Your Travel Experience with ARRIVAL
Day 1
Tokyo. Godzilla. One Very Long Welcome Dinner.
Land in Tokyo and make your way to Hotel Gracery Shinjuku via train or taxi. This is the hotel with a life-sized Godzilla head peering over Kabukicho. You have not accidentally walked onto a film set. This is genuinely where we are staying. Check in, lose the flight clothes and meet the full ARRIVAL crew for the included welcome dinner at a local Tokyo restaurant. Food and drinks will be flowing on an all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink menu. This is where the trip properly begins: names to faces, first-night energy and the realisation that everyone has brought at least one piece of snow gear they do not know how to use. Dinner is the only formal plan. Shinjuku can handle the rest. Follow the lights, find a tiny bar, attempt to locate the hotel again and remember that you’ve got a full day to explore tomorrow.
Day 1 - 3
Hotel Gracery Shinjuku
The Godzilla Hotel. Hotel Gracery Shinjuku rises over Kabukicho with a life-sized Godzilla head installed on its eighth-floor terrace, complete with scheduled roars and lights. It is playful, unmistakably Tokyo and very easy to spot after a long flight which is the best part. The location is the real win. Shinjuku Station is within walking distance, and the streets outside are packed with izakayas, ramen counters, bars, arcades and late-night food. Shibuya, Harajuku and the rest of central Tokyo are straightforward by train. You can land, check in and immediately be in the thick of the city. Rooms in Tokyo are compact because Tokyo is compact. Expect modern, comfortable rooms in an unbeatable position, in twin room, double room and triple room configurations. We'll pair you with someone of the same gender if you’re solo travelling.
Day 1
ARRIVAL Welcome Dinner, Tokyo
A local Tokyo restaurant, an all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink menu and the whole crew around one table before anyone has put on a ski boot. The venue and exact menu are being finalised. Come hungry. Leave knowing who you are sharing the next six nights with.
Day 2
Free Day to Explore Tokyo
The day is yours. Cross Shibuya with several thousand strangers. Walk Harajuku before lunch. Hunt vinyl in Shimokitazawa. Eat downstairs in a department store. Find the ramen place with six stools and no menu. Spend three hours in Don Quijote (a popular Japanese discount store) and come out holding seventeen things that were not on a list. Pick a neighbourhood, follow your appetite and let Tokyo derail the plan. Tonight, there is optional karaoke with the crew. It is not included but very recommended. Someone will still choose a seven-minute song and expect full support. Your second night is back at Hotel Gracery Shinjuku.
Tokyo, Your Way
Tokyo is deliberately left open for you to explore. Shibuya and Harajuku are obvious. So are the record shops of Shimokitazawa, the food halls beneath department stores, tiny coffee shops, old-school kissaten, arcades and whichever unmarked restaurant has a line of locals outside. ARRIVAL will have recommendations and lead you in the right direction without anybody following a flag.
Karaoke (Optional)
A private-room karaoke night with the ARRIVAL crew. Prime bonding opportunity, just make sure you save enough voice for Snow Machine. This is payable on the day should you wish to sing your lungs out.
Day 3
Tokyo to Hakuba Group Transfer
The crew travels together from Tokyo into the Japanese Alps. Transport from Tokyo to Nagano is by Shinkansen and charter coaches, both included. From Nagano, the group will board charter coaches for the journey to the Hakuba hotel. This is where the real hype and party begins, the whole gang travelling towards the mountains together.
Neon Out. We’re heading to the Japanese Alps.
Check out and meet the ARRIVAL crew for the trip north to Hakuba. This is the scene change: Shinjuku's towers thin out, the horizon opens and then the Japanese Alps appear through the window. Transport is included, with guests boarding from Tokyo Train station. You will need to make your own way to Tokyo train station (about a 30 minute train ride) to meet with an ARRIVAL representative to get your ticket. Train Details: Kagayaki 509: 10:22 Tokyo Station, arriving 11:41 at Nagano Station. From Nagano you’ll transfer to coach buses to complete the journey to the Alps Hakuba Hotel. Arrive at The Alps Hotel Hakuba and check in with your crew. This is the hotel's first winter after a ground-up renovation, and the full ARRIVAL crew is staying here together. Drop your bags and do the standard tour of the hotel: slopes outside, onsen downstairs, bar facing the mountain.
