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Spend 6 days exploring some of beautiful west Hokkaido – from Niseko area, Shakotan, Otaru and Sapporo – experience the farm, the coast, the city and some of the most stunning ocean views, local nature spots and outdoors.
This tour runs between April and October, making the most of the spring, summer or autumn seasons, and is the perfect gentle introduction to Hokkaido. Travel time is not excessive between locations, so they can be explored in a relaxed way with a local guide and private bus. The food along this route is another highlight, with fresh seafood, vegetables and other Hokkaido delights to find on the journey.
New Chitose Airport (it is also possible to start and/or finish the tour in Sapporo)
We will arrange a meet point and time based on your flight arrival schedule.
Experience something of local Hokkaido life in our ‘Farm to Coast’ exploration tour.
Start off your trip an evening in Sapporo, before heading onto an exploration of Niseko and Rankoshi area. We’ll visit Fukidashi Park and fresh water spring and Niseko Milk Kobo.
We’ll next move to Rankoshi for a real life farm experience. Enjoy home-cooked food, local ingredients, and even trying harvesting and cooking for yourself. Local farmers provide expert tuition and we’ll spend our second night locally in this area.
On day 3 we’ll travel by charter bus to Shakotan Blue, one of the most famous ocean view spots in Japan. We can enjoy a gentle trek down the coastline to take in the turquoise waters of the bay. We can also enjoy some of the most famous seafood in Hokkaido here, and try out a local onsen at the end of the day to relax.
After a relaxing night by the ocean, we’ll continue down this coastline, stopping by Yoichi Distillery for a tour, and arriving in Otaru for lunch. Otaru is famous for its canal, seafood and desserts, but it’s also a really up and coming location. It has some fabulous cafes, craft beer stores and chic restaurants to enjoy.
We have two options for your group on this day – and active or relaxing option. The relaxing option will give you time to explore Otaru at your own pace, enjoy shopping and gentle sightseeing. The more active option is to take a trip to Ana No Taki, a waterfall cascading through a mountain. This involves a short, gentle hike for around an hour each way – but is a wonderful local spot.
After staying in Otaru city, we’ll head back for the final day in Sapporo, and have time to enjoy Hokkaido’s main city. Transit back to the airport can be provided at any time from this point on, but where possible we recommend enjoying a final evening meal together and returning home the following day.
We will meet you from your arrival flight at New Chitose Airport (Sapporo pick up is also possible), and take you to check into your accommodation in Sapporo City. You will then have some free time to settle in or rest after your journey before our opening evening meal (often local delicacy Ghengis Khan, BBQ Lamb, but other options are available on request).
We will leave after breakfast to start heading west to Niseko area. Our first stop is an Fukidashi Park to try drinking from a fresh water stream, followed by local stops in Makkari and NIseko Kobo for lunch. In the early afternoon we will arrive in Rankoshi for a real-life farm experience, followed by some delicious home-cooked food. You’ll also have the chance to also learn how prepare Japanese food with local people in Japanese style. We will stay locally to Rankoshi this night after our evening meal.
We will leave after breakfast to drive up to Shakotan, arriving just before lunch. We’ll start off our time with a seafood lunch stop – taking in the local speciality food, such as the famous uni!
After lunch we will walk the Cape Kamui trail in order to take in the beautiful turquoise ocean views. Shakotan is known for its reefs, clear waters and for being a wildlife haven. There’s a sign you walk through at the start of this trail that actually translates as ‘women are forbidden’. Although all people are now welcome, it’s got an interesting back story from the Ainu period about a jealous goddess, Charenka, who lived in the cape and was responsible for the stormy waters claiming the lives of fishermen.
We’ll then head down to Cape Shakotan to try the waters for ourselves – you can climb down to the beach and paddle in the ocean, or just see the clear waters close up.
Finally, we’ll have time to enjoy a relax in the onsen (hot springs) before dinner, and the chance to stay in this great area.
We’ll leave Shakotan after breakfast and head towards Yoichi. It’s a short drive and we will be able to enjoy a short tour of Yoichi Distillery in the morning, where the famous Nikka Whiskey is produced. You can understand a little about the founder Masataka Taketsuru’s Scottish inspiration and dream, and then try a sample for yourself (soft-drinks are provided for non-alcohol drinkers and those under 20 years old).
We’ll then head onto Otaru for lunch, and time to explore the canal area, Sakaimachi street, and many stylish dessert and coffee shops in the area.
An afternoon, light trekking option is available for those who would rather have a shorter time in the city itself, and instead head out to local spot, Ana Waterfall. After a short 1 hour walk you reach a partially underground cavern, where the waterfall casades through the rockface and literally creates a ‘waterfall in a hole’. It’s a stunning, picture-perfect place that’s a bit too off-the-beaten-track to make it into the regular sightseeing routes – but we love it here! It’s one of our favourite refreshing spots.
Finally, we’ll meet back for an evening meal, and a trip to see the night view from Tengu Mountain – before heading back to our hotel for the evening.
After breakfast, we’ll head the short hour’s journey back to Sapporo City and spend our final day enjoying the city. There are many customizable options on this day depending on your groups interests, but we like to recommend Hokkaido Shrine and Maruyama Park, Mount Moiwa, and some city centre sights such as Odori Park, Sapporo TV Tower and the Red Brick Area.
We’ll have a final dinner together to celebrate the last day of the tour.
We will provide an airport transit for you back to New Chitose Airport in time to check in for your flight.
*Starting price is based on a group of 6 persons. Please contact us for direct quotations for smaller or largesr groups.
*Starting price is based on 3* accommodation. As with all our tours it is possible to customize the tour for budget travel (which includes camping & cabin accommodation), or customize the tour for luxury travel (upgrading to 4-5* accommodation and a higher level of vehicle and restaurants).
Please contact us for exact quotations, and make sure to check out our terms and conditions HERE.
