Hot Springs & History 7 Day Self-Guided Tour Tour Information

Essentials

• Light-coloured long-sleeved tops (or lightweight hoodie) and long hiking pants

  • We highly recommend long clothes, even in summer. Insects, including ticks, are common in Hokkaido’s mountains. Long sleeves and pants will protect you from them, as well as the rays of the sun.

• Waterproof jacket & overtrousers

• Footwear suitable for walking on uneven hiking trails

  • While some people will find low cut hiking shoes suitable for this tour, you may appreciate the support of mid to high cut hiking boots on longer hikes or steeper sections of the trails.

• Fleece or synthetic insulated jacket

  • Hokkaido is prone to cold snaps even during summer. It's worth packing at least one warm layer, if you don't need it then you got lucky with the weather!

• Thermal layers top & bottom (for June & September tours only)

• Base layers top & bottom

• Spare pairs of socks

• Gloves, beanie, and other items to keep you warm (on cold or wet days)

• Sun hat, sunscreen, and sunglasses

• Water bottle or hydration system of more than 1L

• Toiletries

• Personal medications

• Rain cover for backpack

• Backpack of at least 15L 

• Eco-friendly shopping bag and any other item to reduce single-use plastic waste

• Travel insurance

• Passport

  • It is a requirement for accommodation providers to take a photocopy of the passport of international visitors.

• Cash in Japanese yen

  • Small restaurants and shops in rural parts of Japan do not accept credit cards. Lunch in general costs 1,000-1,500 yen and dinner 2,000-3,000 yen. You can withdraw cash from an ATM at a post office and 7-Eleven convenience stores.

• Smartphone with travel sim

  • Essential to stay in touch, translate and find your way around

Recommended

• Quick-dry hand towel

• Walking poles

• A pair of gaiters

• Cellphone power bank

• Familiar snacks to eat during activities

• Binoculars

• Camera

• Field guide (to help you identify any new wildlife you find!)

• First aid kit

• Insect repellent

We Provide

• Hiking maps and GPX data for the trails

• Transport details and times

Going self-guided means being your own boss - you have complete control over the day’s schedule, from what to eat to how long to spend at a destination. This tour is therefore perfect for independent travellers who love the flexibility that comes with travelling alone. It also makes a great self-guided extension to any of our more involved guided tours!

Being your own boss does of course mean that you must take responsibility for yourself to a certain degree. You will travel by public transport on this tour. As such, we provide detailed daily cue sheets for you so that you can stay up to date on essential information, such as train or bus departure and arrival times, and how much it costs. If this is your first time travelling by yourself in Japan, read our guide to using public transport in Hokkaido.

Accommodation bookings are taken care of by us and we provide vouchers for you to hand to staff, so that the check-in process at accommodations is seamless and easy.

However, to get the most out of the information we provide you will need a data connection for your phone, either with a Japanese SIM card or data roaming. You can read our guide on how to set up your phone for travel in Hokkaido to make sure you will be connected. This also is a huge help with any language issues you face - online translation is just a click away.

A luggage transfer service is not included in this tour, so you will need to carry it with you when travelling. Between hikes, we recommend that you leave your luggage either with your accommodation’s front desk or at coin lockers in stations. You can also use Yamato’s amazing luggage-forwarding service to send larger, more bulky luggage ahead to other destinations (please note that this is not a same-day service – please allow up to 72 hours for your luggage to arrive).

We will send you a link to our online sign up form, where we ask for the travel information of all the members travelling with you. 

Once we receive this, we will send you an invoice for your tour deposit, which is JPY 50,000 per person. We will confirm your booking upon receipt of your deposit payment.

The deposit is treated as a part of the tour price. Payment of the balance will be reminded by email, which is generally 5 weeks prior to the tour departure date.

We accept payment via Wise or Flywire. We will send you payment links, which you can use to send payment directly to ourselves (you don't need to create a Wise or Flywire account to send the funds). When paying via Wise, payment is available in Japanese Yen only, and you must pay any currency exchange or transfer fees by yourself. 

