Overview
A seven day, self-guided cultural adventure on Japan’s second largest island of Hokkaido in winter. This trip is an immersion into the cultural heritage of the indigenous Ainu people, the natural heritage of Akan-Mashu and Shiretoko National Parks with some stupendous birdwatching included. This winter tour also includes two guided snowshoeing excursions, with no previous experience required, and there is also plenty of time for winter onsen experiences, with several nights in traditional ryokans. Starting in Kushiro and finishing in Abashiri, this is the perfectly-crafted itinerary for experiencing the blissful atmosphere of Hokkaido in winter. Breakfast and most dinners are included in the price of this tour.
- Lake Akan
- Shiretoko National Park
- Ainu culture
- Akan-Mashu National Park
- Guided snowshoeing
- Akan International Crane Center
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive in Kushiro
Arrive into Kushiro Airport and travel to central Kushiro using the shuttle bus for your first evening on the island of Hokkaido. Kushiro is an ideal location from which to begin exploring eastern Hokkaido. Depending on your arrival time, there may be an opportunity to explore Kushiro town and try the local cuisine, especially the fresh seafood, at one of Kushiro’s signature robatayaki grill restaurants.
- Accommodation: western-style hotel ANA Crowne Plaza Kushiro or similar in Kushiro
Day 2: Akan International Crane Center and Akanko Onsen
Start the day with a visit to Akan International Crane Center to see wild red-crowned cranes, known as tancho in Japanese, then head to a local museum nearby to learn more about these majestic birds, which are known for their expressive courtship dance. In the afternoon, travel by bus to Akan-Mashu National Park, one of six national parks in Hokkaido and home to the largest settlement of indigenous Ainu people. Arrive at your onsen accommodation for the evening. After dinner, there’s a chance to attend an Ainu ritual dance and music performance, an artform that’s on the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
- Accommodation: Japanese-style hotel Lake Akan Tsuruga WINGS or similar in Akanko Onsen
- Meals: breakfast, dinner
Day 3: Lake Akan
Start the day with a visit to the village of Lake Akan Ainu Kotan, and the nearby Lake Akan Eco Museum Center (open daily except Tuesdays). Here, you can gain a deeper understanding of Akan’s landmark volcanoes, Mount Oakan and Mount Meakan, as well as Lake Akan and Lake Onneto, together with the bokke bubbling mud area. Return to your onsen accommodation for a second night.
- Accommodation: Japanese-style hotel Lake Akan Tsuruga WINGS or similar in Akanko Onsen
- Meals: breakfast, dinner
Please note: for those seeking a more active outdoor winter experience, we can pre-book an optional guided cross-country skiing tour of approximately five hours around the national park. Transfers, cross-country skis, lunch and walking poles are all included in the price. Ski on frozen Lake Akan and reach a small island that’s surrounded by volcanoes Take a break to have a lake-top lunch. Minimum two participants
Day 4: Lake Mashu and Lake Kussharo
You are transferred to Lake Mashu. Take in the views of the crater lake that’s famous for its crystal-clear water within the caldera of an ancient volcano. Spend part of your day snowshoeing with a guide, exploring areas not typically reachable by a standard hike. After your snowshoeing activity, stay overnight at a traditional ryokan in the small town of Kawayu Onsen, which has some of the most famous geothermal waters of Hokkaido. Please note: if there is no availability in Kawayu Onsen, tonight’s accommodation will be at Lake Ainu Kotan Village for a stay in a local Ainu-run inn overlooking Lake Kussharo.
- Accommodation: onsen ryokan Suikazura or similar in Kawayu Onsen
- Meals: breakfast, dinner
Day 5: Utoro Onsen
Start the day by taking a local train and bus to Utoro Onsen with views across the Sea of Okhotsk as you travel along the Shiretoko Peninsula, one of Japan’s most remote regions. Between late January and March, floating drift ice from Siberia can be seen along the coast. The peninsula is also a bird watcher’s paradise with approximately 275 species spotted during the year, and in winter months the endangered Steller’s sea eagles may even make an appearance. Later in the day, we recommend a visit to the Shiretoko World Heritage Centre to learn more about the region.
- Accommodation: Japanese-style hotel Kitakobushi Shiretoko Hotel or similar in Utoro
- Meals: breakfast, dinner
Day 6: Shiretoko National Park
Today’s adventure is a guided snowshoeing walk around Shiretoko National Park, through ancient forest, to the frozen Furepe Waterfall. En route, you have panoramic views of the Shiretoko Mountains and Sea of Okhotsk. For keen wildlife spotters, keep an eye out for Hokkaido’s Yezo deer, red foxes, squirrels and white-tailed or Steller’s sea eagles. Transfers, snowshoes and walking poles are provided for the walk of around 6km (5.5h) and no previous experience of snowshoeing is required.
Please note: between February and late March, it is possible to undertake a specialised guided snowshoe walk to the pristine snow-covered Shiretoko Five Lakes with views of the surrounding mountains and Sea of Okhotsk, including the option to walk on drift-ice along the Shiretoko coast.
- Accommodation: Japanese-style hotel Kitakobushi Shiretoko Hotel or similar in Utoro
- Meals: breakfast, dinner
Day 7: Departure
After breakfast, travel by bus and local train to Abashiri, arriving in the early afternoon. If departing on an evening flight, you may wish to visit the Museum of Northern Peoples in Abashiri to learn more about the Ainu and other tribes inhabiting the northern territories. With a history stretching back over 2,000 years to the time of their arrival in Hokkaido from Siberia, the Ainu are indigenous to both Japan and Russia.
