Hokkaido Hidden Gems
L'île la plus septentrionale du Japon, aux saisons bien marquées et aux produits d'exception. En été, champs de lavande à Furano ; en hiver, le canal enneigé d'Otaru et ski sur poudreuse. La vue nocturne du mont Hakodate, les fruits de mer frais et les onsen en font une destination incontournable.
26 spots
La frontière nord du Japon : une île immense de parcs nationaux volcaniques, de fermes laitières et de fruits de mer parmi les meilleurs du pays, colonisée il y a seulement 150 ans et toujours empreinte d'un sentiment de grands espaces.
Climat et meilleure saison
Subarctique. Étés frais et secs (20–26 °C), hivers longs et enneigés souvent sous zéro. De juin à septembre pour la randonnée ; de décembre à février pour la poudreuse et les festivals de glace.
Spécialités culinaires
- Ramen miso
- Oursin et crabe
- Soupe au curry
- Produits laitiers et glace crémeuse
- Jingisukan (agneau grillé)
Lieux emblématiques
- Parcs nationaux de Shiretoko et Daisetsuzan
- Champs de lavande de Furano
- Onsen de Noboribetsu et lac Toya
- Festival de la neige de Sapporo
Niseko Powder Snow
Niseko gets dumped on. Fifteen meters of snow every season, sometimes 50cm overnight when low-pressure systems cross the…
Otaru Sushi Street
Walk out of Otaru Station and you'll find yourself surrounded by sushi shops—twenty-something of them packed into two bl…
Sapporo Snow Festival
Every February, Sapporo clears out its snow dumps and trucks 5,000 tons of it to Odori Park, where teams spend four week…
Furano Lavender Fields
Furano's lavender fields (富良野ラベンダー畑) transform the Tokachi mountain foothills into rolling purple waves each summer (Jul…
Kushiro Shitsugen
Kushiro Shitsugen (釧路湿原) is Japan's largest wetland, covering 280 square kilometers of marshes, reed beds, and meanderin…
Shiretoko Peninsula
Shiretoko is the end of the road in Hokkaido—literally. The peninsula juts northeast into the Sea of Okhotsk, and there'…
Sapporo Beer Museum
The Sapporo Beer Museum (サッポロビール博物館) occupies a red-brick factory from 1890, when Hokkaido's cold climate and barley cul…
Hakodate Morning Market
Hakodate Morning Market (函館朝市, Hakodate Asaichi) is a labyrinth of 250+ vendors selling Hokkaido's ocean harvest — live…
Biei Patchwork Hills
The Biei hills (美瑛の丘) are a living agricultural canvas — gently rolling farmland where each field grows a different crop…
Asahiyama Zoo
Asahiyama Zoo (旭山動物園) revolutionized zoo design in Japan by creating 'behavioral exhibits' that allow visitors to observ…
Goryokaku Star Fort
Goryokaku (五稜郭) is a star-shaped fortress built in 1866, Japan's first Western-style citadel designed with artillery def…
Jingisukan
Jingisukan (ジンギスカン, 'Genghis Khan') is Hokkaido's signature BBQ dish — thinly sliced lamb grilled on a convex cast-iron…
Shiroi Koibito Park
Shiroi Koibito (白い恋人, 'White Lovers') is Hokkaido's most famous souvenir — delicate langue de chat butter cookies sandwi…
Mt. Hakodate Night View
Mt. Hakodate (函館山, 334m) offers what Japanese tourism authorities rank among the world's top three night views (alongsid…
Lake Akan
Lake Akan (阿寒湖) is a volcanic caldera lake famous for marimo (毬藻) — rare spherical algae colonies that grow naturally on…
Kushiro Robatayaki
Robatayaki (炉端焼き, 'fireside grilling') was invented in Kushiro in the 1950s, inspired by fishermen grilling their catch…
Susukino District
Susukino (すすきの) is Japan's largest nightlife district north of Tokyo, a 6-block area of neon-lit streets packed with 4,0…
Otaru Music Box Museum
The Otaru Music Box Museum (小樽オルゴール堂) occupies a red-brick warehouse from 1912, housing Japan's largest collection of mu…
Sapporo Clock Tower
The Sapporo Clock Tower (札幌市時計台, Tokeidai) is a white wooden building from 1878, originally built as a drill hall for Sa…
Noboribetsu Onsen
Noboribetsu Onsen (登別温泉) is Hokkaido's premier hot spring resort, fed by Jigokudani ('Hell Valley' — 地獄谷), a volcanic cr…
Odori Park
Odori Park (大通公園) is a 1.5-kilometer-long boulevard running east-west through central Sapporo, dividing the city into no…
Sapporo Ramen
Sapporo is the birthplace of miso ramen — the rich, hearty cousin of tonkotsu and shoyu styles. Developed in the 1960s t…
Lucky Pierrot
Lucky Pierrot (ラッキーピエロ) is a Hakodate-only burger chain with 17 locations, each themed differently (pirate ship, carouse…
Otaru Canal
The Otaru Canal (小樽運河) is a 1.3-kilometer waterway lined with preserved Meiji-era stone warehouses, now converted to res…
Abashiri Drift Ice Cruise
Every winter (late January to late March), drift ice (流氷, ryuhyo) from the Russian Far East floats south through the Sea…
Soup Curry
Soup curry (スープカレー) is Sapporo's modern culinary invention — a thin, broth-based curry stew served with large chunks of…