We’ve been to Furano many times and we return for good reason. We’ve spoken to some people who dislike Furano because they feel there isn’t much off-piste or sidecountry skiing (and it seems the review below didn’t think there was much scope for off-piste), and we reflected on this during our latest trip. There is a large cohort of advanced riders that are looking for “low hanging fruit” powder where it feels safe and the ingress and egress is really obvious, like at Rusutsu or Niseko. This sort of easy-access off-piste is often also tracked out. Furano is somewhat different and it has lots of nooks and crannies to explore. Not everyone has the skills or appetite for exploration, so guiding has become quite key for a lot of visitors to Furano.

We spent some of our time with a Whiteroom guide and whilst we’re explorers at heart and have seen many parts of the terrain, he took us to a couple of different lines that we’d probably never hit before and the powder was divine. It really cemented just how much we love Furano with its pitchy and varied terrain. It’s bizarre to think that just a decade or so ago, tree skiing was staunchly banned at Furano and going off-piste was heavily policed (so white outfits were required), whereas this strength of Furano has now been embraced.

We’d heard feedback that Furano had become quite busy, particularly with the Asian market, and that lift lines for the ropeway were dreadful. For us, the lift capacity was OK, with the exception of the first ride up the ropeway. If only they’d open up the Kitanomine gondola and Link Lift earlier to spread the load a bit.

We stayed at Fenix West in a hotel room which provided lovely views up to the slopes, and we enjoyed heading down to town each night for dinner for some good Japanese fare. Getting into a restaurant has become somewhat harder and booking ahead was required.

Furano continues to be our fave ski resort in Japan.
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We were based in the Furano township with our two children (9 and 10 years) for over a week and skied at Furano / Kitanomine for 3 days during that time. Our children are intermediate skiers and the field was a great location for the family to ski together with a good range of different runs including some fun and accessible trails through the trees adjacent to the piste within the ski area boundary. We had small but regular snow falls during our stay which made for excellent consistent conditions on piste. The views towards Daisetsuzan National Park were spectacular and the kids particularly enjoyed the night skiing at Kitanomine. The restaurant on the Kitanomine side had good value quality dishes and coped well with the busy lunchtime rush. We can’t comment on the nightlife or backcountry conditions as that wasn’t the purpose of our visit but we did enjoy staying in the Furano township which was well serviced -
we would thoroughly recommend trying the local fare in particular Furano’s Jingisukan lamb dish.
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Excellent powder resort, moderate size, variety of beg to advanced terrain. Not too crowded. Another Japanese gem. Not big enough for more than 4-7 days, as with most Japanese resorts. Niseko area gets a little more snow.
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I had high hopes for Furano. The queues are very long, restaurants are fully booked, the resort is overrun with tourists from mainly China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. It does not feel like Japan. You rarely hear Japanese spoken. The snow is great but the scope for off piste is very limited compared to say Hakuba, Rutsusku or Niseko and the time spent queuing really reduces the time skiing. I have skied in 15 resorts in Japan and Furano is my first disappointment.
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I tend to disagree with the Powderhound new review saying it is a kid friendly resort. Last year (2022/23) they closed the Kids centre on the Kitanomine side, and the magic carpet was not running (at least for the last half of the season). They also didn't run the kiddies beginner area at the base of the hooded quad on the Furano side in 22/23
I think the mountain is pretty rubbish now if you have young kids or pre-schoolers. There is a lot better resorts for families with young ones (Tommamu and Sahoro are close, and cater much better for families)
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I must admit I was surprised with the glowing reviews relative to my experience. I can see the potential of the mountain but for me there are a few glaring issues.

1. The lifts - By lift I mean the main gondola. It's slow, it's limited in numbers and it doesn't run all the time limiting your mountain access. The other lifts can be small with no foot rests making it a tiring day for boarders.

2. The runs - are all over the place and often disjointed. You really need a guide to know where to go to get linked runs, and by that I mean decent tree runs.

