top three soba varieties. The noodles are traditionally served in five small bundles on a woven bamboo plate, alongside local daikon (radish) and fresh wasabi.
Indy Pass Ski Resort: Hirugano Kogen
Stay at Holiday House Green Garden located at the foot of Mt. Dachinigatake, where cozy timber chalets are surrounded by the scenic view of pine forests and highlands.
Visit Bokka no Sato Farm, a family-friendly interactive highland farm with horses, sheep, and alpacas. Apart from enjoying seasonal activities (e.g., snow rafting), visitors can also look forward to sampling locally produced dairy products and desserts.
Take a day trip to Hida no Sato, an open-air museum featuring over 30 traditional buildings dating back to the Edo period. Visitors can look forward to visiting a former village head’s home, logging huts, storehouses, and gassho-zukuri farmhouses. Various historical artefacts are also on display, including agricultural tools, household goods, and machineries for traditional silk production.
Gifu Region
Indy Pass Ski Resort: Dynaland / Takasu Snow Park / Washigatake / Whitepia Takasu
Stay at Hotel Villa Mont Saint, a highland resort surrounded by nature at an elevation of 1,000 metres. The hotel also has direct slopeside access to Takasu Snow Park & Dynaland, making it a practical and convenient base for accessing the region’s resorts.
Take a day trip to Shirakawa-go, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The village is known for its unique gassho-zukuri farmhouses, identified by its uniquely steep-sloped thatched roofs. These farmhouses are strategically engineered around the region’s climate and historical primary industry of sericulture (silkworm farming). The farmhouses’ steep-sloped roofs are designed to withstand the region’s heavy snowfall, even without using nails. All farmhouses are also strategically oriented for temperature-control purposes, creating a perfect, continuous cross breeze that allowed silkworms to be raised in the upper rafters of these houses.
Replenish your body’s energy with premium Hida Beef (A5 grade), one of Gifu Prefecture’s signature foods. We recommend trying it charcoal-grilled and served with Hoba Miso, where both ingredients are grilled together on a fragrant, dried magnolia leaf.
Northern Honshu (Tohoku) Region
Indy Pass Ski Resort: Aomori Spring Ski Resort
Stay at Rockwood Hotel & Spa, a resort hotel located at the foot of Mount Iwaki. Enjoy convenient access to Aomori Spring’s ski slopes, alongside panoramic views of the Sea of Japan.
Board the nostalgic Tsugaru Railway Stove Train, one of Aomori’s most unique winter experiences. Ride through the snowy fields of the Tsugaru countryside, sitting in cabin cars that are heated by traditional potbelly stoves. Passengers can also purchase and roast dried squid (surume) on these potbelly stoves, while enjoying local hot sake.
Visit Inakadate for their stunning Winter Rice-Paddy Art, where snow-covered fields are transformed into artwork with footsteps, lights, and shadows. There are also various interactive activities, including family-friendly snow programs and workshops.
Head over to Hirosaki Castle for the Snow Lantern Festival in early February, where handmade snow lanterns and candle-lit mini igloos light up and transform the park’s pathways and lotus pond. Recognised as one of Northern Japan’s Five Great Snow Festivals, visitors can also look forward to large snow sculptures, projection mappings, and food stalls.
Enjoy Aomori’s apples, the region’s signature agricultural produce. Aomori Prefecture grows over 50 distinct varieties of apples, accounting for 60% of the country’s apple crops. Visitors can look forward to tasting these delicious apples in various products and sweets, including ciders, juices, freshly baked pies, and cakes.
Indy Pass Ski Resort: Geto Kogen
Stay at Geto Kogen Semi Onsen, a traditional riverside hot spring ryokan located near Geto Kogen. Semi Onsen is famous for its “Bijin no Yu” hot springs which are beneficial for the skin.
Geto Kogen is also known as the “King of Snow” and “King of Tree Runs”, due to the area’s deep snowfall and extensive tree-run terrain. There are a total of 14 unique, official tree-run zones offering both beginner-friendly and advanced courses, thus explaining Geto Kogen’s popularity amongst experienced skiers and snowboarders looking to experience Tohoku’s Japow and freestyle powder skiing.
Unwind after a long day of skiing by soaking in the natural, sulfur-rich hot springs surrounded by the snowy mountains of Iwate.
Indy Pass Ski Resort: Tazawako & Amihari Onsen
Stay at Kyukamura Nyuto-Onsenkyo, a contemporary hot spring resort featuring both indoor and outdoor open-air baths surrounded by Akita’s beech forests. Alternatively, stay at KAMENOI HOTEL TAZAWAKO, a mountain resort and hot spring ryokan. Located in the Tazawako Plateau Hot Spring Village, it provides a convenient and practical base for visitors exploring the Lake Tazawa area.
Spend a day exploring Nyuto Onsekyo, a rustic hot spring village deeply hidden in the beech forests of Towada-Hachimantai National Park. Utilise the bath-hopping pass (yumeguri-cho) and explore the area’s wide varieties of unique, open-air outdoor baths across different ryokans, all while being surrounded by beautiful beech forests.
Visit Kakunodate Samurai District, where preserved buildings continue to tell the story of Akita Prefecture’s samurai history. There are six samurai houses open to the public, offering invaluable insights to how different classes of samurai families lived 400 years ago.
End the day by tasting Kiritampo, Akita Prefecture’s soul food. It consists of freshly harvested Akitakomachi rice mashed and wrapped around a cedar skewer, before being toasted over charcoal. It is most commonly served in chicken hot pot, though it can also be eaten straight off the stick with miso paste.
Indy Pass Ski Resort: Shimokura & Okunakayama Kogen
Stay at ANA Crowne Plaza Resort Appi Kogen, uniquely characterised by their striking lemon-yellow buildings. Alternatively, stay at Okunakayama Kogen Hotel for convenient, direct access to the region’s hot spring and skiing grounds.
