I have booked my air tickets to Hokkaido for 14 days from April 16 to April 30th. I’ll be booking a car for the entirety of the trip.
I understand that it is kinda off season, where it’s after winter but neither have the flowers blossom for spring.
I have a couple of questions to make the trip as fulfilling as possible.
1. Is it still worth it heading up to furano, bieb etc? What else is there to do if there’s no flowers to sightsee apart from blue pond.
2. Should I still pay a visit to Niseko? I read some resort remains open. But I also see that many activities ends on the end of March.
3. Can I still skii at this period?
Thanks!
2 comments
Hey, I’ll be heading to Hokkaido as well for about 10 days in April.
For car rental, there’s no need for a car to get around Sapporo and Otaru, so not needed to rent a car for the entire duration of your trip.
For Furano, you can still go visit Ningle Terrace and Furano Cheese Factory. Up to you cause 14 days is quite a lot of time in Hokkaido to spare.
For Niseko, some resorts still have snow activities for the final season till first week of May – Hirafu and Annupuri slopes.
https://www.grand-hirafu.jp/winter/en/gelande/lift.html
https://annupuri.info/winter/lift/
Honest answer is that early/mid April (and November) are the worst time to visit Hokkaido as it is in nowhere land between seasons.
There are still ski resorts open in Niseko/Rusutsu area, but the powder turns slushy. It’s also too early for spring activities – cherry blossoms come to Hakodate in late April and to Sapporo in early May.
Much of the hiking routes that are open during the winter turn muddy, and others will not open until June at the earliest. Shiretoko and Akan Mashu national parks are worth going in either in winter or summer, but turn into swampland in between.