3. Dam Run is nice but it's a hassle to get out of with convoluted and at times hairy tracks to get back. Have to unclip and climb a bit as a boarder. Your legs are cooked by the time you get back and that's not even from the relatively short, but blissful pow turns in the top 40% of the run.

4. Wind affected in parts - was pretty exposed in parts.

5. Cafe gets super crowded which brings the joys of groups who think they own the space, just because they are wearing Avi packs for inbound trees.

6. Crowded - the mountain gets a hefty number of riders/skiers.
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If we were going to buy a house in Japan instead of spending all our money on going on more ski trips or website development, it would be in Furano (if only we’d bought one back in the 2000s) because it has so much going for it and it’s not over-priced like Niseko or Rusutsu.

The Furano Ski Resort itself is great, but we also like to use it as a base to visit other Central Hokkaido ski areas. We also love the town of Furano, because most of the Hokkaido destination ski resorts are very curated resorts, whereas Furano is a real ski town. The Kitanomine village used to be great too, but it was severely lacking during our visit in January, with limited shops (even our beloved 7-Eleven has gone) and incredibly limited dining options, which in part may have been due to Covid impacts such as staffing problems.

We’re not sure if staffing problems were also to blame for some lift issues, such as the Kitanomine gondola, which seemed to run inconsistently in early January. Queues were a little problematic at times for the gondola and ropeway, in part due to Covid procedures as well as increasing popularity.

Like other mainstream Hokkaido ski resorts, more people are chasing the powder and freshies in obvious zones are harder to come by but there is still powder. There also seemed to be more wallies out in the sidecountry without backcountry gear and with no idea where they were. There were police at the bottom of the ropeway with big signs trying to warn people about the dangers of the backcountry, but perhaps they’d be better placed at the backcountry gates, or better still, make the gates only open with a functioning beacon.

We were incredibly lucky with snow conditions again, and whilst not neck deep like the first time we visited Furano, it was still primo!

Furano is on the cusp of a boom for western developers, which makes sense considering it’s such a great ski area and town. Lots of new houses have popped up as well as two new condo buildings. It’s nice now that there is some deluxe lodging at Furano, and we enjoyed a stay at Fenix Furano opposite the Kitanomine gondola – you can see our review here.

