Dec–MarA small family hill in the World Heritage valley: deep snow, a night in a gasshō farmhouse and a ¥3,500 lift ticket.
Gokayama Taira (五箇山たいらスキー場) is a small family ski hill in the Gokayama valley, Nanto, Toyama, a few minutes from the World Heritage gasshō villages of Ainokura and Suganuma. It has 5 courses and 3 lifts, a top at 933 m, and some of the deepest snow in Hokuriku: 230 cm on 9 February last season. An adult day ticket is ¥3,500. There is no night skiing. Dates for 2026-27 are estimated from last season (28 December to 29 March). It is 49 minutes by car from Shin-Takaoka and 59 minutes from Kanazawa.
This is not a place to come for mileage. Five courses will fill a day, perhaps two. What you get instead is a night in a thatched gasshō farmhouse in Ainokura, dinner cooked on the hearth, and a hill with deep, quiet snow a short drive away. The lift ticket is cheap, the slopes are uncrowded, and the villages are the reason to come.
Below: how to get there by car or by bus, the lift tickets, the courses, nine Gokayama stays and four in Takaoka, and what to do after the lifts close.
The Shinkansen stops at Shin-Takaoka and Kanazawa; the last stretch into the valley is by road.
Collect a hire car at Shin-Takaoka (about 49 minutes) or Kanazawa (about 59 minutes). On the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway it is about 36 minutes from Fukumitsu IC and about 35 minutes from Gokayama IC.
Winter tyres are needed. Ask for them when you book the hire car, and expect heavy snow on the valley road. Parking is free, with about 600 spaces, and the roads and car park are ploughed. Licence rules are in our car-hire notes.
Find a hire car ↗Hokuriku Shinkansen to Shin-Takaoka (the stop after Toyama) or Kanazawa (2h 26m from Tokyo). The World Heritage Bus then runs daily through the winter to Ainokura-guchi, about 1h 03m from Shin-Takaoka (¥1,100) and about 23 minutes from Jōhana; the Kanazawa bus to Jōhana leaves from the West Exit. Timetables are in our Gokayama guide.
The last stretch. The bus reaches the villages, not the lifts. Ask your minshuku in Ainokura whether it can collect you, or take a taxi from the bus stop. Check the return bus before planning a day on snow, since the last departures are in the afternoon. Neither bus is covered by rail passes.
Passes: the Hokuriku Arch Pass (¥35,000, 7 days) and the JR Pass cover the Shinkansen to Shin-Takaoka and Kanazawa.
See the Arch Pass ↗See the JR Pass ↗Compare rail passes2025-26 prices in yen; the 2026-27 list is not yet posted. Cash or PayPay only.
| Ticket | Adult | Child (junior high and under) or senior (60+) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 day (8:30 to 16:00) | ¥3,500 | ¥3,000 |
| Half day (morning 8:30 to 12:30, afternoon 12:00 to 16:00) | ¥2,500 | ¥2,000 |
| 6-ride book | ¥1,500 | ¥1,500 |
| Single ride | ¥300 | ¥300 |
| Season pass | ¥30,000 | ¥16,000 child, ¥28,000 senior |
Preschoolers ski free with a guardian (one child per adult). Tickets are sold at the No. 1 lift station. The season-pass price has been revised for 2026-27. Night skiing is suspended, so there is no night ticket. Prices can change in season.
| Rental, per day (2025-26) | Adult | Child |
|---|---|---|
| Ski set | ¥3,000 | ¥2,500 |
| Snowboard set | ¥3,500 | ¥3,000 |
| Wear, per piece | ¥2,500 | ¥2,500 |
The Kids Park and the belt conveyor are ¥500 each at weekends and holidays and are not included in the lift ticket. There is a child-care room, and the Taira Ski School teaches snowboarding. English lessons are not advertised.
Three pair lifts, a vertical of about 300 m and deep snow.
Three pair lifts (the Romance lifts) climb from 630 m to a top at 933 m, about 300 m of vertical. The split is about 20% easy, 50% intermediate and 30% advanced, and snowboards are allowed everywhere. The snow is the draw: the club logged 230 cm on 9 February last season, and still 50 cm on closing day, 29 March.
The ski ground bills itself as skiing in the lap of a World Heritage Site, and the claim holds: Ainokura is about a kilometre away and Suganuma a short drive further. Both are free to enter. In winter the villages are lit on set evenings: Suganuma on Tuesday 26 January and 6 to 7 February 2027 (17:30 to 20:00), Ainokura on 20 to 21 February (dusk to 20:00), plus window-light evenings at Ainokura on 13 and 27 January. See the Gokayama guide, and for the bigger, busier version across the border the Shirakawa-go light-up.
| Course | Level | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Skyline | Upper intermediate | The long line down the hill |
| Central | Intermediate | The main run for most of the day |
| Dynamic | Advanced | Steeper, with ups and downs |
| Enjoy | Beginner | Gentle, for first turns and children |
| Moguls | Advanced | A mogul course |
Tonami Yume-no-Taira (となみ夢の平) is smaller still, with one lift, 3 courses and a 300 to 510 m profile. Last season it ran for only about five weeks, from 24 January to 25 February 2026, at ¥3,500 a day (8:30 to 17:00, no night skiing). It is 20 minutes by car from Tonami Station, with 500 free spaces. See the Tonami guide; for a larger Toyama hill see Tateyama Sanroku.