For credit card payment or domestic bank transfer converted to your own currency, we use Flywire, which will incur an additional transaction fee of 1.5%.

By paying for a deposit or full amount, you confirm that you have read, understand and agree to these Terms and Conditions.

Self-guided tours must be booked a minimum of 3 months in advance. This is in order to ensure the best experience and to give our team time to book everything needed for your self-guided tour. Unfortunately, anything less than this is too tight of a turnaround! If you are looking to book a departure within three months, consider one of the remaining spaces on our guided tours instead.

While we can make small tweaks to the self-guided tours, at the time of writing we are not able to arrange custom itineraries. This means that large itinerary changes (removing paid activities, changing the route, shortening or lengthening the itinerary etc) are not possible. One exception is the addition of any pre-or-post tour nights you may need.

Get in touch if you would like to change the start date of your self-guided tour due to unforeseen changes. We will check availability with the accommodation and activity providers and let you know if it is possible.

Provided there are no change fees from the providers, we will change your start date free of charge once. For any subsequent changes, we will ask you pay 30,000 yen for the change.

Absolutely! This is a must for all travellers joining our tours. Please make sure you have valid travel insurance, covering the kind of activities you are undertaking during our tour, cancellations, loss of personal belongings, and any unforeseen circumstances while travelling. We will require the details of your travel insurance provider such as the name, policy number and phone number prior to the commencement of the tour.

If you're a Japanese citizen and on Japan's national health insurance scheme, we can mitigate our insurance requirement, although we still strongly recommend that you have flight cancellations and related expenses covered by some kind of insurance. Often your credit card provider can offer this coverage.

The answer to this question depends entirely on how you behave in their territory. Hokkaido is home to the Brown Bear (Ursus arctos), in Japanese we call it higuma, and it can grow to more than 2 metres in height and weigh up to 300kg. While the thought of meeting such a huge wild animal can be frightening, in reality it is a rare and special experience to see them in their natural habitat.

Recent studies have shown that their numbers have been increasing over the past 20 years and they are, from time to time, sighted in towns and villages located near the mountains. Of course, the population of these magnificent animals is mainly concentrated in the mountains, so there’s a much higher chance of hikers and nature lovers catching sight of one while in their territory.

However, the reality is that you are very unlikely to see a bear on tour. On average, our guides see bears from the hiking trail only once or twice a season so it’s really special when we see one. They are shy creatures and they don’t like to get into conflict unless it is completely unavoidable. When a group of people are walking in their habitat, chatting and making noise, bears generally will distance themselves from us and we won’t even notice their presence. A lot of solo hikers will call out and clap on the trail to let bears know that they are there, allowing bears plenty of time to give the hiker a wide berth.

Bears have a keen sense of smell, so leaving food scraps and trash on the trail is a really bad idea. That’s how they learn that we humans carry easy food with us. 

In the very unlikely event that you do come across a bear behaving threateningly, resist the urge to panic and run away. If you are with a guide, follow the instructions of your guide to the letter. All of our guides carry bear spray that they know how to use in the very rare event that a situation takes a turn for the worse.

Japan has a very low crime rate and street muggings or attacks are a rare occurrence. With that being said, they can happen, usually on poorly lit side streets in urban areas. Young foreign women can sometimes become targets for stalkers, too. So, even though Japan is a safe country on the whole, please use your common sense when walking alone at night and keep your wits about you. Keep your valuables well out of sight and stick to well-lit and populated roads if you can.

As the Japanese government has continued to relax Covid-19 entry restrictions, we also feel that it is appropriate for us to relax our own rules for tour participation. As such, we no longer require participants on our tours to have received a Covid-19 vaccination.

As for other vaccines, Japan is a sanitised and clean country, so you can travel without needing vaccinations or medication for diseases that might be a concern in other parts of Asia (such as typhoid, Yellow Fever or malaria). Japan has also been rabies-free since the 1950s so you do not need a rabies vaccine.

