What's inside
The guide is in the works. Here's the plan: everything is checked with the resorts and organizers before it goes in.
- ❄️A snow calendar: when the ski areas open, and when the snow is at its deepest
- ⛷️Ski and snowboard areas across Hokkaido, from big resorts to small town hills
- 🏮Snow festivals, ice sculptures, and winter illuminations, with this season's dates
- 🎄Christmas markets, New Year, and the season's music
- 🦢Winter nature: drift ice, frozen waterfalls, cranes and swans
- ⛸️Skating, sledding, and snow play for families
- ☕Warm places for snowy days: onsen, museums, and markets
- 🐾Tips for traveling with your dog in the snow
- 🧥Before you go: walking on ice, what to wear, getting around in snow
- 🌿Quieter places and times, away from the crowds
Area by area
The guide follows Nihon Local's areas across Hokkaido. Where we have a weekly newsletter, it tells you what's on each week.
Weekly nowOtaru & YoichiThe canal town, its own ski hills, and Kiroro
From Nov 9SapporoThe Snow Festival city, Jozankei, Chitose and Lake Shikotsu
From DecemberNiseko & RusutsuPowder country, with Kutchan and Rusutsu
In the guideHakodate & OnumaSouthern Hokkaido's winter lights and lakes
In the guideFurano, Biei & TomamuCentral Hokkaido's snowfields and resorts
In the guideFurther afieldAsahikawa, the drift ice coast, eastern Hokkaido, and more
📸
Shoot winter with us. We'd love the guide to show Hokkaido's winter through your eyes. When the snow comes, share your photos with
#NihonLocalWinter and tag us on Facebook or @nihonlocal.otaru on Instagram, or email them to
hello@nihonlocal.com. We'll always ask before we use one, and credit you by name.
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