Explore Kitami & Abashiri (Winter Tour)

When thinking of places to visit in Hokkaido, your first thought might be Sapporo or Asahikawa, but even though the big cities are great, there are still a lot of lesser known places to discover in the far reaches of the region where rich nature and culture awaits you.

To start this tour off, you’ll visit Kitami City where the first curling field was built in Japan. Be prepared to not just watch a game but also to give it the sport a try yourself.

Then visit Abashiri Prison to discover the history behind Hokkaido’s development and get a glimpse of the daily life of prisoners in Japan.

Finally, we’ll take the famous icebreaker boat to see the drift ice and enjoy an incredible winter view.

We will start the day by driving from Sapporo to Kitami. On the way we visit the Fox Village where you can get in close contact with these beautiful animals that are native to Hokkaido. After arriving in Kitami City we’ll  have some delicious local BBQ food and join the Kitami snow festival.

On the second day, we’ll visit the very first curling field of Japan and give this sport a try ourselves! Don’t worry if you’ve never tried it before, anybody can give it a go and have a fun experience.

Next stop is Abashiri where we visit the Okhotsk Ryu-hyo Museum and Abashiri Prison Museum. You have the chance to learn about Okhotsk’s environment and nature, and explore the life of prisoners in the most northern prison of Japan.

On our last day, we’ll go on the deck of an icebreaker and witness one of Hokkaido’s natural wonders: drift ice. Listen to the heavy cracking sounds of the ice as the icebreaker makes its way through the sea. Watching this amazing winter landscape will be the happy end of our tour as we return to Sapporo later that day.