From Abashiri, take a bus (30mins) to Memanbestsu Airport for your flight.
- Meals: breakfast
What to expect
Accommodation
Accommodation on this tour includes a mix of hotels and traditional ryokans. Ryokans are traditional Japanese-style inns. They may be in modern concrete or older wooden buildings, but the rooms are always in the Japanese style with tatami (straw) matting and futon bedding. At a ryokan, the futons are laid out for you in the evening. Dinners are served together, usually in the dining room, and are exquisitely prepared multi-course meals. Some ryokans have en-suite bathrooms, although older buildings generally offer shared facilities. Smaller inns offer normal baths used privately in turn by guests; larger inns offer communal spa-style baths, segregated by gender. Read more in our blog: A guide to Japanese baths and onsen etiquette. Please note that, in Japan, it is common for accommodations to have twin rooms rather than double. If you prefer a double bed, we will happily request this at time of booking, however it can’t always be guaranteed.
Click to view example accommodations
- ANA Crowne Plaza Kushiro (Kushiro)
- Lake Akan Tsuruga WINGS (Akanko Onsen)
- Suikazura (Kawayu Onsen)
- Kitakobushi Shiretoko Hotel (Utoro)
Hotels are subject to availability. In the event of a particular hotel being fully booked for your chosen dates, we will replace it with a hotel of equal value and quality level. We will provide exact accommodation details to you upon booking confirmation.
Meals
All breakfasts and five dinners are included, with superb Japanese cuisine. Vegetarian options are available, but limited. Strict vegetarian diets, vegan or gluten-free diets will be difficult to accommodate due to the pervasiveness of the fish-based stock dashi and the use of soy sauce and miso in Japanese cuisine.
Difficulty and terrain
This is an easy tour, accessible to people of all levels of fitness. The active part of the trip is easy and accessible, with an average of three to five hours of walking (read more about difficulty grades).
When to go
This holiday is available from mid-January to mid-March. The flexibility of self-guided holidays means that there are no fixed dates, and you can start your holiday on any date in the season – so please indicate desired beginning date when booking.
Please note that travel during the end of year holidays may incur supplements of up to 20%. We will only pass along to you the actual supplement charged to us by the accommodation, and we do not mark these up. For more information, see our blog on the Best time to go to Japan.
Getting there
Click to view travel options
By plane
Our recommended airport for arrival is Tancho Kushiro Airport (KUH), and the recommended airport for departure is Memanbetsu Airport (MMB).
By train or bus
- Tancho Kushiro Airport is well connected with domestic flights from Haneda Airport in Tokyo and New Chitose Airport in Sapporo
- Memanbetsu Airport is well connected with domestic flights to Haneda Airport in Tokyo, New Chitose Airport in Sapporo, Kansai Airport (KIX) in Osaka and Chubu Centrair Airport in Nagoya.
Inclusions
Included
- Accommodation for six nights
- Six breakfasts and five dinners
- Tickets to an Ainu traditional dance performance
- Transfers and train tickets where required
- Two snowshoeing experiences with fully-trained local instructors
- Detailed day-by-day itinerary
- 24/7 phone assistance by our local office/representative
Excluded
- Airfare to and from Japan
- Airport transfers
- Lunches, drinks and snacks
- Local bus journeys
- Luggage transfers
- Travel insurance (required – get a quote online)
- Entrance fees to museums, temples etc.
- Please pay locally for the bus journeys
- Personal expenses
- Local tourist taxes and entry fees (payable on-site)
- Any items not explicitly listed as included
- eSIM data for international travel (get an eSIM)
Options, extras and supplements
- If you’re travelling in a group, a supplement applies to group members who would like to have a room of their own
- This holiday is available for solo travellers. However, a supplement will be charged as the cost of rooms and also luggage or private transfers (when applicable) is not shared. Please note that solo travellers are always accommodated in their own room. For logistical reasons, we don’t offer an option for solo travellers to share rooms with other solo travellers.
- Cross-country skiing tour on day three
Baggage transfers
As well as the optional daily luggage transfers that can be requested at the time of booking, you can also opt for Japan’s very efficient Takkyubin Courier service, which you pay for locally. (Takkyubin is the brand name of the best-known service provider.) These services are secure, efficient and economical, typically around ¥5,000 (approx. €30, £25, $33) per bag per transfer, depending on the size or the bag. The sent luggage does not re-join you each night; it is waiting for you at the accommodation where you stay at a night or two later on. You carry overnight essentials in your daypack for the intervening nights.
Takkyubin does not need to be arranged in advance. You arrange and pay for the service yourself in Japan, usually with help from the concierge of your hotel or inn. Some smaller local hotels and inns may not offer the service, but they will direct you to the nearest location where the service is available – a local convenience store, for example.
Please note: travelling light on the trails is easy. All inns provide cotton yukata gowns and slippers for you to wear after arrival for dining, relaxing in your room, exploring outside and sleeping. They also provide small towels, soap, shampoo and hairdryers. You don’t need a complete change of clothing for the evening, so it is possible to manage with just a medium daypack to carry overnight essentials. Takkyubin may be a novel experience for clients who have walked self-guided in other parts of the world, but it works wonderfully well in Japan.
Takkyubin allows you to travel throughout Japan without having to handle your main luggage. You can avoid carrying your bags on trains and buses, where luggage space is often limited, or through busy railway stations. The only disadvantage is that you are without your main bag for one or more nights while it is in transit.
