Hokkaido: Sapporo, Furano lavender and Shiretoko

Arrive in Sapporo

New Chitose Airport to your hotel in central Sapporo

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Sapporo
• Environ 1 h de route

Soir

In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short walk: along Odori Park, past the wooden Clock Tower of 1878 and up to the TV Tower end of the park, while you hear how the week is paced. Then we sit down to a welcome dinner of Genghis Khan, the Hokkaido dish of lamb and vegetables grilled at the table on a domed iron pan, with a cold local beer if you like.

Compris

• Pick-up at New Chitose Airport (CTS)
• Evening orientation walk: Odori Park and the Clock Tower
• Welcome Genghis Khan lamb dinner

Otaru by the sea, then the beer museum

Sapporo to Otaru by train and back, then the Sapporo Beer Museum

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Sapporo
• En train

Matin

By half past nine we are walking the Otaru Canal, finished in 1923 and lined with stone warehouses from the years when this was Hokkaido's main trading port, while it is still quiet; the day coaches and cruise passengers arrive later in the morning. Your guide then leads us along Sakaimachi Street, past the glass workshops and old merchant houses, to the Otaru Music Box Museum in its 1912 building.

Après-midi

Lunch is sushi in Otaru, where the fish comes straight off the boats. We are back in Sapporo by mid-afternoon for the Sapporo Beer Museum, in a red-brick factory of 1890, and a tasting set of three beers.

Soir

The evening is free: ride the ropeway up Mount Moiwa for the night view, or try a bowl of miso ramen, Sapporo's own.

Compris

• Return JR train to Otaru
• Guided walk along the Otaru Canal and Sakaimachi Street
• Otaru Music Box Museum
• Sushi lunch in Otaru
• Sapporo Beer Museum with a tasting set

Activités en option

• Mount Moiwa ropeway for the night view over Sapporo

Into the Furano valley and the lavender

Sapporo to Farm Tomita in Nakafurano, then Furano

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Furano
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

After breakfast our own vehicle takes the group north-east out of Sapporo and over into the Furano valley, about 130 km and two and a quarter hours with a coffee stop. Our first stop is Farm Tomita, whose lavender helped make this valley famous; from about early to mid July the purple rows run up the slope beside bands of red poppies, white baby's breath and orange California poppies, and outside lavender season the other flower fields still carry the colour. Entry is free.

Après-midi

Lunch is in Furano, perhaps the local curry served with an omelette. In the afternoon we visit the Furano Cheese Factory and the hillside Furano Winery, then check in for two nights in Furano. The rest of the day is yours.

Soir

As the light goes, walk up to the Ningle Terrace, a lane of small craft cabins in the forest whose lamps come on at dusk.

Compris

• Farm Tomita lavender and flower fields
• Lunch in Furano
• Furano Cheese Factory
• Furano Winery

The Blue Pond and the hills of Biei

Furano to Shirogane and the Biei hills, then back to Furano

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Furano
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

The pond was made by a mud-flow barrier after the 1988 eruption of Tokachidake, and minerals from the volcano turn its water a milky blue around the drowned larch trunks; early in the morning the surface is often still and the car park nearly empty. Nearby, the Shirahige Falls pour out of the rock face into the Biei River gorge. Then we drive the rolling farmland of Biei, where wheat, potatoes and flowers are planted in stripes across the hills: the Shikisai-no-Oka flower garden, the viewpoints of the Patchwork Road and the single trees that became famous from advertisements in the 1970s.

Après-midi

We are back in Furano after an early lunch in Biei, which is on you, and the afternoon is free for a nap, a bath or a walk in town.

Compris

• Shirogane Blue Pond in the early morning
• Shirahige Falls
• Shikisai-no-Oka flower garden
• The Patchwork Road viewpoints in Biei

Activités en option

• Hire a bicycle in Biei for the Patchwork Road (e-bikes available)

Up Asahidake, down to Sounkyo

Furano to the Asahidake ropeway, then Sounkyo Onsen

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Sounkyo Onsen
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is on you at Asahidake Onsen. In the afternoon we drive round the mountains to Sounkyo, about an hour and a half, a gorge of basalt columns with the Ginga and Ryusei waterfalls dropping side by side down its walls.

Soir

We stay one night at an onsen hotel there: a long soak, then a Japanese-style dinner with the group.

