Japan
Hokkaido
Hokkaido is the northern island, with wide farmland, volcanic lakes and ski mountains, and long, snowy winters.
Our places are built around the landscape, from Zaborin's villas in the birch woods of Niseko and the Tsuruga houses on Lake Shikotsu and Lake Akan to Hotel Biaclyn Hakodate in the old Russian consulate at the southern tip. We know 7 places to stay here, 5 of them ryokans. At 5 of them, every room has its own hot-spring bath.
How to choose
For skiing
Zaborin: villas in the birch woods of Hanazono, with a shuttle to the ski centre in season
Close to the airport
Lake Shikotsu Tsuruga Bessou Ao no Za: 40 minutes from New Chitose, every suite with an open-air bath facing the lake
For Hakodate
Hotel Biaclyn Hakodate: six suites in the 1908 Russian consulate
For two, without young children
Akan Tsuruga Bessou Hinanoza: suites with open-air hot-spring baths on Lake Akan, junior-high age and over
With children
Niseko Konbu Onsen Tsuruga Besso Moku no Sho: children welcome, in the woods of Konbu Onsen below Mount Yotei
Which area
Where to stay in Niseko, area by area →When to go
December to February brings the powder snow that Niseko is known for, and July and August are cool and dry while Honshu is hot; the leaves turn from late September to October, and Lake Akan freezes over in midwinter.
How long
Four or five nights, as a ski trip of its own in winter, or three nights added to Tokyo in summer.
Getting there
Flights from Haneda reach New Chitose in about 1 hour 30 minutes; Lake Shikotsu is about 40 minutes by car from the airport and Niseko about two hours, Lake Akan about an hour from Kushiro airport, and Hakodate airport about 25 minutes from the town.
Ready to stay here?
Tell us where and when. Our team in Japan books the room we would choose, at the inn’s own rate, settles your requests with the inn, and stays in touch before and during your stay. Price and cancellation terms are confirmed with you first.
Already have an itinerary in mind?
Have it reviewed for USD 85Ryokans and hotels
Hanazono, Niseko
RyokanZaborin
坐忘林
Kita kaiseki and its own spring, pumped from 1,000 m down
Funami-cho, Hakodate
HotelHotel Biaclyn Hakodate
HOTEL 白林 HAKODATE
Six suites in the 1908 Russian consulate, each with a sauna
Hanazono, Niseko
HotelShiguchi
シグチ
Three Aizu farmhouses rebuilt with nail-free joinery
Akanko Onsen, Lake Akan
RyokanAkan Tsuruga Bessou Hinanoza
あかん鶴雅別荘 鄙の座
Adults-only suites on Lake Akan's south shore
Shikotsuko Onsen, Lake Shikotsu
RyokanLake Shikotsu Tsuruga Bessou Ao no Za
しこつ湖鶴雅別荘 碧の座
Twenty-five suites, each bath facing Lake Shikotsu
Konbu Onsen, Niseko
RyokanNiseko Konbu Onsen Tsuruga Besso Moku no Sho
ニセコ昆布温泉 鶴雅別荘 杢の抄
Jazz on JBL Paragons by a fire, beside the Momiji falls
Shikotsuko Onsen, Lake Shikotsu
RyokanShikotsuko Tsuruga Besso Kohakunosho
しこつ湖 鶴雅別荘 湖白の抄
All in lake white, with a waterfall corridor
Also in Hokkaido, from our guide
Hotels we have stayed in that are not on our own Japan list, most of them international brands. Each opens its page in the guide.
Sample trips through Hokkaido
Routes we have drawn up that stay in Hokkaido: starting points for a trip we build around your dates and pace.
7 nights · Summer
Hokkaido in summer: Hakodate, Lake Shikotsu and the valleys below Mount Yotei
North from Tokyo by Shinkansen to the port of Hakodate, then up the island to a lake in a caldera south of Sapporo and to a valley at Niseko below Mount Yotei.
9 nights · Summer
Hokkaido by train in summer: Hakodate, Niseko, Otaru and Sapporo
Up the island by rail, with no car: the Shinkansen from Tokyo to the port of Hakodate, the Hakodate line to Niseko below Mount Yotei, the local train down the valley to the canal town of Otaru, and the coast line into Sapporo, flying out of New Chitose.
7 nights · Winter
Hokkaido in winter: Niseko powder, then the lakes of Shikotsu and Akan
A trip from the ski slopes of Niseko to a lake in the caldera south of Sapporo, then a short flight east to Lake Akan.
Beyond the hotel
Private and out-of-hours ways into Hokkaido, arranged by our team in Japan. Ask about any of them with your stay.