Day 3 - 8
The Alps Hotel Hakuba
This hotel is not just where we sleep. This is an entire village in itself. The original Hakuba Alps Hotel opened in 1971. In April 2026, there was an eight-month transformation of its rooms and shared spaces before reopening it as The Alps Hotel Hakuba in December 2026. ARRIVAL arrives in the first season: fresh rooms, rebuilt public spaces and 55 years of mountain history underneath it. The hotel sits directly on Hakuba Norikura Onsen Ski Resort with true ski-in, ski-out access and Cortina linked beyond it. While other groups spend breakfast checking shuttle stops, we step outside and ski. The location also puts us at the quieter northern end of the valley, with the bigger southern resorts and Snow Machine's Main Arena reached by planned transport organised by ARRIVAL. Inside is a natural bicarbonate onsen, an earthen-walled sauna, spa with jacuzzi and cascading bath, and a heated outdoor pool running through winter. THE ALPINE TABLE serves a Japanese and Western breakfast buffet using Shinshu produce, plus mountain-friendly lunches and dinners. The Ridge bar faces the slopes with burgers, coffee, whisky, cocktails and après. Then there are karaoke rooms, darts, billiards, shuffleboard and a jukebox for anyone who’s the ringleader of their group. If you’re solo travelling and are happy to be in a bunk room, we’ll put you with people of the same gender.
Day 4 - 7
Hakuba Valley Skiing and Snowboarding
Four day Hakuba Valley lift pass, with access to 10 resorts across the valley, including Happo-One, linked riding at Hakuba 47 and Goryu, wide slopes at Tsugaike, ridgeline views at Iwatake and the trees around Norikura and Cortina directly outside the hotel Choose the terrain that suits you: wide beginner runs, long groomers, Olympic pistes, alpine bowls and tree-lined powder terrain across ten resorts. Lessons and equipment hire can be arranged separately.
Snow Machine On-Mountain Après
DJs play across selected mountain venues from late morning Wednesday to Saturday. Published festival resorts have included Goryu, Happo-One, Iwatake and Tsugaike. Some stages are ski-in, ski-out; others may be reachable without riding. Think mid-slope après-ski dancefloors where international DJs perform electronic dance music, disco brunches from 11am, bluebird days, and afterparties, with surprise sets running late into the night.
The Alps Onsen, Sauna and Pool
No better way to have a quick wind-down than back at the Alps Hotel. Float in their heated outdoor pool overlooking the mountains, enjoy the natural hot spring onsen, sauna and spa facilities. Use them after skiing, before the arena or the next morning when your legs have caved in.
Day 4
First Tracks. First Mountain Stage.
Breakfast is included downstairs. Load up your plate with a traditional Japanese or Western breakfast. Then, boots on and straight outside. Hakuba Norikura begins at the hotel and links into Cortina, giving the crew immediate access to groomers, tree-lined terrain and the kind of snow people book Japan for. If another resort is firing, the wider valley opens Happo-One, Hakuba 47, Goryu, Iwatake, Tsugaike and more. By late morning, Snow Machine starts doing the thing no ordinary festival can: putting DJs up the mountain. Ski or ride between sets. Stack boards in the snow. Dance in goggles. Look around occasionally and remember the stage is sitting in the Japanese Alps. As the lifts stop, head back to The Alps for an onsen, sauna or tactical lie-down. Eat at the hotel or nearby. Daily shuttles run between the hotel and the festival (Tsugaike -10min shuttle, Happo - 30min shuttle, Goryu - 40min shuttle, Happo - 30 mins shuttle), and when the last bus drops you home, we're kicking on, back at the hotel bar. The last shuttle is at 11pm - don’t miss this, there are no Ubers nearby.