Compris

• Asahidake ropeway, up and down
• Sugatami Pond loop with your guide
• Ginga and Ryusei waterfalls
• Onsen dinner in Sounkyo

Across to the Okhotsk coast and Shiretoko

Sounkyo over the Sekihoku Pass to Kitami and Shari, then Utoro

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Utoro
• Environ 4 h de route

Après-midi

We leave after breakfast over the Sekihoku Pass and across the onion and wheat farms around Kitami, then reach the Sea of Okhotsk for a sit-down lunch on the coast near Shari. The last stretch follows the shore to the Oshinkoshin Falls, which drop about 30 m beside the road, and on to Utoro, the small fishing town at the gate of the Shiretoko Peninsula, listed by UNESCO in 2005. In the late afternoon we walk from the Shiretoko Nature Center through the forest to the Furepe Falls, where groundwater pours straight out of a cliff into the sea, and look out for sika deer on the meadow.

Soir

Dinner is at our hotel; Utoro has few restaurants.

Compris

• Sit-down lunch on the Okhotsk coast
• Oshinkoshin Falls
• Shiretoko Nature Center and the Furepe Falls walk
• Dinner at the hotel in Utoro

Five Lakes at opening and a boat under the cliffs

Utoro to the Shiretoko Five Lakes, then a boat along the peninsula

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Utoro
• Environ 30 min de route

Après-midi

Lunch is in Utoro. At 2:45 pm we board a sightseeing boat out of Utoro harbour for about 90 minutes along cliffs that no road reaches, to the Kamuiwakka Falls and back, watching the shore for bears, eagles and seabirds.

Soir

We are back on land by about a quarter past four, and the evening is free before dinner at the hotel.

Compris

• Shiretoko Five Lakes at the 8 am opening, with a registered nature guide
• Lunch in Utoro
• Shiretoko sightseeing cruise from Utoro to the Kamuiwakka Falls and back, about 90 minutes (2:45 pm sailing)
• Dinner at the hotel in Utoro

Volcano lakes to Lake Akan

Utoro to Io-zan, Lake Kussharo and Lake Mashu, then Akanko Onsen and the Bokke

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Akanko Onsen
• Environ 4 h de route

Après-midi

After lunch in Teshikaga we climb to the rim of Lake Mashu, a caldera lake known for its deep blue water and for the fog that often hides it. We reach Akanko Onsen at about 3 pm. Your guide then walks the group through the lakeside forest to the Bokke, where grey mud bubbles and pops out of the ground at the water's edge, about 20 minutes each way, and the rest of the afternoon is free.

Soir

After an onsen dinner we watch an evening Ainu performance at the Ikor theatre in the Akan Ainu Kotan, one of the largest Ainu settlements in Hokkaido. The lake cruise waits for tomorrow's first sailing, when the water is calm.

Compris

• Io-zan sulphur vents
• Sunayu hot sand beach on Lake Kussharo
• Lunch in Teshikaga
• Lake Mashu observatory
• Walk to the Bokke mud pots with your guide
• Onsen dinner at Lake Akan
• Ainu performance at the Ikor theatre

Lake Akan by boat, the cranes and Kushiro

Lake Akan cruise from Akanko Onsen, then the Akan International Crane Center and Kushiro Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

After an early breakfast we walk down to the pier for the first sailing of the day on Lake Akan at 8 am, about 85 minutes round the lake with the volcano Oakan-dake rising over the eastern shore. Halfway round, the boat stops for about 15 minutes at Churui Island, where the marimo centre shows the lake's marimo, rare balls of green algae. Back on shore by about half past nine, we drive south out of the hills towards Kushiro, about 70 km and an hour and a quarter. On the way we stop at the Akan International Crane Center, where red-crowned cranes, the tall white and black birds with a red crown that were once nearly lost in Japan, are kept and studied; in summer the wild birds are off nesting in the marshes, so the centre is the place to see them up close. From there it is about 20 minutes to Kushiro Airport (KUH), arriving at about half past eleven. Your guide sees you to check-in. Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm; Kushiro has direct flights to Tokyo Haneda and to New Chitose.

Compris

• Lake Akan cruise at 8 am, with the stop at the marimo centre on Churui Island
• Akan International Crane Center
• Drop-off at Kushiro Airport (KUH)