Travel through the Iwate countryside to Koiwai Farm, one of Japan’s best-known dairy farms. Located at the foot of Mount Iwate, visitors can look forward to tasting fresh dairy products and desserts (e.g., milk, soft serve, cheese). Various family-friendly programs (e.g., tractor tours, interacting with animals) are also offered at Koiwai Farm, in addition to the seasonal snow activities.
Discover Iwate Prefecture’s Nambu Tekki craftsmanship, Japan’s premier traditional cast ironware. Produced by local artisans, this craft combines utility with historical artistry, producing world-renowned cast-iron teapots and kettles.
Indy Ski Pass Resort: Onikobe
Stay at Hotel Onikobe, a resort-style mountain accommodation with natural hot springs baths against northern Miyagi’s scenic volcanic landscapes.
Visit Naruko Onsen, one of Tohoku’s historic hot-spring towns. Known as the “department store of hot springs”, visitors can look forward to a large selection of thermal baths featuring distinctive mineral water varieties.
Naruko Onsen is also well-known for hand-crafted wooden Naruko Kokeshi dolls, uniquely distinguishable by the dolls’ floral patterns. There are also various artisan workshops offering craft experiences, allowing visitors to paint their own kokeshi doll.
Indy Ski Pass Resort: Ninox Snow Park
Stay at Niigata City, a convenient city-centre base for visitors looking to explore the region’s ski resorts and urban towns. Taste the city’s fresh seafood (e.g., yellow tail sushi, monkfish sushi, and winter crab are a few of the top winter catches) and locally-produced Niigata sake, before heading for a night skiing experience overlooking Niigata’s coastline.
Hokkaido Region
Indy Pass Ski Resort: Kamui Ski Links / Pippu / Canmore Ski Village
Stay at OMO7 Asahikawa by Hoshino Resort, a stylish city-tourism hotel providing convenient access to both Asahikawa’s city centre & the area’s numerous ski resorts.
Try Asahikawa Ramen, a regional specialty characterised by its rich shoyu-based broth, combined with seafood and pork flavours. A thin film of oil also coats the broth, keeping the soup hot during Hokkaido’s harsh winters.
Discover Asahikawa’s sake production history at Takasago Sake Brewery. Best known for its Kokushimuso sake label, Takasago fully utilises Hokkaido’s pure underground waters and Hokkaido-grown premium rice varieties in its sake production. Visitors can also taste and purchase Takasago’s large sake lineup on-site.
Indy Pass Ski Resort: Nayoro Piyashiri
Stay at Grand Hotel Fujika in Nayoro, a practical base for visitors exploring northern Hokkaido.
Keep an eye out for Nayaro’s sun pillar phenomenon. Nayoro’s exceptionally cold winter mornings can produce diamond dust that sparkle in the sunlight. With the right atmospheric conditions, it creates a rare sun pillar phenomenon, an optical illusion where a vertical bean of light appears to extend above or below the sun.
Enjoy Nayoro Mochi, produced from Nayoro-grown glutinous rice. Nayoro is the top producer of mochi-rice (glutinous rice) in Japan, thus explaining the region’s abundance of traditional rice cakes and seasonal sweets featuring mochi-rice.
Indy Pass Ski Resort: Mount Racey (Yubari)
Stay at Yubari Hotel Shuparo, a resort-hotel located in the historic coal and melon town of Yubari.
Enjoy Yubari King Melon, one of Japan’s most prized luxury fruits known for its flawless appearance and high sweetness levels. Visitors can look forward to sampling sweets, desserts, and souvenirs inspired by the King Melon, in addition to eating the King Melon itself.
Visit the Coal Mining Museum of Yubari to learn more about the region’s coal industry, which was essential in driving modern Japan’s rapid industrialisation and post-war economic recovery. Visitors may even step into the museum’s simulated mine exhibition, built within the former Tenryu Pit of the Hokutan Yubari Coal Mine.
Japan’s multi-resort skiing is broken. Here’s how we fixed it.
Planning a multi-resort Japan ski trip can be surprisingly difficult. Japanese ski regions traditionally operate as separate destinations, thus explaining the lack of cross-region transport and fragmented booking systems. Few operators are capable of moving skiers, luggage, and equipment seamlessly between resorts.
Coupled with the language barrier, this creates massive challenges for international skiers using the Indy Pass in Japan. Travelers will need to coordinate across different transfer companies, train connections, taxis, and local operators across multiple prefectures.
TokudAw resolves this for you with 100% Indy Pass Coverage. TokudAw provides unified, bilingual ground logistics across every Indy Pass ski destination in Japan. A single point of coordination resolves all private ski transfers, inter-resort transportation, luggage and ski-equipment movement. With TokudAw’s integrated ski transfers and ground transportation, utilising the Indy Pass in Japan across multiple ski resorts and prefectures is now feasible.
TokudAw was built in Japan for international travelers. Founded by Wanping Aw, an expat with over 16 years of experience living in Japan, TokudAw Inc. is a licensed Japan travel agency created with the intention of reconciling Western travel expectations with the realities of Japan’s complex logistics. TokudAw provides end-to-end Japan ski transportation and local ground arrangements, creating smoother connections for your multi-day journey.
TokudAw’s flexible fleet also includes high-capacity 4WD vehicles suitable for ski groups, snowboards, skis and bulky winter luggage.
TokudAw also has wheelchair-accessible vehicles and mobility-friendly transportation, providing additional options when an injured skier or traveler cannot use standard transfers or if you need to cut your trip short for an unexpected event. With TokudAw, you can adapt your itinerary flexibly without leaving an injured or mobility-limited guest behind.
Book your trip with TokudAw today.