You can see our updated pros and cons of Furano on the overview page and also see how we rate it for various categories versus other ski areas on our Hokkaido ski resorts ratings.
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My favorite place to ski so far in general, and it’s cheap. It may not snow as much as in the other Japanese resorts, but Furano has a great blend of other factors that make it an amazing place. The Furano city is a bit of a walk away so would definitely recommend a rental car, otherwise taxi is not as convenient but a viable option that allows you to experience homey restaurants with good vibes and great food. Otherwise, there are some great restaurants near the slopes, such as Inaka Soba Tamaya, a small soba restaurant owned by an elderly couple that perfectly encapsulates the spirit of rural Japan. As for the slopes and lifts, the main beginner area in the Kitanomine side is very wide and well-groomed, and you can even find a layer of powder in the morning most of the time if it has snowed, but I generally prefer the Furano side due to the beginner slope being less crowded, less steep, and having better lift infrastructure. The few quad lifts in Furano that go very fast, but the slower double lifts that provide the majority of the fun lack footrests, which is an inconvenience to snowboarders. However, lifts have never felt like an issue or an inconvenience, except for the infrequent but fast ropeway. As for terrain, Furano has quite a lot of nice piste and off piste terrain, like the premium zone, which is probably some of the steepest terrain in Japan and is very fun if there is fresh snow. However, it is often tracked out by the end of the day. Overall, the terrain in the Furano side is more fun, like the powdery ungroomed black run off the link lift, and the high black run that offers nice tree skiing. There are also runs on the Kitanomine side that have very nice and powdery side hits like off to the right of the kitanomine quad chair and many more. There are also a few forest runs, which can be a bit flat and require extra speed but have a very distinctly serene and quiet atmosphere, also with a few bits of powder off the side of the grooming. The overall experience at Furano is more homely, chill, and authentic than resorts like Niseko, and its special japanese vibe makes Furano more pleasant than resorts that get more snow but have become overrun with foreigners and lost its special-ness, like Niseko in particular. If your main focus is to have a good time and experience Japan, Furano is a must-visit.
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I had a few days at Furano in February 2020, after a last minute change in plan. A planned trip to Honshu was cancelled due to the poor snow the month I was there. My last trip to Furano was several years ago, before the gate system for side country was started. My trip also coincided with the first few coronavirus cases in Hokkaido, several of which were in the Furano area. The place wasn't deserted, but there was certainly plenty of side and slack country skiing for everyone.
It was interesting to see gate access at places where we had to surreptitiously slip under ropes a few years before. It had been a few days since the last snow when I arrived and it was too warm (this was the 19-20 season in a nutshell). The easy pickings were gone. But on the second day there was fresh snow and the temperatures dropped. I skied knee to mid thigh snow for 4 days in a row.
I suspect this would not be the experience most years. But this was probably some of the best skiing available in February 2020 Japan and I knew I was lucky.
I wouldn't be going through the gates without Avy gear and a buddy at Furano. The ski outs are pretty obvious, from the gate areas, and usually already skied by the time you need to know which way to go.
I know Furano isn't so quiet most years, but I suspect most of the crowds never go out the gates. That can only be a good thing.
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If we had to choose only one place in Japan to park ourselves for a week-long ski trip, it would have to be Furano. The Furano Ski Resort itself has plenty to offer, but it’s the combination of all the great resort and backcountry skiing options nearby that makes it come up trumps. If you’re on a multi-resort tour or have your own wheels and route-finding nouse, Furano is the ideal base for chasing powder.

Whilst the New Furano Prince Hotel is touristy cheesy, and the Kitanomine village continues to be developed and westernised, the town of Furano continues to be delightfully daggy, just like you’d expect an authentic Japanese town to be. It’s refreshing that at many of the downtown restaurants, the staff barely speak a word of English. This nice balance of westernised versus Japanese and a real town is somewhat rare to find in Japanese ski destinations.

We visited in late December at a time that should have been ridiculously busy, but it wasn’t. Perhaps this was partly due to the snow which was uncharacteristically at low tide. When we arrived in Furano, the Kitanomine side of the ski area hadn’t even opened due to a lack of snow. We were supposed to go NAC cat skiing nearby but there wasn’t enough snow for that, and a day trip to Tomamu was spent dodging a lot of bamboo in the off-piste areas. We went to Asahidake with WhiteRoom Tours because they knew that the mountain isn’t covered in bamboo, and whilst there was a fair bit of shrubbery, the guides did a great job of finding some deep stashes of powder.

And then over a few days the snow base continued to grow and we finally got to see Furano in most of its glory, with some delightfully deep powder in the upper parts of the sidecountry. The exits were rather heinous due to open creeks, which was made worse by groups of Norwegians who kept pushing through on the exit trails, without any warning that they were approaching. It reminded us of the culture that we’ve seen creeping in at Kiroro too, where very un-Japanese politeness is evident on sidecountry egress points.

We stayed in two spots: the New Furano Hotel in Kitanomine which is definitely not new; and the Furano Natulux Hotel in town. This was the first time we had stayed in downtown Furano and we really enjoyed walking exploring the various eateries, something we’d previously done via taxi.

Kitanomine continues to develop and a large apartment block was being built opposite the gondola. This is purported to house a Rhythm shop in the future, which is somewhat symbolic of the growing popularity of Furano.

See the Furano overview for our thoughts on the pros and cons of Furano and also see the Japan ski resort ratings regarding how we compare it to other ski areas.
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