By japanretreats on June 12, 2014 ( Leave a comment )

Hokkaido

Hokkaido has been becoming more and more famous amongst tourists from overseas for its high quality powder snow for skiing and snowboarding. Hokkaido is situated in northern Japan and it is one truly vast island. It is rather closer to the land of Russia than to Tokyo. (It is not difficult to imagine how cold it can be during the winter, isn’t it?)

But don’t forget, it is also truly pleasant during the summer time. Summer in Hokkaido is pleasantly much cooler and drier than other parts of Japan during this hot and humid time of the year. It is full of nature and there are many large scale farms and pastures as well as beautiful lakes. You can enjoy camping, trekking, climbing mountains, fishing, etc. Cycling will be the great way to feel the vibe of land of Hokkaido if you are confident in your athletic ability.

Hokkaido has several airports where you can fly in from/to other countries as well as Tokyo. It is so big that you need to spend weeks to travel all around Hokkaido.

The capital city of Hokkaido is Sapporo. Sapporo is a fairly modern city with good infrastructure, and has a large population. There are many sightseeing spots here and the Snow Festival in February is internationally well-known for its large scale ice sculptures exhibited on the mail street of Sapporo, Ohdori Park. You can also move onto many ski resorts from Sapporo.

For gourmet lovers, you can definitely try Ramen Yokocho where the little isle is full of Ramen noodle restaurants. If you fancy a seafood feast, Hokkaido is famous for fresh seafood especially crab and salmon.

For beer lovers, why don’t you go to Sapporo Beer Museum and enjoy the tasting, or snack at their beer garden with freshly brewed beer! Admission is free and they are open everyday except for Monday.

For more information on Sapporo city, you can visit their official tourist site here.

Furano is also one of the popular tourist places in Hokkaido for beautiful nature you can appreciate, especially the magnificent lavender field in highland during late June to mid-July. They started to be well-known amongst Japanese when many beautiful locations were introduced in Japanese popular TV drama “Kita no kuni kara (i.e. from the northern country)” that has earned high viewing ratings for many years, and have started to bring many tourists from then on.