The only disease you may need to be concerned about is Japanese encephalitis, a very rare virus spread by mosquitoes that can affect the brain. Although an encephalitis vaccine is not a necessity due to the very low number of cases diagnosed in Japan each year, talk to your healthcare professional if you still wish to have the vaccine or if you have any concerns about the virus.

The Japan Rail Pass was once a fantastic option for travellers, as it allowed virtually unlimited train rides for a very reasonable price. However, the price of the pass jumped by a whopping 70% in 2023, making it a much less desirable option for many. More specifically, the current total price of the pass exceeds all transportation fare for our self-guided tours combined. As such, we do not recommend the Japan Rail Pass for our self-guided tours. However, if you intend to travel around Japan’s main island Honshu before or after your self-guided tour, and make extensive use of the Shinkansen rail system there, then the pass may very well save you some money.

We provide a variety of local accommodation from traditional Japanese inns called ryokan and guest houses to hotels. Depending on the location of the tours and itinerary, we do our best to choose accommodation that suits the tour’s travel style. You can read some more detailed information about types of accommodation here, but the basics are below.

It is also important to be aware that Japan does not have a “star” grading system as hotels in Western countries do. Do keep this in mind when it comes to ryokan and minshuku (see below), as they cannot really be compared with Western-style hotels or equated with anything in the “star” system.

A ryokan (旅館) is a traditional Japanese inn and it is the epitome of Japanese hospitality and cuisine. They are often located in natural surroundings and feature Japanese style rooms with tatami mats with paper partitions and futons. Each ryokan prides itself on its cuisine, featuring seasonal local ingredients. We usually enjoy these meals together as a group and they consist of a number of different courses, with a great variety of dishes. Many ryokan also have on-site natural hot springs for their guests to enjoy during their stay. If you’re after an authentic experience in Japan, we recommend staying at a ryokan for a night or two!

A minshuku (民宿) is another type of accommodation we often use on our tours. Frequently translated as a guesthouse, in many cases, a minshuku is a house of the owners who operate an accommodation business on a smaller scale. In Hokkaido, many minshuku have natural hot springs, and provide guests with bathrooms for communal use. Since the minshuku facilities are smaller and the service is all delivered by the friendly owners themselves, they make for the perfect opportunity to interact with the local people and travellers staying overnight. 

Since the majority of our adventures take place in rural regions of Hokkaido, we cannot offer en-suites every night throughout our tours. There will be times when we will stay in accommodation that has a shared shower or toilet as described above. In such cases we will make a clear note of it in our trip notes to you.

While vegetarianism and veganism are catching on in larger urban areas, across much of Japan it is still unheard of. Outside of main cities, there are very few pure vegetarian or vegan restaurants available and many Japanese do not have a clear understanding of what exactly qualifies a food as being truly vegan or vegetarian.

If you are travelling to Hokkaido as a vegan or vegetarian, you will have to accept that you may not be able to experience the full scope of Japanese food as your other travellers might. With advance notice and clear direction, some restaurants and accommodations are happy to cater to your requirements so please let us know your needs at the time of booking, but some facilities may choose to simply remove dishes from your meal instead of making a substitute. The main challenge is “dashi”, a meat or fish-based broth that is very commonly added to Japanese dishes. This can be hard to remove from Japanese cooking (it’s a bit like asking a European chef not to add salt and pepper!) as it is integral to a number of dishes.

See our Vegan & Vegetarian in Hokkaido blog to learn more.

Hokkaido is a vast region spanning different altitudes, climates and biomes. It is quite hard to say for certain what the weather will be like where you are going, so it is better instead to look at the weather in a specific region in the specific month that your tour will be visiting.

For hikers, we have a blog post the covers weather in Daisetsuzan National Park in detail. For other regions however, there are some general patterns that apply which we have outlined for you here!

