43 Things You Can Only Do in Winter Hokkaido, and Where to Sleep Nearby [2027]

We collected 43 things you can only do in winter Hokkaido, using only official information. A village built on ice. A ship that breaks through drift ice. Dogs pulling a sled across a snowfield. Fishing through a hole cut in a frozen lake. Festivals made of snow and ice. For each one, we’ve added the nearest place you can actually sleep in your vehicle while it’s open in winter, and how far it is.

Two things worth knowing before you drive out. Of 43 places, a winter-open place to sleep is within 30km for 30 of them. The rest are further away. And 25 of them either don’t have confirmed 2027 dates yet, or are natural phenomena with no schedule at all.

What “winter Hokkaido” actually means

Here’s the answer up front. What people want to visit is the snow festivals. What only exists in Hokkaido is the drift ice.

In an October 2025 survey of 553 people by Hankyu Travel International on “winter Hokkaido events people want to visit,” Sapporo Snow Festival came first at 39.2%, more than double Hakodate’s winter fireworks in second place at 18.1% (Hankyu Travel International’s announcement). Places 2 through 4 were Hakodate and Sapporo fireworks and illuminations, with Abashiri’s drift ice at 5th and Monbetsu’s drift ice festival at 8th. Outside Sapporo and Hakodate, what people actually named was the drift ice.

But snow festivals exist in mainland Japan too. In Japan, drift ice reaching the shore only happens on Hokkaido’s Okhotsk coast. Breaking through the ice by ship, walking on top of it, soaking in a bath inside a village built of ice — none of that is possible anywhere else. So this article lists the festivals too, but is built around what only exists because things freeze here.

Cranes, swans & eaglesCross-country skiingDog sleddingDrift ice cruiseDrift ice walk, SUP & divingIce villageNatural ice phenomena (jewelry ice, etc.)Smelt fishingSnow & ice festivalSnow raftingSnowcatSnowmobileSnowshoeingWinter-only train

What has a confirmed date, and what doesn’t yet

As of September 21, 2026, 18 of 43 places have officially announced their 2027 dates. The rest either haven’t been decided yet, or don’t have a concept of “dates” at all.

Anything that happens on ice can’t set a date until temperature and ice thickness are known — you can’t put people on ice that hasn’t formed. That’s why announcements come right before winter starts. Natural phenomena like red-crowned cranes or jewelry ice have no organizer at all. If you’re planning now, build your itinerary around the confirmed items and slot the unannounced ones in later — that way your plan doesn’t fall apart.

One thing worth reading carefully. Lake Abashiri’s official town page says “Reiwa 8, January 5 – February 11,” which is January 2026 — the previous season. The next winter falls in Reiwa 9 (2027). And in 2026 the ice softened early, ending the season on February 11. If you only glance at the era name it can look like this season’s dates, so be careful here.

Places closed this season, or not yet confirmed

Smelt fishing at Lake Katsurazawa (Mikasa City) is closed this season. Mikasa City’s official page even states the reason: there weren’t enough fertilized smelt eggs available in Hokkaido to stock the lake.

Lake Katsurazawa is about two hours from Sapporo and was an easy fishing spot to reach from central Hokkaido. Other introduction pages still describe it as if it were open. We’re noting it here so you don’t find out after you arrive.

Also, Monbetsu’s Garinko-go icebreaker has officially announced that 2027-season bookings will open on October 9. As of writing, neither pricing nor dates are out yet, so we list it as “not announced” in the table. Abashiri’s Aurora usually runs January 20 through March 31, but its 2027 dates haven’t been announced either.

All 43, with the nearest place to sleep

Prices shown are adult prices. Where the official page doesn’t list a figure, we wrote “not confirmed” rather than using a number from a search result. “Where to sleep” only lists RV parks we confirmed, via their official pages, are open in winter. Distances are straight-line, so the actual driving distance will be longer.

We’ve listed only 8 festivals here. The full list of 14 events, including whether each venue has parking, is in a separate article: 14 winter events mapped with a season calendar. Jewelry ice is best seen around sunrise, so we’ve written up the overnight logistics in a separate article (Japanese).

Start from where you can sleep, and the destinations follow

This is the single most useful thing to know about winter Hokkaido. Of 59 RV parks in Hokkaido, we confirmed via official pages that 37 are open in winter. The rest close for the snow season. A place you used in summer isn’t necessarily open in winter.

Abashiri is the easiest town to build a plan around. The Aurora drift ice icebreaker is 3km away, the drift ice festival venue 7km, Abashiri Station for the Ryuhyo Monogatari train 7km, and smelt fishing on Lake Abashiri 12km. Stay at RV Park ABASHIRI BAY and you can cover all four without moving your vehicle — arrive the night before, and catch the first sailing in the morning.

The places that are far apart are inland Eastern Hokkaido and Shiretoko. Lake Nukabira is 47km from the nearest sleeping spot, and Utoro in Shiretoko is 55km from its nearest RV park. The Shiretoko Pass is closed in winter, so you can’t travel directly between Utoro and Rausu. If you want to cover both, decide where you’ll sleep before you build the schedule.

