Everybody thinks winter is the season to go to Hokkaido. They usually’re not incorrect—except you’re not a winter particular person. As a result of for lively travellers, autumn is hands-down the perfect time to expertise Japan’s northern island.
Autumn in Hokkaido is a real shoulder season: fewer crowds, quieter cities, and landscapes shifting day by day from deep greens to fiery reds and golds—usually with early snow already dusting the upper mountains. It’s the uncommon second when you may hike by fall foliage within the morning and end up strolling in recent snow by afternoon.
From canoeing beneath autumn leaves to biking alongside rivers and climbing Asahidake because the season turns white, fall provides probably the most different and rewarding technique to discover Hokkaido—particularly in the event you desire shifting by nature reasonably than queuing for it.
Right here’s an summary:
Why Autumn Is the Finest Time to Go to Hokkaido
Fewer vacationers than winter and summer season
Autumn sits firmly in Hokkaido’s shoulder season, which means widespread areas really feel calmer and extra spacious—with out sacrificing climate or entry.
Peak autumn foliage (late September to October)
Maples and larches flip the island vivid shades of purple, orange and gold, particularly round Asahikawa, Maruyama Park and Lake Shikotsu.
Early snow at increased elevations like Asahidake
Whereas valleys glow with fall color, mountains corresponding to Asahidake can already be dusted with snow, providing a uncommon mixture of autumn climbing and early winter surroundings.
Excellent temperatures for climbing, biking and paddling
Cool, crisp days make lengthy hikes, bike rides and canoe journeys snug and satisfying—with out the warmth of summer or the extremes of mid-winter.
Associated learn: The Joy of Driving in Hokkaido, Japan
Issues to do in Hokkaido in Autumn: Climbing, Biking and Ramen
As with most trips to Japan, we begin in Tokyo, although lower than two hours later, we land in Asahikawa – for me, one among Hokkaido’s nicest cities, because it combines the conveniences of a metropolis with fast entry to nature. We’re picked up by our Guides for this journey – Yuko and Kazu – each great individuals who made our time in Hokkaido most memorable!
We test into the OMO7 Hotel earlier than heading out with our guides to get pleasure from a scrumptious dinner at Yakitori professional Gin’neko, a typical Japanese restaurant that’s particularly widespread with locals. On the best way again – the whole lot is inside strolling distance – there are stunning moments captured in stills, earlier than we calm down within the Resort’s Onsen bathtub and prepare for experiencing the Hokkaido autumn colors the subsequent morning.
Associated learn: Exploring Kamikawa: Adventures in the Center of Hokkaido
When Autumn in Hokkaido Turns White: Early Snow on Asahidake
Gray clouds grasp over the town as we benefit from the scrumptious, extra Western-style breakfast on the OMO7. Our Guides Yuko and Kazu deliver us on the Bus, and as soon as we’ve got handed Higashikawa, we already begin to really feel the change. The upper the bus takes us, the whiter the whole lot turns – and on the Asahidake Ropeway Station we stand in 30 cm of recent JAPOW! The smile on my face says all of it – that is happiness for me.
Kazu palms us our tickets for the Ropeway, and Yuko makes certain we don’t lose them, as we’ll want them to get on the trip down! On the high station, the Thermometer exhibits -6°C, and the snow retains on falling, however round me there are solely smiles. An Asahidake hike in autumn is an excellent expertise – and could be snowy!
Sadly, the snow has lined the sights fully – from the Sugatami Pond to the viewpoints. Even the Fumarole’s smoke is getting blended with the snow and clouds!
On the path, I chat with Yuko, who has been working as a “By Information” for over 30 years. A By Information is somebody who helps you in your Japan journey from touchdown to leaving, serving to you with translations and connecting to locations and other people. We discuss our favorite seasons (Hers is spring 🌸) and meals and climbing, and earlier than we notice we’re again on the Ropeway Station. Extra folks have arrived and begin on the scenic hike, whereas we pack into the cable automobile and descend.
After a satisfying Ramen lunch, we proceed again down the mountain, and, slowly, the white snow is changed once more by orange, yellow, purple, and inexperienced hues. We make a cease in Higashikawa’s Michikusakan Roadside Relaxation Space, the place you should buy native delicacies and in addition nip into the Montbell Retailer in the event you want one thing to your out of doors adventures!
Again in Asahikawa, we drop our baggage and head straight out for dinner with our group. It’s a kind of straightforward evenings the place the desk fills up with small plates and massive flavours: crispy tempura, completely grilled fish, steaming bowls of miso, and simply the correct quantity of sake to maintain the dialog flowing.
We swap tales from the highway, giggle rather a lot, and linger lengthy after the final dish is cleared. On the best way again, we stroll by the quiet metropolis streets, watching the neon replicate on patches of darkish asphalt and feeling that individual type of winter calm you solely get in northern Japan.