Backcountry guide · Niseko Hanazono
Private backcountry with First Tracks
Six guided hours off-piste, on the lifts from 7.30 a.m. before the public
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Six hours of lift-assisted backcountry and off-piste skiing in Niseko United with the resort's own guiding service, paced to the group. With First Tracks the lifts open for your party before the public, from 7.30 a.m.; beacon, probe, shovel and pack are provided.
Cooking class · Niseko
A tempura class in your chalet
Chef Tanaka teaches ten kinds of tempura, then lunch on what you fried
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Chef Tanaka and an English-speaking assistant set up in your chalet's kitchen and teach ten kinds of tempura, the batter and the dipping sauce, then lunch on what you have fried with somen. It runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Guide · Lake Akan
Out on frozen Lake Akan
Fat bikes, snowshoes, an igloo and frost flowers; January to early March
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Three hours out on frozen Lake Akan with a guide: fat bikes, snow scooters (SNOWDOG), snowshoes, building an igloo, and looking for ice bubbles and frost flowers. Private to your party.
Drift ice walk · Utoro
Walking on the drift ice
Two hours on the sea ice in a dry suit with a wildlife guide; February, March
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Two hours walking on the sea ice off Utoro in a dry suit, with a wildlife guide. Japan's national tourism organisation lists it as a private tour for one group a day; the season is 5 February to 31 March 2027, depending on the ice.
Rickshaw · Otaru Canal
A rickshaw along the Otaru Canal
Ninety minutes past all three of Otaru's Important Cultural Properties
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A rickshaw for one or two, pulled by a guide who tells the town's history along the canal and past the former Bank of Japan branch; the 90-minute route takes in all three of Otaru's National Important Cultural Properties, including Japan's oldest surviving engine shed. English-speaking pullers can be requested.
Rickshaw · Bay Area
A rickshaw through old Hakodate
Through the old port district, one puller a licensed English guide
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A rickshaw for one or two from the Kanemori red-brick warehouses through Hakodate's old port district, with the puller as guide; the longest set route is two hours, and one of the pullers is a licensed national guide-interpreter in English.
Tables worth the effort
The places we have been first, then the counters worth the effort. Many book only by telephone, by introduction or on set dates; we book them for you.
Sushi · Niseko Hirafu
Sushi Shin by Miyakawa
Sushi Miyakawa's menu, with a private counter facing Mount Yotei
Sushi · Maruyama
Sushisai Wakichi
Edomae sushi from fish across Japan, Tabelog Award every year since 2019
Sushi · Susukino
Susukino Sushi Kin
Since 1969, Hokkaido urchin and crab with rice timed in a hagama pot
Sushi · Susukino
Sushi no Kura
Four seats in an unmarked basement, Dai Igawa's inventive dishes and nigiri
Sushi · Odori
Sushi Shota
Ginza-trained Shota Oda's omakase of ten nigiri and five dishes
Sushi · Maruyama
Sushi Sohei
Edomae ageing and curing applied to Hokkaido fish, at nine seats
Sushi · Otaru
Isezushi
A family sushi house since 1967, with counter seats and private rooms
Kappo · Susukino
Mieda
Eight seats and a menu shaped to you, from grilled kinki to king crab
Kaiseki · Maruyama Nishimachi
Nihon Ryori Komatsu
Seasonal courses with old-growth forest outside the windows
French · Motomachi
maison FUJIYA hakodate
Classic French with Funka Bay crab and Shiriuchi oysters below the mountain
Collections for Hokkaido
Elsewhere in Japan
Q&A
Zaborin and Shiguchi are in Hanazono, close to the ski centre, each with a hot-spring bath in every villa. Niseko Konbu Onsen Tsuruga Besso Moku no Sho is deeper in the back country, in the woods of Konbu Onsen below Mount Yotei.
Zaborin, Shiguchi, Lake Shikotsu Tsuruga Bessou Ao no Za, Shikotsuko Tsuruga Besso Kohakunosho and Akan Tsuruga Bessou Hinanoza have a hot-spring bath in every room or villa. At Moku no Sho the suites and some rooms have one.
Zaborin, Moku no Sho and Lake Shikotsu Tsuruga Bessou Ao no Za welcome children of all ages. Akan Tsuruga Bessou Hinanoza takes guests of junior-high age and over, and Shiguchi and Hotel Biaclyn Hakodate guests 12 and over as a rule.
Akan Tsuruga Bessou Hinanoza and Moku no Sho do not allow tattoos, even stick-on ones, in their large baths. Zaborin, Shiguchi and Ao no Za have no shared baths, so you bathe in your own villa or suite.