At the heart of Hokkaido is the city of Asahikawa. Located 30 minutes from the airport, it boasts amazing access as the gateway to the Powder Belt and is a wonderful city that over 300,000 people call home. The large shopping centre in front of the station makes shopping a breeze. if you’re looking to throw yourself into the best powder snow out there, whilst enjoying urban life and satisfying the foodie in you, then staying in a city for your skiing and snowboarding travels is the new way to go.
The biggest advantage of Asahikawa is that it’s a city where people work, live, and spend their lives rather than a resort town created for tourists from overseas. What this means for you is that you can visit all of the amazing ski areas on the Powder Belt whilst also having a blast outside of your snow adventures by experiencing all that Asahikawa has to offer, such as the entertainment district featuring over 2,000 shops and restaurants.
OMO7 Asahikawa—your HQ to a menagerie of ski resorts
With its declaration of Asahikawa as a city of skiing, Hoshino Resorts runs OMO7 Asahikawa, a large-scale hotel in Asahikawa, as a hub for the Powder Belt.
OMO7 Asahikawa guests have access to services such as the free shuttle buses to surrounding ski areas including Kamui Ski Links, Asahidake, Pippu, and Santa Present Park as well as daily early morning updates on powder-snow conditions through live feeds. You can also save some time and effort by buying lift tickets for each of the ski areas directly from the hotel. Once you’ve come back from a day on the slopes, you can drop by the sauna facilities available to melt your exhaustion away and keep your body in tiptop condition for more snow fun later. If this isn’t a fully decked out paradise for skiers and snowboarders, then we don’t know what is.
While staying at OMO7 Asahikawa, check out the OMO WAX BAR—a free maintenance space for ski and snowboard gear that comes packed with thirty types of ski wax for everyone to use. Since the type of wax you apply to your ski and snowboard differs depending on the quality and temperature of the snow on the day, having this service available at no cost is bound to bring joy to hardcore slope-shredders and you’re unlikely to find a facility quite like it at other places.
Another unique service you’ll find at OMO7 Asahikawa is the OMO Rangers, who are staff members who know all the ins and outs of Asahikawa City. Each OMO Ranger guides tours for hotel guests based on their specialty with a wide variety of tours on offer. Head out for a guided eating tour of famous ramen restaurants in Asahikawa, join fellow skiers and snowboarders on an izakaya crawl, or jump into a walking tour around Asahikawa with a focus on the local culture. There’s so much to do that something out there will definitely tickle your fancy.
