Hokkaido Adventure

Upon your arrival at the New Chitose Airport of Sapporo, our driver will be ready waiting for you. Board our well-prepared private car for a 1-hour ride to the hotel. Enjoy your free time resting in the highly remarked hotel arranged by us or exploring the neighborhood by yourself.
➤ Tip: Bicycles and snowboards are available for rent in the hotel.

Accommodation: Sapporo Prince Hotel (4 stars) or similar

➤ Note: Our guide will accompany you on a day of eco-friendly travel by public transport as Otaru is easily accessible by train or bus. If you want to upgrade to a private car, please feel free to contact our travel consultants.

After breakfast, our guide will pick you up from the hotel and start a walking tour to the Odori Park. First, walk a few minutes to see the Sapporo Clock Tower, which is low-key that you may ignore it without the guide’s prompt, but it is an authentic historical building of Sapporo, which has been ringing the clock for the city for more than 140 years. Walking towards the red-and-green Sapporo TV Tower, which can be seen from a distance, we’ll arrive at the Odori Park. Enjoy the beautiful scenery of the park that was once the venue for the Olympic marathon.

★ Hands-on Fun: Make Your Own Chocolate Cookies
Next, head to the Shiroi Koibito Park, a factory producing Japan’s smash hit chocolate sandwich cookies – Shiroi Koibito. This is not a stereotypical factory, it is a classic castle in European style, with brightly colored brick walls, spires, and an elegant bell tower, which all make it an Instagram-worthy place. Go inside and see the process of making cookies, or even learn from a dessert master and make cookies or chocolate yourself!In the afternoon, we will go to Otaru, a port city facing the Ishikari Bay and the Sea of Japan. Start by visiting the more than 100 years 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 the Sakaimachi Street to visit interesting stores and studios, including the Kitaichi Glass Otaru, the most famous local glass workshop founded in 1901, making exquisite kerosene lamps and jade-like glass. Here, you can see not only the exhibition of various glass crafts, but also the manufacturing process.

★ Hands-on Fun: Make a Small Music Box
After that, visit the Otaru Music Box Museum. Be amazed by the ornate music boxes in various styles and make your own small music box to take home as a souvenir. Finally, our guide will accompany you back to your hotel in Sapporo.

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

In the morning, our tour guide and the driver will escort you from the hotel for a 1-hour private car ride into the Shikotsu-Toya National Park, which is known as the ‘Museum of Volcanos’. First, follow the guide for a walk along the shores of the Lake Shikotsu. Looking at this calm northernmost ice-free lake in Japan, it is hard to imagine that its banks are full of active volcanoes and it was once a crater 30,000 years ago.

Next, drive 1.5 hours through the Mt. Showa-Shinzan to reach the Mount Usu. Take the Usuzan Ropeway up the mountain, during which you can see the impressive alluvial plain from the Lake Toya to the Osaru River’s estuary. When you reach the top of the mountain, overlook the vast blue Lake Toya from the Usuzan Toyako Observation Deck. If you like, you can also borrow trekking poles for free here and hike a few minutes up to the Usu Volcano Observatory for a higher and more open view, watching the surrounding volcanos spewing white fog every few seconds. After descending, we will continue to drive to the Lake Toya and enjoy the beautiful scenery up close with a cruise by a castle-like sightseeing boat.

Later in the afternoon, we will drive to the Hell Valley (Jigokudani), which is an eery-shaped crater valley formed by melting rock after a volcanic eruption. You’ll see a lot of geothermal steam erupting from cracks in the gray and brown rocks, like what one imagines as hell. Visit the nearby Oyunuma Pond, steaming hot and brimming with sulfur vapor. The hot spring here smells some stinky, but it is rich in minerals that have great health benefits and supply the hot springs of the surrounding hotels.

★ Accommodation Upgrade: Onsen Hotel with Dinner
You will spend the night in Noboribetsu, and we have selected a highly rated hotel for you. After our guide and the driver accompany you to the hotel, rest and have a Janpanese-style dinner before taking a dip in the hotel’s indoor or outdoor hot springs, where the hydrogen sulphide water is great for relaxing. Enjoy your soak, and good night!

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodation: Noboribetsu Grand Hotel (4 stars) or similar

Today, our tour guide and private car with driver will continue to serve you. After breakfast, we will drive 3 hours to Furano, which is full of beautiful woodlands and hills. First, visit the Ningle Terrace, a small market for traditional crafts located in the woods. Step into the exquisite chalets, each a workshop or cafe, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by a kaleidoscope of creative handmade goods. Next, we’ll visit the Farm Tomita, one of the oldest flower fields in Japan, where you can see different flowers in different seasons - saffron in April, daffodils and tulips in May, lavender in June and July, sunflowers in August... Climb to the top of the flower field, you can see the scenery of the Furano Basin, as well as the Tokachi Volcanic Group.

In the afternoon, drive past the Panorama Road on the way to Biei. Let’s stay for a moment and take a super expansive landscape shot with excellent composition. After arriving in Biei, visit the Shikisai Hill. Every year from April to October, you can see more than 30 kinds of flowers here such as tulips, lavender and sunflowers, making the hill look like a rainbow carpet from a distance. From December to March, the vast flower gardens turn into a snowfield that offers fun winter activities such as snowmobiling and sledding. Next, visit the nearby Takushinkan, a small hidden gem museum that looks unremarkable, but its collection of photographs shows the beauty of Biei captured by many masters of photography and artists. Later, drive to the Shirogane Blue Pond, an artificial lake that was originally dammed to prevent lahar from reaching nearby areas. The water rich in aluminum hydroxide is deposited here, which takes on different shades of blue in different seasons and temperatures, creating an atmosphere of mystery. Admiring the quiet cyan lake, the reflection of the birch forest on the shore, and the dieback remnants in the water, you will marvel at this unexpected beauty. After a short hike and stay at the lake, return to our private car for the 1-hour journey to your hotel in Asahikawa.

➤ Winter Alternative: If you come to Hokkaido during the snow season, consider changing this day trip for Furano Ski Resort or Hoshino Resorts Tomamu ski area. Please contact our travel consultants to customize an itinerary for you.

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

After breakfast, our guide will take you to visit the Otokoyama Sake Brewing Museum and learn about the signature of Japan – the sake. Take a look at this distillery with a history of more than 360 years, from which the famous sake brand Otokoyama is produced. The snow water of the Mount Tokachi flows through Asahikawa, carrying rich minerals, together with good terrain and moderate climate, creating good conditions for brewing. Watch the workers make sake in glass booths, and sample different varieties of sake, sweet or spicy, to brighten up your day. Next, go to the Ueno Farm for flowers and garden art.
➤ Tip: If it is not the season for flower viewing, we’ll visit the Asahikawa Ramen Village instead.

Our guide and the driver will then accompany you on a 2.5-hour private car ride back to Sapporo. Upon arrival, head to the Former Hokkaido Government Office, a baroque red brick building established in 1888. See the exhibition inside to learn about Hokkaido’s vicissitudes through documents and cultural relics. Finally, check out the Susukino Street. Take a guided tour of the most bustling business district in the city center before being escorted to the hotel, or you can enjoy free time here until the evening and return to the hotel on your own (6 minutes by taxi, or 18 minutes on foot). The commercial and entertainment atmosphere of Susukino will not disappoint you, and a variety of restaurants, bars, izakayas, and clubs will make your last night in Hokkaido perfect.

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

After breakfast, please make your own way to the New Chitose Airport of Sapporo according to your flight time. Wish you a safe return home!

Meals: Breakfast

➤ Ways from Sapporo Prince Hotel to New Chitose Airport: (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.