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. It is for skiers who want a hot-spring villa after the powder, and then the ice: sculptures on the shore of Lake Shikotsu and a frozen Lake Akan.
- Nights
- 7
- Stays
- 3
- When
- Winter
Japan
We build it around you
Tell us your dates, your pace and who is travelling. We draw the route around them, choose the inns and rooms, arrange the trains and cars between each stay, and stay one point of contact from the first plan to the last night. Every stay at its own rate.
Already have an itinerary in mind?
Have it reviewed for USD 85The trip, leg by leg
1 · 3 nightsZaborinChosen over the Park Hyatt for its fifteen villas in the birch woods of Hanazono, each with its own hot-spring baths, and its shuttle to the Hanazono lifts, seven minutes away; Lake Shikotsu is about an hour and a half by car.
2 · 2 nightsLake Shikotsu Tsuruga Bessou Ao no ZaSuites with open-air baths over Lake Shikotsu, the northernmost lake in Japan that does not freeze, for the ice sculptures of the Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival on the shore; the inn's bus at 10:25 reaches New Chitose airport at 11:20, for ANA's 45-minute flight to Kushiro, then about an hour and a quarter by car to Lake Akan.
3 · 2 nightsAkan Tsuruga Bessou HinanozaAdults-only suites in the Akanko Onsen village, for the frozen lake: snowmobiles at Aisland Akan by day and, in February, the ice festival's fireworks over the ice; Kushiro airport, about 1 hour 15 minutes by car, has flights to Tokyo Haneda.
Make it yours
This is one way to do it. We change the stays, their order and the nights in each to suit you, move it to the season you want, and plan the days between: the trains and cars, the restaurants worth the detour, a quieter night where the route needs one. Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and our team in Japan will draw up your own.
Other sample trips
Each one a starting point: we build the trip around your dates, your pace and who is travelling.
8 nights · Summer
The Japanese Alps in summer: Takayama, Kamikochi and the Kiso post towns
A trip west to east across the Northern Alps, from Takayama by bus into the Kamikochi valley, down to Matsumoto and the old post towns of the Kiso valley, and out by the hot-spring town of Yudanaka to Tokyo.
9 nights · Any season
Kanazawa and the craft towns: lacquer, gold leaf and Kutani porcelain, then the Hida hills
A trip from Tokyo to the Sea of Japan coast in the first-class car of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, then over the mountains through Shirakawa-go to Takayama and on to Matsumoto.
9 nights · Autumn leaves
Kyoto in depth, by neighbourhood, and two nights in Nara
Kyoto taken one district at a time: a ryokan in the old centre near Higashiyama, a hotel on the river at Arashiyama, then a garden hotel opposite Nijo Castle.