Different Snow Reviews 100

We had a fantastic trip to Japan organised by Different Snow. Airport transfers, train tickets, and detailed travel instructions were all handled smoothly, making even complex journeys stress-free. Highlights included an excellent stay at Keio Plaza Tokyo, unforgettable time at a stunning ryokan in Shibu Onsen (private onsen in the snow was incredible!), and great skiing in Hakuba with amazing snow and minimal crowds. Rugby tickets were arranged and added a unique local experience. The guidebooks and advice were invaluable and clearly written by someone who truly loves Japan. We’re already planning our next trip—highly recommended.

Different Snow orgnaised a great trip to Japan over Christmas and New Year 2025. For our first trip to Japan, Georgia and the team were great in the planning stage, being really responsive and very clear in their answers to all our questions. They were also very helpful in dealing with a last minute change to our itinerary. The pre travel guides are also invaluable - much better than any guide book.
In Japan, everything worked seamlessly. Would 100% recommend Different Snow.

Deep knowledge, great advice, great execution and great support.

We just returned from our first skiing trip to Japan and I am so pleased that we booked through Nick and his wonderful team at Different Snow. They organised the most brilliant itinerary, with a few days in Tokyo, then a few in Kyoto, and then 10 days in Myoko skiing Kanko, Suginohara, Arai and Madhuri. It was a fascinating and brilliant holiday. Everything went smoothly, and their experience and love of Japan was evident from their excellent recommendations and brilliant 'how to ...' guide books for clients, which led us to all manner of colourful local joints that we would never have known about. If you want to make the most of a trip to Japan, I would highly recommend them ! We cannot wait to go back ...

Definitely Recommend Different Snow!
Working with Different Snow was a wonderful experience! Our itinerary was planned with care and expertise, our questions and requests were addressed in a timely fashion, and every effort was made to provide us with a very special trip filled with unique experiences. Everything was perfect in Japan...all the hotels were great, the guides excellent and every thing that was supposed to happened did, exactly as expected. There was an on- the-ground in Japan contact who was readily available and helpful.

Best trip ever. Front start to finish. Great hotels, local guides….seamless and luxurious car transfers. Amazing ski and tour experience.

Different snow organised a really great skiing trip to Japan that incorporated different ski areas and cities that each provided different experiences. Everything worked perfectly, which meant it was completely stress free. Our travel plans were all detailed in one booklet: flight plans, transfer details, hotel bookings. Bullet train tickets were given to you in Japan and the booklet outlined exactly what platform to go to. It was all so easy! We went to Niseko, Kyoto, Nozawa Onsen and Tokyo and had a great time. Their knowledge of the areas they recommended was really clear. Their pamphlets are brilliantly written and very insightful. I had a few questions both before and during the trip and they responded really rapidly and in a very helpful manner. I highly recommend you travel with Different Snow, they are clearly passionate about skiing in Japan and it shows.

Just got back from an absolutely fantastic two week first time boarding trip to Japan for our Honeymoon. Starting in Niseko, down to Kyoto, a few more days boarding up in NozawaOnsen including a stop off at the snow monkey park, and down to Tokyo to round it off. The trip was fully planned out by the team with an intensive guide pack provided in advance including detailed guides, tips, tricks and recommendations, meaning we could pretty much spend the entire trip stress free. Any hiccups while out there were resolved so quickly by both the UK based Different Snow team and Mari locally in Japan. We can’t fault the Different Snow team and the quality of service they provide. We would definitely recommend and will likely use again for any return trips, which all who have had the pleasure of travelling to Japan will understand, is now inevitable. Thank you again Nick, Georgia, Mari and the team!

Our ski trip to Japan started in Niseko followed by a couple of nights in Kyoto then onto Arai and finally Tokyo. We were provided with a fully detailed itinerary giving us "join the dots" instructions at every point of the holiday. This along with the "How to" booklets (included in the travel pack received in advance) gave us invaluable tips on all aspects of our trip including Japanese culture and allowed us to get the best out of our trip. Everything went according to plan. Highly recommended & well done to Nick & the Team and Different Snow

We just got back from a two week family holiday in Japan organised by Nick and Different Snow and I have to say it was completely exceptional in every way. The skiing, the snow, the onsens, Kyoto, Tokyo...every part of it was just brilliant. All his choices were spot on, his personally written guides were funny and to the point and everything worked like absolute clockwork. We had an absolutely fantastic time and I could not recommend him more highly.

I couldn't be more impressed with how Different Snow organised our two-week long trip to Japan. Right from the start, they were very responsive, they understood our requirements and were happy to customise everything to make the trip that really worked for us. They also had a lot of advice for us and we were happy to follow their lead on many aspects of the trip.

When the flight they booked for us was cancelled, they were immediately on the case, securing a replacement and giving us credit towards the lost baggage allowance. The trip consisted of multiple flights, trains, buses, taxis, two different ski resorts and a city break in between and everything worked out perfectly.

Quite a few weeks before the trip we were sent a very detailed itinerary and a number of guides written by themselves with all the things we may want to know about the places we're visiting. We felt we had all the information we needed and were well looked after for the whole time. The communication with Different snow was excellent, they were very responsive and happy to answer any questions we had.
I would highly recommend them if you're thinking of going on a ski holiday in Japan - they clearly have tons of experience and knowledge about it and offer an excellent customer service.