Thirteen stays: nine in Gokayama, four in Takaoka. Check rates shows tonight's price for your dates.
How to choose: the point of this trip is the night in the valley, so the Ainokura minshuku come first. They are small (three or four rooms), cook dinner and breakfast on the hearth, and sell out on weekends and the light-up evenings, so book early. If they are full, the guesthouses and ryokan are a few kilometres away, and Takaoka has the big station hotels, an hour by car.
In Gokayama
A gasshō farmhouse in the middle of Ainokura, with iwana char grilled over the irori hearth, mountain vegetables and firm Gokayama tofu. Scored 9.2 on Agoda from 38 reviews.
Check rates ↗A small gasshō-zukuri house with three guest rooms, the best-reviewed stay in the valley. Scored 9.7 on Agoda from 36 reviews.
Check rates ↗One of the oldest houses in the village, around 350 years old, with hearth-cooked dinner and breakfast. Scored 9.0 on Agoda from 11 reviews.
Check rates ↗A three-room minshuku in Ainokura, cooking for its guests on the hearth. Scored 9.4 on Agoda from 6 reviews.
Check rates ↗A guesthouse a few minutes from the slopes by car. Scored 9.5 on Agoda from 27 reviews.
Check rates ↗A 15-room guesthouse with free parking and a car-hire and shuttle desk. Scored 8.8 on Agoda from 92 reviews.
Check rates ↗The valley's larger ryokan, 22 rooms with free parking, for a hot bath after the lifts. Scored 8.1 on Agoda from 118 reviews.
Check rates ↗A small family ryokan on the valley road. Scored 8.4 on Agoda from 24 reviews.
Check rates ↗An onsen ryokan down the valley, the choice when the minshuku are full. Scored 8.3 on Agoda from 79 reviews.
Check rates ↗In Takaoka and Shin-Takaoka
Pick up a hire car at Shin-Takaoka and be on the slope in under an hour. Scored 8.6 on Agoda from 849 reviews.
Check rates ↗Linked to Takaoka Station by a covered deck. Scored 8.5 on Agoda from 613 reviews.
Check rates ↗A reliable business hotel in Takaoka. Scored 8.5 on Agoda from 558 reviews.
Check rates ↗The full-service option in Takaoka, for a better room after a cold day. Scored 8.3 on Agoda from 285 reviews.
Check rates ↗all hotels in Takaoka (Agoda lists the Gokayama stays under Takaoka) · Toyama hotel guide · Gokayama guide · Takaoka guide
The ski day is short; the evening is the point.
An adult day ticket (8:30 to 16:00) is ¥3,500, and children (junior high school and under) and seniors aged 60 and over pay ¥3,000. A half-day ticket is ¥2,500 for adults and ¥2,000 for children and seniors. These are the 2025-26 prices; the 2026-27 list is not yet posted. Tickets are cash or PayPay only.
The 2026-27 dates are estimated from last season, which ran from 28 December 2025 to 29 March 2026, so expect late December to late March. The operator posts the dates later in the autumn. Day skiing runs from 8:30 to 16:00.
No. The night lifts are suspended because of an equipment fault, so plan on daytime skiing only (8:30 to 16:00).
Partly. The World Heritage Bus runs daily from Shin-Takaoka Station to Ainokura-guchi in about 1h 03m (¥1,100), and a bus from Kanazawa connects at Jōhana. The bus reaches the villages, not the lifts, so sleep in a minshuku in Ainokura and ask your host about a pick-up, or take a taxi for the last stretch. Neither bus is covered by rail passes, though the Shinkansen to Shin-Takaoka or Kanazawa is.
About 49 minutes from Shin-Takaoka Station and about 59 minutes from Kanazawa Station. From the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway it is about 36 minutes from Fukumitsu IC and about 35 minutes from Gokayama IC. Parking is free (about 600 spaces). Ask for winter tyres when you book a hire car.
Yes, for a small hill. The courses are about 20% easy, 50% intermediate and 30% advanced, there is a beginner and kids course (Enjoy) and a Kids Park with a belt conveyor at weekends and holidays (¥500), and preschoolers ski free with a guardian. It has 5 courses and 3 lifts, so it suits a day or two rather than a week.
Yes. Ainokura has gasshō-zukuri minshuku (Goyomon, Yomoshirou, Nakaya and Choyomon) about 1 km from the ski area, with dinner and breakfast cooked on the hearth. Book early for weekends and the winter light-up dates.
Both cover the Shinkansen to Shin-Takaoka or Kanazawa. Neither covers the World Heritage Bus or a taxi, so the last leg is paid separately.
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