An Sapporo Autumn Day Journey
The subsequent morning, it’s time to maneuver on. We hop on a prepare to Sapporo, watching the colorful Hokkaido panorama slide by exterior the window. The second we step out of the station we really feel the shift: Asahikawa out of the blue appears small and quaint compared.
Sapporo is massive, busy, and buzzing – a correct metropolis with vitality in each route, however nonetheless with that laid-back Hokkaido vibe beneath. Along with Jody and Eamonn, we make a beeline for the well-known Ramen Alley. Quickly we’re hunched over steaming bowls of Hokkaido ramen, wealthy broth and springy noodles hitting that excellent post-travel starvation. Arms down a number of the greatest ramen you will get in Japan.
Effectively fed and warmed from the within out, we head to Maruyama Park, the place a full of life crew of outside guides is ready for us. We hike by forested trails to a viewpoint over Sapporo, the town unfold out beneath in a patchwork of buildings and rooftops.
On the best way, I pull a small sensible joke and by chance startle our lead information, who actually hadn’t seen me within the shrubbery. We giggle it off, I apologise, and the temper stays gentle as we descend by the timber. By late afternoon, we’re again on the Royal Park Canvas, drained in one of the simplest ways and prepared for no matter Sapporo has in retailer subsequent.
We head over to the SappoLodge, which Naru-San owns – one among our Guides from the afternoon. It’s a wonderful hostel made for skiers, hikers and climbers. The meals is tasty, the native Beer is flowing, and we’re engulfed in conversations, planning the subsequent adventures collectively right here on Hokkaido, the place the probabilities are countless.
Biking and Canoeing at Lake Shikotsu in Autumn
Our closing day – time flies by when you’ve enjoyable – begins with a go to to Chitose Shrine, the place we get the blessing of the top priest for our day of biking and paddling. The climate is smiling on us this morning – blue sky and a golden solar make us smile of the solar day forward!
And we received’t be upset: biking below purple and yellow Japanese maple timber within the sunshine, subsequent to a burbling river, is nearly as good because it will get. We comply with a clean asphalt cycle path to Lake Shikotsu, and even when it begins to rain towards the tip of our 25 km trip, we’re nonetheless having a blast.
Our information, Yugo, and tail information Katy each was once skilled highway cyclists – although the largest shock is Yugo telling me he performed for years in a Finnish metallic band and nonetheless has many Finnish mates within the music enterprise. It’s a small world certainly, and too quickly we arrive on the lake.
After the chilly rain, we’re completely satisfied to heat up at Kotobuki Restaurant, the place a tasty native meal offers us extra vitality for the paddling that can quickly comply with! Which you can’t management our little group turns into evident after we determine to seize a mushy serve ice cream on the best way to Canoa, the canoe rental store we’ll be paddling with on Lake Shikotsu!
As soon as we’re on the water in our canoes, we benefit from the silence of gliding throughout the silent water. We paddle a wee bit up the river, surrounded by stunning autumn foliage on the shore – till I spot two deer by the water’s edge! They stand nonetheless, and we peer eye to eye, till they determine to vanish into the forest.
A ravishing second, and each Yuzuki and I smile whereas we paddle out onto the lake. That is the deepest lake on Hokkaido, and it does probably not freeze over in winter. Three volcanoes encompass it, and the solar illuminates the lake superbly. We paddle, chat and {photograph}, delighted in regards to the magnificence that surrounds us.
When Natsumi tells us we received’t go far to our lodge, we don’t realise we’ll actually stroll only a few hundred metres to Shikotsuko Tsuruga Resort Spa Mizu no Uta – the perfect lodge alongside Lake Shikotsu. We take off our footwear as we enter and are led to reception to test in.
After a fast have a look at our spacious rooms, we determine to go to the onsen and soak in its heat earlier than dinner. Along with Eamonn and Mark, we sit within the out of doors pool as darkness falls and fall in love with the place. Mark shares anecdotes from his travels throughout Japan, and time goes by too quick – out of the blue it’s already supper time.
Ultimately, this brief shoulder-season escape to Hokkaido felt like a spotlight reel of the whole lot I like about Japan’s north: snow crunching below my footwear on Asahidake in October, purple and golden maple leaves above quiet biking paths, the deep calm of paddling throughout Lake Shikotsu, steam rising from out of doors onsen whereas tales and laughter drift into the evening.
Autumn on Hokkaido shouldn’t be loud or showy; it’s delicate, beneficiant, and filled with small surprises – from ramen at crowded counters to connections with guides who rapidly really feel like mates. As we slip into our yukata one final time and wander all the way down to the onsen earlier than mattress, I can’t assist however assume that is Hokkaido at its greatest: unhurried, uncrowded, totally genuine.
Winter would possibly get all the celebrity, however in the event you commerce elevate traces for larch forests and powder for maple leaves, Hokkaido’s autumn will quietly steal your coronary heart.
If you wish to benefit from your journey to Hokkaido, be sure to take a look at the Hokkaido Adventure Travel Guide web page so you could find the proper information to your journey to this stunning island within the North of Japan!
