Japan Tours Itinerary
Winter Snow Festival +
tour to japan – 15 Nights
February 2023
$7845.00 per person Twin share
Japanese Winter Snow Festivals
Hokkaido, an area of 83454 square kilometres, is the most northern of all the Japanese islands. Hokkaido is known for its steaming volcanoes, natural hot springs (onsen), magnificent ski areas and the two largest snow festivals in Japan – one in Sapporo and one in Asahikawa.
This tour takes you on an exciting adventure across Hokkaido to both snow festivals where you can experience the peaceful serenity of standing out in falling snow, the romance of walking along lantern-lit canals or simply be in awe of some of the most amazing and enormous snow carvings and ice sculptures you have ever seen. From its snow-covered volcanic peaks and dense forests to the snow sculptures, snow stages, snow caves, ice skating, horse drawn sleighs or awesome ice bars, the scenery in this winter wonderland of Hokkaido will take your breath away and should not be missed.
Included in the Japanese Winter Snow festival tour
All Accommodation
All Light Lunches
All Breakfasts
All transportation within Japan
All Tour Guides & Entrance Fees
24/7 Help and support whilst in Japan
Day 1 – Sapporo
Morning: Depart Australia and fly to Tokyo
Afternoon: Arrive Haneda Airport at 19.00
Evening: At your Leisure
Fly direct to Haneda arriving at approximately 7pm. Overnight Haneda ready for an early start tomorrow.
Day 2 – Sapporo
Morning: Sapporo
Afternoon: Moriyama Ski Jump Park
Evening: Sususkino
Today starts with an early flight to Chitose airport, Hokkaido, where we will catch the train to Sapporo. Once you have dropped your bags at the hotel, we will start with a cold weather orientation and a quick tour of the Sapporo area before visiting the international ski-jump arena. Here we’ll ride the chairlift to the observation deck to look out over the 90m high ski-jump, visit the winter sports museum (to see memorabilia from the 1972 Winter Olympics), browse the history of snow sports and have some fun on the snow sports simulators. We will head back into Sapporo and Sussuskino for dinner and a look at the ice sculptures before returning to the hotel.
Day 3 – Jozankei
All Day: Jozankei
Evening: Odori Park
After breakfast, we take a private bus to the onsen town of Jozankei in the mountains just outside of Sapporo. Here we will visit the Hoheikyo Onsen, a large open-air natural hot-spring bath designed purely for the comfort and relaxation of the bathers. Here you can spend the day comfortably bathing yourself amongst the 1000 tons of landscaped rock garden of these open-air baths, in the snow, allowing you to melt into your own satisfying and relaxing world. There is also a fabulous Indian restaurant onsite or you may prefer to just chill in the relaxation areas. When we arrive back in Sapporo, we will go to Odori Park for your first look at the snow festival by night.
Day 4 – Sapporo
Morning: Sapporo,
Afternoon: Moerenmu park
Evening: Tsudome Park snow festival
After breakfast, we will head to Moerenuma Park, the perfect place to try snow-shoeing, tobogganing or cross-country skiing for beginners followed by a trip to the famous Royce Chocolate factory. Then, we head back to Tsudome park, the second of Sapporo snow festival sites.
Day 5 – Sapporo
Morning: Sapporo, Yoichi
Afternoon: Yoichi, Otaru
Evening: Otaru
After breakfast, we will explore the underground shopping city of Sapporo. Known for its underground shopping malls Sapporo boasts over 200 shops and restaurants and we’ll stop here for lunch. Next, we visit the small town of Yoichi, home to the Nikka Whiskey Distillery, built in 1934 and one of Japan’s top whisky distilleries. With its historic old buildings and working distillery you can see all the stages involved in distilling whisky and sample some of the finished product. Next, we head to the small coastal town of Otaru for the Snow Path Light Festival and old town with it’s many different types of shops and magical Music-Box Museum.
Day 6 – Sapporo
Morning: Barato River Ice Fishing
Afternoon: Barato River Ice Fishing
Evening: Mount Moiwa night view
After breakfast, we will head to the Barato river and set up to try ice fishing. Your guide will meet you at the river and explain what you need to do. Be careful – it is freezing cold but a fun experience.
Day 7 – Sapporo
All Day: Free time
Evening: Free time
Today is a free day for you to explore as you would like. Relax in the hotel, explore the local area, for those that want, you can always return to Hoheikyo Onsen at Jozankei, or re-visit Odori park.
Day 8 – Asahikawa
Morning: Travel to Asahikawa
Afternoon: Tokiwa park
Evening: International Ice Carving
This morning we take an 80-minute train ride through the countryside heading to Asahikawa to see Japans second largest winter festival. On arrival, we’ll drop our bags at the hotel and visit the beautiful Tokiwa Park, known for its peace and tranquillity, on the way to the main festival site to see the amazing snow sculptures and huge snow stage before heading back to see the artisans creating the most spectacular ice carvings.
Day 9 – Daisetsuzan
Morning: Daisetsuzan National Park
Afternoon: Sounkyo Onsen
Evening: Ice Pavillion
Today starts with a scenic trip into the mountains to the beautiful Sounkyo Onsen in the Daisetsuzan National Park, a gorgeous unspoilt wilderness where deer roam free. On arrival (weather permitting) we will take the cable car to the top of the mountains to explore the most beautiful and serene Daietsuzan national park in all of its unspoilt wilderness before we will head over to the Ice Pavillion, a man-made ice structure that features glorious illuminated ice caves built around a fast-flowing stream. Later, we will head back to the hotel and a relaxing evening.
Day 12 – Sapporo/Tokyo
Morning: Free time
Afternoon: Free time
Evening: Tokyo
Today is a free day before we take the evening train to Chitose Airport for the flight to Tokyo. Today is an opportunity for a last look around the snow festival. before we catch a flight to Haneda, in Tokyo.
Day 13 – Tokyo
Morning: Depart for Australia
Today is a last opportunity for duty free before we depart on our flight back to Australia arriving in Sydney around 8:00pm