Hokkaido Adventure

Today, your guide will pick you up at your hotel and accompany you on a 1-hour train ride to Otaru, a port city facing the Ishikari Bay and the Sea of Japan. Start by visiting the more than 100-year-old Otaru Canal, the only and the oldest canal in Hokkaido, which was dug by the pioneers who opened up Hokkaido to transport food, clothing, and other necessities. Stroll along the Otaru Canal Walkpass and admire the reflections in the water of the old red-brick warehouses and Victorian-style gas streetlights along the riverbank. Then go down Sakaimachi Street to visit interesting stores and studios, including Kitaichi Glass Studio, the most famous local glass workshop founded in 1901, which makes exquisite kerosene lamps and jade-like glass. Here, you can see not only the exhibition of various glass crafts, but also the manufacturing process.

Then, visit the Otaru Music Box Museum to be amazed by the ornate music boxes in various styles and make a small music box at your own expense if you like. After exploring Otaru Sushi Restaurant Street, we’ll take the Tenguyama Ropeway for views across the city. Finally, your guide will escort you back to your hotel in Sapporo.

► Winter Alternative: If you come to Hokkaido during the snow season from December 1 to April 20 and enjoy skiing, consider changing this day trip to Sapporo Teine Ski Area, Sapporo Kokusai Ski Resort, or Moiwayama Ski Resort if the weather permits. Please contact our travel consultants to customize an itinerary for you.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Sapporo Prince Hotel (4 stars) or similar

In the morning, your tour guide will escort you from your hotel to take a 2-hour train ride to Noboribetsu, where we’ll then take a taxi to the Hell Valley (Jigokudani), an eerie-shaped crater valley formed by melting rock after a volcanic eruption. 

As you see a lot of geothermal steam erupting from cracks in the gray and brown rocks, reminiscent of what one imagines as hell, we’ll visit the Oyunuma Pond and venture deeper to the Little Pond, steaming hot and brimming with sulfur vapor. The hot spring here has a somewhat stinky smell, but it is rich in minerals that offer great health benefits and supplies the hot springs of the surrounding hotels. Then, follow your guide to take the shuttle bus to the River Oyunuma Natural Footbath in the forest, where you can freely enjoy the hot springs with your feet.

After all the visits here, your guide will accompany you back to your hotel in Sapporo.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Sapporo Prince Hotel (4 stars) or similar

► Free independent travel, with hotels and train tickets included.
Today marks the start of your upcoming 3-day self-guided tour. After breakfast, walk 2 minutes from your hotel to Chuo Kuyakusho Mae Station, take the Minami 54 bus for 5 stops (17 minutes) to Sapporo Station, and catch the 1.5-hour express train to Asahikawa. We’ll book your train tickets for the 9:00 departure, arriving at 10:25. Upon arrival, our well-selected hotel is just a 2-minute walk from Asahikawa Station.
* Note: Since you’ll return to Sapporo on the 6th day, you can store your heavy luggage at your hotel to travel light.

► Top Spots to Explore in Asahikawa (at your own expense)
1. Ramen Village: A complex of over 20 ramen restaurants, where you can have a taste of soy sauce ramen, one of the three major ramen styles in Hokkaido.
2. Otokoyama Sake Brewing Museum: A distillery with a history of over 360 years, where the famous sake brand Otokoyama is made. You can learn about Japan’s signature drink, sake, watch workers brew sake in glass booths, and sample different varieties. 
3. Ueno Farm: An English-style garden to appreciate seasonal flowers and garden art.
Opening Season: Late April to Mid-October

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: JR Inn Asahikawa (3 stars) or similar

► Free independent travel, with hotels and train tickets included.
This morning, continue your self-guided tour from Asahikawa to Biei. We’ll book the train tickets for the 8:44 departure, arriving at 9:17. Please arrange your breakfast time and check out accordingly to catch the train.

► Things to Do in Biei (at your own expense)
After a 35-minute train ride, you’ll arrive at Biei, a scenic town famous for its beautiful hills, especially when they are clad with flowers in summer. For your own exploration, it’s recommended to visit Shirogane Blue Pond by a 20-minute taxi ride. Since the water is rich in aluminum hydroxide, its color shifts into shades of blue depending on the season and temperature, creating an atmosphere of mystery. Admiring the peaceful cyan lake, the reflection of the birch forest on the shore, and the dieback remnants in the water, you’ll marvel at this unexpected beauty.

Around noon, remember to return to Biei Station to catch the 40-minute train to Furano, with our reserved tickets for the 12:09 departure and the 12:43 arrival included in the itinerary. When you arrive, your hotel is just a 7-minute walk from Furano Station.

► Activity Ideas for Your Free Time in Furano (at your own expense)
1. Visit Farm Tomita, one of Japan’s oldest flower fields, to see different flowers in spring and summer – saffron in April, daffodils and tulips in May, lavender in June and July, and sunflowers in August. Climb to the top to enjoy views of the Furano Basin and the Tokachi Volcanic Group.
2. Visit Ningle Terrace Craft Market to explore traditional crafts. The charming chalets, serving as workshops or cafes, will surprise you with their creative handmade goods.
3. Visit Furano Winery, known for its red-brick exterior, where you can tour the aging room and production line for free and sample wines made from local grapes.
4. Visit the Cheese Factory to tour the cheese-making process with locally sourced fresh milk and take part in hands-on workshops making dairy products such as butter and ice cream.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: La Vista Furano Hills (4 stars) or similar

► Free independent travel, with hotels and train tickets included.
Today, it’s time to head back to Sapporo on your own. After a short walk from your hotel to Furano Station, you’ll need to take a nearly 1-hour local train ride from 9:28 to 10:25 to Takikawa. Then, transfer to the express train at 11:02, arriving in Sapporo at 11:55, with all the train tickets reserved and included in the itinerary. Upon arrival, make your own way to the hotel where you lived before.

For the rest of the day, consider visiting the Former Hokkaido Government Office, once the administrative center of Hokkaido and now a charming historic landmark with baroque-style red-brick architecture and interior exhibits showcasing Hokkaido’s vicissitudes. As night falls, experience the nightlife on Susukino Street, which rivals Tokyo’s Kabukicho, famous for its wide variety of food, bars, izakayas, and lively neon signs.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Sapporo Prince Hotel (4 stars) or similar

On the last day of your 7-day Hokkaido tour of Japan, please arrange your own transfer to Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport according to your flight time. Wish you a safe return home!

► Hotel to Airport Transfer for Your Reference
1. New Chitose Airport Limousine Bus: 75 minutes, USD 8 per person.
2. Taxi: 60 minutes, USD 120 to 130 per car.

Meals: Breakfast