Hakuba Goryu
エイブル白馬五竜36°40′ N 137°50′ E926 m vertical15 runs11.9 kmNight ridingSeasonal
Goryu suits families and night riders who want the gentle Toomi slope at the door, and the best snow sits a gondola ride up at Alps-daira.
Photo 苗場山 · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 and others, credited in the gallery
- Beginner4 km
- Intermediate5.5 km
- Advanced1 km
- Expert1.4 km
OpenStreetMap maps 0 named runs and 13 lifts at Hakuba Goryu, and the guide measures each one against the elevation model.
Open the 3D map ↓Fly the mountain in 3D立体地図
Ride every run at Hakuba Goryuコース
Named runs from the trail map
Grand Prixグランプリ
Goryu's widest slope gets its best grooming first thing. The edges collect powder and moguls.
Good for morning carving, powder at the edges
Champion Expertチャンピオンエキスパート
The steepest run on Goryu's course guide and the one strong riders head for first.
Good for steep pitch, bumps
Champion Dynamicチャンピオンダイナミック
Champion Dynamic narrows as it drops and gets rough and icy toward sunset, so Goryu marks it as unsuitable for beginners.
Good for fast groomer
Technicalテクニカル
Goryu never grooms this short pitch, so it skis as powder or bumps depending on the week.
Good for ungroomed snow
Panoramaパノラマ
The gentlest way down from the gondola top passes the restaurant and the widest views of the Northern Alps.
Good for views, families
Woodyウッディ
Woody is gentle but narrow and gets busy on weekend afternoons when everyone heads home.
Good for easy way down
Toomiとおみゲレンデ
The base slope in front of Escal Plaza is groomed every evening before the night session.
Good for night riding, first days
Out of five
How it rides
- Powder
- 3 out of 5
- Trees
- 2 out of 5
- Steeps
- 3 out of 5
- Park
- 3 out of 5
- Beginners
- 4 out of 5
- Quiet
- 3 out of 5
- Value
- 4 out of 5
- Après
- 2 out of 5
- Family
- 4 out of 5
- Sidecountry
- 4 out of 5
Know the zones before you goエリア
Toomiとおみ
zoneBeginner
The long wide slope in front of Escal Plaza is Goryu's beginner and family area and the main night-riding slope.
Good for families, night riding, sunrise skiing
Iimoriいいもり
zoneBeginner
Iimori has its own base centre, rentals and the Hakuba Snow Sports School, and its No. 6 lift joined the night session in 2025/26.
Good for lessons, quieter base
Alps-dairaアルプス平
zoneIntermediate
The gondola-top area holds Goryu's best snow and its steepest runs, and it links over to Hakuba47.
Good for views, powder, spring skiing
Beyond the ropes · Through gates
Goryu's backcountry trailhead sits at the top of the Alps No. 4 lift and is signed. Patrol triggers avalanches on more than 20 known slide paths around the resort before opening, and the terrain outside the ropes slides into the runs, so ducking a rope here endangers people below.
- Enter the backcountry only from the signed trailhead at the top of the Alps No. 4 lift
- Hand in a mountain-climbing registration at the Toomi gondola station or Alps station before you go
- Carry an avalanche transceiver, a probe and a shovel and know how to use them
- Do not leave the resort after 14:00, and do not come back in after the last lift closes
- Keep your tracks out of sight of the ski area so others are not tempted to follow
- Out-of-bounds search and rescue is billed per hour: ¥20,000 for each patroller, ¥10,000 for each assistant, ¥5,000 for each headquarters staff member, ¥50,000 for each grooming machine and ¥10,000 for each snowmobile
- Read the Japan Avalanche Network bulletin for Hakuba before you leave the lifts
13 lifts on the map
Know the liftsリフト
Season 2026/27
Buy the right ticket
- Adult day
- ¥10,000, about CAD 90 or USD 63 (October 2026 rates)
- Early and late season
- ¥9,000, about CAD 81 or USD 57 (October 2026 rates)
- Bought online
- ¥8,200, about CAD 74 or USD 52 (October 2026 rates)
- Night
- ¥6,500, about CAD 58 or USD 41 (October 2026 rates)
- 2 days
- ¥18,500, about CAD 166 or USD 117 (October 2026 rates)
- 3 days
- ¥26,000, about CAD 234 or USD 164 (October 2026 rates)
One ticket covers Able Hakuba Goryu and Hakuba47. Adults are 23 to 64, youth 13 to 22 and children 6 to 12 (¥4,500 a day at the counter); kids under six and adults over 80 pay ¥500. A pre-season online day pass sells at up to 25% off until 15 December 2026. Children 12 and under ski free on the third Sunday of each month from December to April and on 5 May. The Hakuba Valley All-Mountain pass also covers Goryu.
These passes cover days here
- Epic PassHakuba Valley: 5 consecutive days on one free all-mountain ticket covering all ten resorts, no blackouts. Rusutsu: 5 consecutive days.
- Hakuba Valley All-Mountain Day PassEvery day on the ticket opens all ten Hakuba Valley resorts. Multi-day tickets run inside a window from first use: 2 days within 4, 5 within 10, 10 within 16.
Get thereアクセス
From Tokyo Station
- Bus
- Alpico's Nagano–Hakuba express stops at Goryu Escal Plaza on the way into the valley. Direct buses from Shinjuku reach the Hakuba Goryu stop in about five hours.