Tokachi works as a waypoint. RV Park Moving Inn Tokachi Kitanomori stays open in winter, and from there it’s 34km to the jewelry ice at Otsu Coast, 36km to Lake Shikaribetsu Kotan, and 52km to the Ice Village at Tomamu. If you rent a campervan at New Chitose Airport and head east, you could stay here one night, then go see the jewelry ice the next morning.

You can run a dog sled at night

One item on this list happens at night. It’s the “Moon and Stars Dog Sledding Tour”, run jointly by MUSHING WORKS in Shikaoi Town and Moving Inn, which operates this site. Moving Inn states it’s the only company offering night dog sledding. It runs late January through early March 2027, first-come with limited capacity.

The tour has you drive a rented campervan to the dog kennel in Shikaoi, warm up with a 1-hour run around 3pm, then run for 2 hours after dark under the moon and stars. In between you can visit the open-air hot spring on the ice at Lake Shikaribetsu Kotan. The dogs are Alaskan huskies, about 8 pulling the sled. Participants must be age 6 or older, up to 4 people per group. Pricing, which includes a 1-night, 2-day campervan rental, two dog-sled runs, and insurance, is ¥160,875 for 1 person, ¥198,248 for 2 people, and ¥241,283 for 3 people. It’s cancelled — with a full refund — on rain, blizzards, or when the temperature drops below minus 25°C or rises above plus 10°C.

This is our own company’s product, so in the table we list it as a single row on the same terms as everything else, with no ranking or “recommended” label. If you just want dog sledding on its own, the table also has Rusutsu (age 4+, a few minutes, around ¥5,000) and MUSHING WORKS’ regular tour (from ¥44,000).

Fill up before you go

One more thing that matters in winter: gas stations.

According to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, 24 municipalities in Hokkaido have three or fewer gas stations (as of March 31, 2025). Akaigawa Village and Shosanbetsu Village have only one each; Horokanai Town, Obira Town, Horonobe Town, Tsubetsu Town, Okoppe Town, Takinoue Town, Rikubetsu Town, and Tsurui Village have two each. Horokanai (home to Lake Shumarinai) and Tsurui (home to the red-crowned cranes) are both on that list.

It’s not just the number. Opening hours also shrink in winter. Rishiri Town’s gas station officially states “8:30–17:00 April through October, 9:00–16:30 November through March, Saturdays mornings only.” It’s entirely normal to arrive in the evening and find it closed.

Rausu needs the most care. National Route 334 over the Shiretoko Pass usually closes from late November through late April, so in winter you can’t drive directly from Utoro to Rausu — you have to go around via Shibetsu. Rausu has three gas stations. If you’re heading there for the Steller’s sea eagle cruise or drift ice diving, fill up before you go in.

Frequently asked questions

When is the best time to go?

February. Most of the 43 places are open in February, when the snow festivals and the drift ice both overlap. In January the ice hasn’t fully formed for some activities, and by March some of them have ended. Note that February also overlaps with festivals across the island, so roads and lodging get crowded.

Is the drift ice guaranteed?

No — there are days you won’t see it. Drift ice moves with the wind, so even if it’s reached the shore, it can drift back out to sea the next day. Icebreaker cruises still run even without drift ice, but drift ice walks and SUP tours are cancelled. Shiretoko Alpa publishes its success rate at roughly 75%. Rather than fixing a single day to see the drift ice, plan for either of two days — that makes it harder to miss.

Can I go with children?

It depends. Some activities have a minimum age: Rusutsu’s dog sledding is age 4+, Tomamu’s snow rafting is age 3+, and the drift ice walk requires elementary school age and a height of 130cm or more. Children cannot take part in the winter Shiretoko Goko tour, drift ice diving, or Tomamu’s snowcat tour. Check the age column in the table. Where nothing is stated officially, we’ve written “—”.

Do I need a reservation?

Almost any guided experience requires one. Smelt fishing, watching cranes and swans, jewelry ice, and the festivals don’t need reservations. If you plan to rent equipment, capacity is limited. Check the “Reservation” column in the table.

What should I do about places without confirmed 2027 dates?

The table shows the usual timing, but that’s last year’s actuals, not a promise. These move with ice thickness, so confirm the official announcement before you book lodging or plan your route. You can reach each operator’s official page from the table.

Where can I find places to sleep in my vehicle in winter?

We checked, one by one, whether Hokkaido’s RV parks are open in winter, using each park’s official page. The results are in 13 RV parks and roadside stations open for winter camping. For a comparison of every RV park, see the full Hokkaido RV park list.

For cold-weather and winter-road preparation, see the Hokkaido campervan winter guide. For staying warm overnight, see what to check before sleeping in a campervan in winter. For month-by-month low temperatures, see Hokkaido winter temperatures.