Day 5
Pick a Mountain. Find the Main Arena stage later.
Breakfast. Snow report. Group chat. A mildly competitive discussion about where the best conditions are. Today is made for exploring. Happo-One has the huge alpine face and Olympic history. Hakuba 47 and Goryu link into a broad day of runs. Iwatake has ridgeline views. Tsugaike brings wide terrain and its own festival energy. Norikura and Cortina keep the powder hunt close to home. Follow the snow, your ability and whichever stage has pulled the best time slot. Après starts on the mountain. One minute you are discussing a run; the next, somebody is dancing in ski boots with both poles still attached. This is normal here. Back at The Alps: onsen, heated pool, sauna, dinner. The Alpine Table restaurant serves regional Shinshu produce and proper mountain food, while The Ridge handles burgers, light plates, coffee and drinks facing the slopes. Then the Main Arena stage opens up: a full-scale night festival experience with massive crowds and headlining acts, against dramatic alpine scenery… say less. Daily shuttles run between the hotel and the festival (Tsugaike -10min shuttle, Happo - 30min shuttle, Goryu - 40min shuttle, Main arena - 20 mins shuttle), and when the last bus drops you home, we're kicking on, back at the hotel bar. The last shuttle is at 11pm - don’t miss this, there are no Ubers nearby.
Day 5 - 7
Snow Machine Main Arena
Three nights, Thursday through Saturday, across two stages near Happo Village. The General Admission pass includes all three nights. Food and drinks are available inside, and Snow Machine operates cashlessly. Party with your crew alongside the featured lineup for 2027: KETTAMA, Patrick Topping, Wilkinson, Luude, TOKiMONSTA, Elderbrook DJ Set, Sneaky Sound System, Kanine, STÜM, Sam Alfred, Arielle Free, Erika, HANA, Justice Patterson, Kaiharubro, Lovebirds, MPH, Rebūke, Risa Taniguchi, Torren Foot, William Kiss, Yuuki Yoshiyama and Zedena. More names, stage splits and set times are still coming.
Day 6
Another mountain day. Absolutely No Half-Assing.
Go back to the run you cannot stop talking about. Chase a resort you have not reached. Sleep a little longer and join the crew at Snow Machine après stage. Sit in the heated outdoor pool with snow around you and claim it counts as recovery. Snow Machine's on-mountain sets run through the day before the whole valley tips into the Main Arena second night. House, techno, drum and bass, disco and electronic acts across two stages, with the mountains behind them and the ARRIVAL crew together. If you’re calling it a day, there’s drinks back at the hotel bar till late. Daily shuttles run between the hotel and the festival (Tsugaike -10min shuttle, Happo - 30min shuttle, Goryu - 40min shuttle, Main arena - 20 mins shuttle), and when the last bus drops you home, we're kicking on, back at the hotel bar. The last shuttle is at 11pm - don’t miss this, there are no Ubers nearby.
Day 7
Last full day on the mountain. Time to send it.
The last full day has one job: send off the trip properly. Complete your fave runs, and then join us for the final day of Snow Machine après, followed by the final night at the main arena. This is a chance to send off the week properly with the entire ARRIVAL crew. Daily shuttles run between the hotel and the festival (Tsugaike -10min shuttle, Happo - 30min shuttle, Goryu - 40min shuttle, Main arena - 20 mins shuttle), and when the last bus drops you home, we're kicking on, back at the hotel bar. The last shuttle is at 11pm - don’t miss this, there are no Ubers nearby.
Day 8
One Last Onsen. Then Somehow Pack.
Breakfast is included. Get up early enough for one final soak, then face the surprisingly technical task of fitting damp snow gear back into the bag it arrived in. The trip finishes after check-out at 10am from The Alps Hotel Hakuba, and you make your way to wherever your journey leads you next. Seven nights ago, most of the group had not met. Now you’re heading home with new mates. Tokyo feels like a loooong time ago. Monday approaching feels offensive.