- Train
- Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagano, about 1 hr 40 min, then the local bus from Nagano Station to Hakuba Goryu, about 1 hr. Hakuba Valley puts the fastest door-to-door time at 2 hr 50 min.
One daily Azusa limited express runs direct from Shinjuku to Hakuba Station in about four hours.
The nearest station is Kamishiro. JR Oito Line. Hakuba Station is the next stop north and has more bus connections.
Goryu and Hakuba47 run a free shuttle for resort guests from Hakuba and the Omachi Onsen area, plus a Triangle Bus between Escal Plaza, Iimori and Hakuba47 (13 December 2025 to 31 March 2026 last winter). The Hakuba Valley shuttle stops at both Goryu bases.
Goryu has two bases on the south side of Hakuba village. Escal Plaza sits at the foot of the Toomi slope with the ticket centre and a hot spring inside, and the eight-seat Telecabin gondola climbs from beside it to Alps-daira. Iimori lies a little further north with its own base centre and a gentle slope for lessons. The two bases join on the hill, and from the top of Alps-daira the runs link across to Hakuba47.
Alps-daira is where the riding gets good. Grand Prix is the big open groomer, and the sides of it hold powder and bumps after snowfall. Champion Expert is the steep one on the trail map and Goryu leaves Technical ungroomed on purpose. The upper mountain also keeps its snow long enough for Goryu to run until the end of Golden Week.
Goryu is the valley's main night hill. The lights go on over Toomi and part of Iimori at six, after an hour's grooming, and in 2025/26 they stayed on nightly from late December to mid-March. Sunrise sessions start at seven on weekends and holidays.
For 2026/27 Goryu has a new ice-snow system and has fixed an opening date for the first time, 21 November, on the Toomi No. 1 lift area. That makes it one of the earliest places to ride in Hakuba, though the upper mountain still waits for natural snow.
Worth knowing
- Buy the Goryu47 pre-season day pass online before 15 December 2026 for up to 25% off the counter price.
- Keep your IC card from year to year and recharge it online, since recharges are the cheapest way to buy a day.
- Night tickets are separate. A day ticket stops working at the end of the afternoon session.
- Hand in your climbing registration at the Toomi gondola station before heading for the Alps No. 4 trailhead.
Quick answers about Hakuba Goryuよくある質問
How big is Hakuba Goryu?
Hakuba Goryu has 15 runs and 12 lifts over 926 m of vertical, from 750 m at the base to 1,676 m at the top. OpenStreetMap maps 11.9 km of piste there.
How steep is Hakuba Goryu?
The steepest mapped pitch at Hakuba Goryu is about 32.7° over 60 m. We measure it from OpenStreetMap's run lines and the elevation model. Its advanced and expert runs add up to 2.4 km of the mapped total.
Can you ride off-piste at Hakuba Goryu?
At Hakuba Goryu: Goryu's backcountry trailhead sits at the top of the Alps No. 4 lift and is signed. Patrol triggers avalanches on more than 20 known slide paths around the resort before opening, and the terrain outside the ropes slides into the runs, so ducking a rope here endangers people below.
How much is a lift ticket at Hakuba Goryu?
An adult day ticket at Hakuba Goryu costs ¥10,000, about CAD 90 or USD 63 (October 2026 rates) in the 2026/27 main season and ¥9,000, about CAD 81 or USD 57 (October 2026 rates) early or late in the season. Epic Pass and Hakuba Valley All-Mountain Day Pass holders ride here too.
How do you get to Hakuba Goryu from Tokyo Station?
By bus: Alpico's Nagano–Hakuba express stops at Goryu Escal Plaza on the way into the valley. Direct buses from Shinjuku reach the Hakuba Goryu stop in about five hours.
When is the season at Hakuba Goryu?
Hakuba Goryu usually opens 21 November 2026 on the Toomi No. 1 lift area, announced 1 October 2026 and closes about 6 May 2027; the ticket centre plans to sell until then or until the resort closes.
Within 25 km
Places to stay nearby宿
Within 30 km
Hot springs nearby温泉
Within 35 km
Towns and neighbourhoods nearby町
Within 80 km
Ski resorts nearby山
In the journal and guides
Read more about Hakuba Goryu特集
Practical guide · 10 min read
How do backcountry gates and rescue costs work at Japan's ski resorts?
Japanese resorts let riders out only through designated gates once a climbing plan is filed, and every resort here that publishes a rescue rule bills the rider. Zao bans riding off its courses altogether.
Practical guide · 8 min read
Should you ski Hakuba or Niseko?
Hakuba suits riders who want big alpine vertical and ten resorts on one ticket, a train ride from Tokyo. Niseko suits riders who want four linked resorts, lift-served gates under one set of rules and lights on every evening.
Practical guide · 9 min read
When is the best time to ski in Japan?
Mid-January to the end of February brings the most snow on Honshu and in Tohoku. Book around New Year and the 2027 holiday weekends, or wait for March and April, when the days run long and spring prices kick in.
Guide · 8 min read
Which Japanese phrases help on a ski or cycling trip in Japan?
Two words carry most of a trip, and about forty more get you a lift pass, a new inner tube, a seat for a bagged bike and help when something goes wrong. Each line comes with its kana and a romaji reading you can say out loud.