Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival: Winter Wonderland

5 Ratings

Sapporo

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Discover Hokkaido’s enchanting winter wonderland at Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival. Enjoy ice sculptures, slides, and family fun in a magical setting.

Duration: 8 hours

Cancellation: 24 hours

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Highlights

Travel Hokkaido - Price Includes
• Charter Bus Transportation
• Tour Guide
• Entrance Fees
• Light Dinner/Snack
Price Excludes
• Any Private Expenses
• Hot Spring Fee (visiting local hot springs is optional and can be included in your schedule)
What to Expect
The journey begins at 1pm from Sapporo Station, heading to Lake Shikotsu…

What's Included

Local guide
Snacks
Driver/guide

What's Not Included

Souvenir photos (available to purchase)

Additional Information

Experience the enchanting winter wonderland of Hokkaido at the Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival. Annually, Lake Shikotsu hosts a breathtaking local festival, utilizing water from the lake to create mesmerizing displays. The event offers entertainment for the entire family, featuring ice sculptures, ice structures, outdoor exhibits, ice slides, a petite ice…

Location

Sapporo Station

From the main JR train station, please use the North Exit on the East ticket gate side. There is a Dotour Coffee Shop where we ask people to wait, but if you look outside, you will see a bus car park directly in front of you and a member of our team will also be holding a 'Travel Hokkaido' sign.

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings

5.0

(5 Ratings)

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421leighc

Feb 14, 2020

Awesome night trip - Had an awesome time at the ice festival at night. Such a beautiful place and even better with all the lights illuminating the ice. Favourite part was the giant ice wall and slide

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Dynamic14

Feb 11, 2020

Awesome experience - Open daily from 9am - 10pm, the Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival only happens about 3 weeks in Jan/Feb. Hubby had booked the tour even before arriving in Japan and we were looking forward to discover this yearly festival. We met our tour group at the JR station and it took us about 1.5 hours to reach the site by bus. Our guide brought us around to familiarise us with the surroundings before we met again at 4.30pm for an early dinner. We took the opportunity to snap some pretty pictures of the lake and check out the ice festival where various ice sculptures were exhibited as well as an ice rink and a slide. There is an Observatory which we did not visit due to the many steps. Also a museum at the visitor centre. Various food outlets are on site and we had a lovely dinner at one of them together with our group. The ice cream was thick and creamy, made from Hokkaidō milk. After dinner, we went to view the ice festival light up and enjoyed the drum performance. At 6.30pm, on weekends, during the festival, we managed to enjoy the fireworks display before calling it a day.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Sharonybl

Feb 2, 2020

An experience at least once if your life time - this day tour was very well arranged, great communication and helpful advise from the day I booked. Our guide and driver were very friendly and helpful. It is a small group so everyone got to know one another and became friends. So it was great! The ice village experience itself was fantastic, lots of snow. I am glad I joined this day tour. It was very very cold (but there is a place to buy hot snacks and drinks plus a place to get warm). Make sure you have waterproof boots and very thermal/wool socks. Tip: get hand and feet warmers which you can buy from the convenient stores before you get on this trip. Dinner was included and it was very good! Thank you, Peta Jeffrey and Mr. Driver (sorry I did not get your name).

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Martintmrupp

Feb 1, 2020

Beautiful local ice festival with super friendly tour guides - We took this tour because it is very hard to get to the festival just for one day by public transportation. This tour is by far the best option if you want to experience the most of the festival. The festival itself is a must if you are in the area in winter. The ice sculptures are all hand build by local people and the festival area has a very family atmosphere with things to do for kids, couples and everyone. In the small village of Shikotsu you can experiance local foods and drinks. I strongly recommend the hot sake (amazake).

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Suzewearsshoes

Sep 11, 2019

Exactly what we were looking for - My husband and I were looking for a way to experience some of Hokkaido’s beautiful scenery and events that weren’t accessible via public transport, but we didn’t have time for the full-day or multi-day tours that are typically offered. Enter Travel Hokkaido! Several of their tours were for half a day - we chose an evening trip to Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival, which was out of this world. We really appreciated the flexibility the shorter tour offered, and at a very reasonable price, too. Communication through website and email was quick and very helpful, and Peta also kept us up-to-date on the day as well. The pickup from Sapporo station was easy and we were delighted at how relaxed and friendly they were. (As a side note, I loved that they had brought their baby since another family also had kids with them! He was a delight and it was really clear how much Travel Hokkaido was a part of Shunsuke and Peta’s life). The journey to the festival was a little delayed (through no fault of TH) and Peta was extremely accommodating in making sure everyone was comfortable and relaxed. Everything was taken care of and clearly explained. The Ice Festival itself - wow! If you have a chance to experience it, I would highly recommend it. It’s not a huge event, but so extraordinary beautiful and magical. We really appreciated the opportunity to visit as without a car it would have been impossible. Thank you Shinsuke and Peta for your warm hospitality and excellent hosting! If (hopefully when!) we make it back to Hokkaido we will undoubtedly be returning for more trips with you :)

Review provided by Tripadvisor

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