Things to do in Jozankei

Jozankei is a small onsen town about 45mins away from Sapporo city.  It’s generally quite a quiet place, however with it’s ever growing popularity among tourists, it’s getting a lot more crowded (especially during the autumn and winter seasons).

It’s always been a great spot amongst the locals and neighbouring Japanese crowds, but with its picturesque landscape and ever growing presence on Instagram, it is really taking part of Hokkaido’s spotlight.

Like most other spots in Hokkaido, Jozankei is super picturesque and filled to the brim with nature.  It’s encapsulated in soft (but very tall) hills and cliffs that shine bright green in the summer and gold in the autumn.  There’s a beautiful river that runs right down the middle of the town centre and splits in to a two-way on the northern side.  The split side is rather hard to see as a pedestrian, but the main bulk of the river is easily accessible from the main city.  Some hotels are even situated right on the river side for you to enjoy the views while you take an onsen or have breakfast.

It’s such a relaxing place to visit, so I’d highly recommend it to anyone wanting a break from reality.  With such a calm pace, beautiful nature, and serene onsens dotted around left, right and centre, you really can’t go wrong.

How to get there:

By car – 45min drive

By bus – From Sapporo station, bus number 7 or 8 to Jozankei (80min duration, 770yen one way)

Like I said, it’s an onsen town, so the first thing to do HAS to be going to check out the onsens.

If you don’t know what an onsen is, it’s a public bath.  It’s where everyone strips down (yup, buck ass naked), you wash yourself in the open shower area, and then you lie in a large hot bath with everyone else.

Usually they’re split in to a men and a women’s onsen OR if there’s one special onsen, they’ll designate times during the day for each gender to use the space.

This one is probably the easiest and most obvious just because there’s no way you’ll be able to escape it.. unless you just stay inside of your hotel the entire time (which I do not recommend).

Go out and enjoy the season in all of its glory!  You can easily see the beautiful nature from every spot in town, but I suggest going to the nature footpath located right in the middle of town.  The trail hugs the river and takes you to a beautiful red bridge, which a lot of people like to take pictures from because of its beautiful contrast.

There are many trails to find throughout the town, so just spend a couple of hours exploring.

With many foot baths dotted around, this is a super easy one.  It’s also nice to have this option if you’re not too keen on stripping down for the onsen (or can’t because of tattoos/religious reasons), but still want to experience the natural waters in Jozankei.

My favorite one is Gensen Park Footbath, not only because of the easy access, but because it’s just so damn beautiful.  Most of the other footbaths are situated on the roadsides but with this one, you can’t really tell.  It’s within its own little park, making it a nice little escape from your afternoon stroll.

A big surprise to me when first getting here was that the local rugby team is actually based out here in Jozankei (get on the field and then recover with an onsen?  Sounds smart to me!)

The Hokkaido Barbarians Club is the top rugby club in Hokkaido.  They have children to adult teams and have absolutely dominated the grades that they play in.

Their schedule is forever changing throughout the season, but check out their page on the below link to see when games are on.  The season runs over winter so you can actually watch the mens team training in the deep snow – it’s crazy, but super interesting to watch!

They usually train and play during the weekend around 12pm (but I recommend getting in touch with them to confirm).  On a nice day families bring their lounging chairs, picnic blanket, some snacks and enjoy the day out with the family!

The town is quite small so the number of restaurants obviously isn’t quite as many as plentiful as Sapporo, however it still has a few worth going to.  Miso ramen is Hokkaido’s specialty so if you haven’t had it already, now’s your chance!

I recommend going to one of the places listed below (the first one, in my opinion, is the better!)  They’re a super reasonable price for the size that you get & the perfect meal after a nice walk out.  It’s located halfway between Jozankei’s main road and the rugby fields, so I’d recommend stoping in on your way from one to the other.

What better way to view the cliff sides than by Canadian canoe.  This is a super easy activity to take part in, great for any level of fitness and you’ll have the best seats in the house to view the 4-seasons.

There’s no better view really, especially for viewing the autumn foliage.  The views and colors will blow you away.  Although some of the spots you’ll see can be accessed by foot, not all of them are, plus canoeing through it makes it 10 times easier & faster.

It’s only right to save this big guy for last.

The Jozankei Dam is super easy to get to and great for all ages.  It actually has a museum that explains the function and role of the dam if you’re wanting to learn about it.

If you go to the very top, there’s a beautiful view overlooking Sapporo lake.  Have lunch here in the open-air seating area and enjoy the mountainous views.