What a great company. Our trip was excellently organised. From start to finish everything worked and Nick delivered exactly what we were looking for. There is no doubt without his organisational skills we would not have enjoyed the trip half as much and we certailnly wouldnt have experienced Japan as much.

Different Snow plans every detail of the trip with great expertise! The guide books were invaluable.

As usual all the arrangements for our trip ran like clockwork. The information pack arrived well before our trip and contained all the necessary information to take the stress and worry away. At every step in the process communication was perfect. We will definitely be booking again.

Nick at Different Snow was exceptional from start to finish. As I happen to live in the same town they’re located, Nick was more than happy to meet for a coffee to discuss what were, being a first time visitor to Japan, overwhelming options. Nick listened to my thoughts and asked lots of questions and then emailed me over a proposed itinerary. After a little tweaking this was finalised. Everything from flights, accommodation, transfers, lift passes, guides, CAT ski, and bullet train tickets were organised. Nearer to departure I received a comprehensive itinerary in a bespoke printed booklet with literally everything detailed and lots of guides, maps etc. Superb organisation.

The trip itself comprised 3 parts, snowboarding in Niseko, then Hakuba and then a couple of nights in Tokyo.

On check in to my hotel in Hakuba, I discovered an issue with my room - which was recently infested with black carpenter ants. The hotel told me two rooms were affected, and as they were fully booked they were unable to do anything.

I called Nick and explained the situation. Despite the 9 hour time difference, Nick got straight onto his many contacts in Japan to try to resolve the issue. Alternative accommodation was a challenge as this was peak season and pretty much everything was sold out. However, Nick pulled it out of the bag and managed to put me up in an apartment which was larger, newer, and right by the base lift of Happo 1. The accommodation was a significant upgrade and significantly more expensive than the hotel I’d been booked into but I wasn’t asked for a penny. There’s no way left to my own devices I’d have managed to find any other accommodation (and I spent some time looking) - everywhere I looked was fully booked.
This glitch aside, everything ran like absolute clockwork.
Aside from Nick’s obvious passion for and extensive knowledge of all things Japan, what sets Different Snow apart is their level of exceptional customer service and support. Other companies in this situation might have struggled to find a solution to the only issue that arose during my holiday.

I’m not sure it is - but even were it possible to book everything directly with a view to saving a few £, that would be a false economy in my experience. When everything goes smoothly that’s great, but the acid test is how a company deals with an issue when it arises. The peace of mind of having someone as conscientious and customer focused on the end of the phone, and who can seemingly pull the impossible out of the hat if needed, despite being a weekend, 6,000 miles away, and a 9 hour time difference, is priceless.

I cannot recommend Nick and Different Snow highly enough. Simply flawless customer focused service, second to none and a truly memorable fantastic trip which exceeded already high expectations.

We approached different snow for a ski / sightseeing holiday in Japan for 2 families. From the start of speaking to them it was clear that they knew what they were talking about and this came through in the initial itinerary. We tweaked a couple of things and booked. The holiday was literally flawless - everything worked perfectly. Travel, accommodation and, of course, the skiing.
The provided guidebooks were invaluable for maximising our fun and activities in each area and also helped with the cultural aspects.
Couldn't recommend more highly.

Our group had a fantastic time in Niseko, Hokkaido and Tokyo. We could not have done it without the expertise and good cheer of Nick Coates at Different Snow. He had wonderful recommendations that helped bring more color to our trip outside of skiing. Mizu No Uta Ryokan on Lake Shikotsu was a wonderful way to begin our Japan immersion. One of the most beautiful places on earth that we would have known nothing about without Nick's help. Aya Hotel in Niseko was a fantastic place from which to launch our ski adventure. Shinjuku district in Tokyo was great central location for our two days of exploring this vast city.The itinerary was perfect down to the last detail and help us stay organized with all the connections and contacts we needed to get to throughout the trip. Well done!

We were a family of 4 with kids aged 9 and 10. I left it all to Nick and Georgia, and it was fantastic: a proper mix of experiences. Train tickets, transfers etc were all perfectly organised, and they listened to the brief on hotels and delivered exactly what we were after. We went over the New Year/early Jan holiday period to Niseko, Osaka, Nozawa Onsen and Tokyo. We'll be going again, for longer in one place at a time.

Take Nick's advice about booking restaurants well in advance!

Having Different Snow to book all our accommodation, transport, and equipment hire in a country with such a huge language barrier was an absolute game changer. The personal recommendations were fantastic and we followed their suggestions often. We will definitely be going back to Japan in the future and Different Snow will be our first port of call when we start planning our next trip.

Great Ski Trip to Nozawa Onsen - The Lodge at Residence Yasushi - is a beautiful place to stay. Whole trip organisation was very professional, everything worked smoothly. When you travel with a large group you should book the restaurants in the small ski places in advance - we didn't and it wasn't always easy in the evening, especially if you're looking for good Japanse food. However, more than happy with our dinners in Tokyo. All the info differen snow provided was truly helpful. Thank you for an amzaing trip.