Winter

While the mountains are usually covered in snow by November, the first snows usually fall on lowland areas by the start of December. By the start of January, all of Hokkaido is covered in snow. Across all of Hokkaido, temperatures are below zero and may fall as low as -20C or lower in some areas. Snowfall blankets most regions, thicker on the mountains and in central and northern regions where the air is drier. There is less heavy snow on the coastlines, but increased humidity can make these regions feel quite a bit more chilly than inland. Winter in Hokkaido is generally quite cloudy and overcast-- despite what you may have seen in promotional images, sunny days are something of a rarity.

Spring

The thaw tends to come between early March and mid-April, depending on the region. Although snow still falls, it no longer settles on the ground except for in areas of high altitude (it is possible to enjoy winter sports on the mountains even in March!) By May, most of the snow has disappeared from low-lying areas, leaves begin to bud and flowers start to bloom. The weather is mostly clear and pleasantly cool during the day, perfect for cycling and walking in lowland areas. However, snow is still piled up thickly on the mountain trails and nights can still dip below zero.

Summer

June marks the start of summer on the coast and low-lying areas, where bright green forests burst into life. Wildlife activity is at a peak from June through to July, with whales visiting the east coast and brown bears and their cubs roaming the forests. However, at high altitude, June is still considered spring! On smaller mountains, the snows recede from the trails and are gone by mid-June. At higher altitudes, notably the Daisetsuzan National Park, the snows remain on the trails right into July, finally receding from around the second half of the month. Alpine flowers begin to bloom from around late June and hit their peak in July. By August, the snows have completely gone from all of Hokkaido's mountains and the hiking season hits its peak during the first half of the month. Hokkaido is not as hot as other parts of Japan, but the central and southern areas in recent years have seen days above 30C. Coastal areas, the north and the east however tend to hover around 26C - 28C. Of course, temperatures are much colder at altitude-- below 10C in some cases, such as Mt. Asahidake. This is why we ask our clients to bring warm layers, gloves and hats for their hike, even in summer!

Autumn

At high altitudes, summer is short and by late August, there are signs of autumn appearing in the mountains. Early autumn flowers herald the start of the changing seasons. By early September, the first signs of autumn foliage can be seen on the peaks of Daisetsuzan National Park. On the other hand, at ground level, the heat of summer has abated and the mornings and evenings return to being pleasantly cool, making for great outdoor activity conditions. Late September sees the peak autumn foliage at Daisetsuzan National Park, the first autumn foliage in Japan, which then sweeps down the mountains in a grand circle, enveloping the rest of Hokkaido as it goes. By mid-October, low-lying areas are also enjoying autumn foliage and the snows begin to crest Hokkaido's mountains. By the end of November, the mountains are covered in snow and the autumn foliage has finished, leaving a landscape waiting for the magical winter. Autumn weather is pretty changeable in Hokkaido, with sudden showers all over the region. By November, the clouds characteristic of winter tend to become more and more common until, one day, the precipitation falls not as rain but as snow. And so, the cycle begins again!

Tipping is not a part of Japanese culture and is not expected. Most jobs pay a high enough wage that workers can make a living without tips and service charges are often included as standard at restaurants, bars and so on (but this being Japan, you of course don’t pay a service charge and get nothing in return– you might get a little extra side dish called “otōshi” or some free bar snacks!) However, if you do wish to tip, feel free to do so. Nobody is going to mind the extra cash (even if you may have to reassure them several times that it’s okay to keep the money)!

Some cultural background– tattoos have historically been associated with criminals in Japan. This has led to a culture where bathers sporting tattoos are sometimes turned away from onsen.

However, the truth is that most Japanese only really apply this rule to other Japanese people. Thanks to Japan’s growing popularity as a tourism destination, most Japanese understand that tattoos have different meanings in foreign cultures and will often apply exceptions for foreigners who wish to use an onsen. Above all else, if you are a paying guest at an onsen’s accommodation facilities, staff are very unlikely to deny you entry to the baths! Still, if you have tattoos, the best thing to do is let us know as soon as you can, especially if your tattoos are large or cover a lot of your body (particularly the chest, back, neck and arms). We can check the “unofficial policy” on tattoos with your accommodation in advance.