14 Best Sights in Hokkaido, Japan

A stop for every tour bus route in the region, this collection of small lakes sits on a forested precipice above the ocean. It takes just over an hour to walk around all five lakes on boardwalk paths, and there are some newer boardwalks for the city slickers who don't want to get their shoes dusty. The lakes are lovely reflecting pools for the mountains, but crowds do disturb the idyll a bit. Luckily, most tour groups only circle the first two lakes. Park at the Nature Center, and get bus tickets for the 20-minute drive Shiretoko Goko and beyond. Guided tours off the boardwalk paths are also available depending on the season. Check their website for available guides. During certain times (bear season or times when the ecosystem is particularly sensitive), you might have to pay for a guide or pay to attend a lecture before setting out.

Upopoy, meaning "singing in a large group" in the Ainu language, is the National Ainu Museum and Park. Opened in 2020, this impressive facility "aims to build a society where Ainu pride is recognized, raise awareness of Ainu history and culture, and help to forge a future for the Ainu people." The large permanent exhibition in the museum covers aspects of Ainu culture including language, farming, fishing, and migration. Exhibits have explanations in both Japanese and English, and there are sections especially designed for children. Performances of Ainu singing and dancing take place year-round inside the cultural exchange hall, and also outdoors during the summer months. The kotan, traditional village, has demonstrations of archery and canoeing, plus several traditional houses with thatched roofs. It's a great day-trip from Sapporo, or a stopping-off point on the way to Noboribetsu Onsen.

Spartan cells line the central corridors in five wooden prison blocks, showing how the convicts who built much of early Hokkaido lived out their years. Used between 1912 and 1984, the prison is now a museum with cell blocks, watchtowers, and farm buildings. Only the most heinous criminals were banished to this forbidding northern outpost, the Alcatraz of Japan. Anguished-looking mannequins illustrate the grimness of life behind bars, and how for those who did escape it could be even worse. If you're in the mood, try out a prison meal—a tray with a bowl of rice, a piece of fish, miso soup, and a few pickles.

In the middle of winter, Akan International Crane Center is one of the key locations for viewing the stately red crowned cranes. The museum teachers visitors about the anatomy of the cranes, their courtship behaviors, and the kindness of Yamazaki-san who began feeding corn to cranes in winter and helped their population grow. The center is 60 minutes from Kushiro Station by bus.

With more than 5,000 plant varieties, these gardens are a cool summer retreat. Highlights include a small Northern Peoples Museum with a grisly but fascinating 13-minute film of an Ainu bear-killing ceremony in Asahikawa in 1935, and a stuffed husky sharing a room with bears and an Ezo wolf. This glassy-eyed hound in Hokkaido's oldest museum in the center of the park is Taro, one of the canine survivors abandoned in a 1958 Antarctic expedition—a story brought to non-Japanese audiences in the Disney movie Eight Below (2006). After his ordeal, Taro retired to Hokkaido University, died in 1970, and remains here in dusty, shaggy glory.

For many Japanese, lavender is one of the favorite souvenirs Hokkaido, and this is the farm where it all started—back in 1903. Now thousands of visitors come to see fields of lavender, poppies, cosmos, herbs, and marigolds. Irodori is the field with flowers planted in seven strips, each a different color. Lavender peak season is early July to early August. During this time, the JR Lavender Farm Station—seven minutes closer than JR Nakafurano Station—is open. This is worth a look if you're a flower aficionado.

A volcanic crater in a bow-shaped valley, Jigokudani has hundreds of multicolored geysers pulsing like the heartbeat of Earth itself. Not to worry, though; the walkways to photo-ops have handrails and are very safe. It's a short walk from all Noboribetsu hotels and well worth a look. There's no admission fee or formal open hours, but parking is ¥500 during the day.

Step back into 19th-century Hokkaido and see the herring-fleet dormitory, where 60 fishermen appear to have just folded up their futons and left for a day's work, or the village clinic where a Dr. Kondo seems to have vanished, leaving his scary-looking birthing table and books behind. It's easy to spend a few hours walking in and out of 60 historic homes, shops, farms, and offices brought here from all over Hokkaido. This park museum very effectively depicts how ordinary Japanese lived and worked under Japan's policy to develop Ezo into Hokkaido before the Russians could. You can ride down the main street in a horse-drawn trolley (in summer) or sleigh (in winter). Ask for the excellent free English guide at the ticket counter.

On the cobbled waterfront of Motomachi, the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses now bustle with shops, bars, and restaurants. Enjoy harbor cruises, cheer on street entertainers, or poke your head into glassblowing studios. In December there's a giant Canadian Christmas tree and nightly fireworks. The place is a 1½-km (1-mile) walk from Hakodate Station.

Rated as one of Japan's three finest night views, the Mount Hakodate Observatory delivers sweeping views of urban Hakodate and the surrounding mountains and ocean after dark. The easiest way to get to the viewpoint is to take the cable car from the base of the mountain. Depending on the season, it operates until 9 or 10 pm daily.

Noboribetsu Date Jidaimura is a touristy, culture park that's a good year round option for families with budding ninjas. There's a village of merchant houses, samurai residences, and shrines that are manned by numerous staff dressed as geisha, samurai, merchants, innkeepers, and ninjas. The shows are in Japanese, but international families will enjoy many of the activities including a disorientating ninja maze house, and posing for photos with the performers. If you'd like to dress up in Edo period costumes then stop by the Utsuro-kan to embrace your warrior spirit. The park is located just off the main road connecting Noboribetsu Station with Noboribetsu Onsen and is easily accessible by bus from the Noboribetsu Station (¥190) or taxi.

Otaru Canal is the town's most famous attraction, located eight blocks downhill from JR Otaru Station. The canal is pretty in winter and is at its most photogenic during the "Otaru Snow Light Path," when the walkways beside the canal are illuminated by flickering candles. The Otaru Snow Light Path is held around the same time as the Sapporo Snow Festival due to the huge increase in visitors coming to the area. Next to the canal you'll find Sakaemachi Street Historic District, which is charming year-round: old banks and trading houses have been converted into boutiques and shops. Don't miss the music-box collection and the musical steam clock at Marchen Square on the eastern end of the district.

Leap off a ski jump into the freezing air and land like a pro—or not. In this museum at the base of the Olympic Okura Jump, a realistic simulator lets you comparing jump distances. The 1972 Winter Olympics and other Japanese sporting successes in skating, curling, and many forms of skiing are celebrated with displays interesting even to nonsporting types. Outside the museum, take the chairlift to the top of the real ski jump for a chilling view of what athletes face before takeoff. From the Maruyama Koen Subway Station it is a 10-minute taxi ride, or take Bus No. 14 from Maruyama Bus Terminal to Okurayama Kyogijyo Iriguchi bus stop (10 minutes) then walk a further 10 minutes. Sapporo hopes to host the 2030 Winter Olympics, which will bring more attention to the island's great resorts.

A rumbling sound track and shaking floors re-create the area's 1977 and 2000 volcanic eruptions in this small information center. Although there's a good explanation of the science involved in this place where eruptions happen roughly every 30 years, the museum is less useful in describing the impact on the lives of locals. This museum shares a building with the Toyako Onsen Visitor Center.