Furano Activities

There are many things to do in and around Furano. In addition to Furano guided ski tours, there are other on-snow things to do in Furano, onsen experiences, or fun kids activities.

Furano Ski Tours & Day Trips to Other Ski Areas

If you are looking for a guided Furano ski tour of the off-piste and sidecountry areas, there are a few options for Furano ski guiding services. The Furano guiding is for private groups only ie you cannot join a group. If you’re a solo or duo, you can pay the premium to have your own guide for the day, or alternatively there are various multi-day mixed group tours that are based out of Furano for all or part of the trip – see Furano ski tour options here.

The Furano day guiding trips are ideal for advanced and expert riders, but as it’s your private tour, strong intermediate riders with some off-piste experience could also participate.

These Furano-based guiding companies also provide trips to nearby ski areas. Hokkaido gets micro storms where it may dump in one valley but not in another, so if the powder or conditions at Furano aren’t ideal, the guides can take you to another nearby area. The guides have plenty of local knowledge about the best area to hit depending on the forecast and typical weather patterns.

The tours may involve a tiny bit of hiking but primarily use the lifts to access all that fabulous powder, but as it’s your private tour, you’ll be able to influence how much you want to hike or ski tour/splitboard.

If you are looking for Furano guiding for multiple days, you could consider a multi-day tour inclusive of guiding, transport and lodging. These can be bespoke private tours or there are various mixed group trips.

White Room Tours provide a range of private off-piste, sidecountry and backcountry tours at Furano as well as nearby ski areas.

Summit Ski is another option.

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Furano Backcountry Skiing

The Tokachidake area (about an hour drive away) has three main areas for backcountry skiing with Mt Tokachi, Furano-dake and the Three Step Mountain. If you like to earn your turns, this area offers remarkable backcountry skiing and boarding! To end the day, the reddy-brown outdoor onsen at the Ryounkaku ryokan at Tokachidake is also pretty legendary and offers some spectacular views.

A good spot for inclement weather days is the Take Noro Yama backcountry area near Minami Furano. This goes up to approximately 1,200 metres in the sub-alpine and offers a vertical drop of about 700 metres. Some parts are reasonably mellow whilst there are also some steep treed pitches in the mid-section of the hill.

Ashibetsudake is another popular Furano backcountry skiing destination, and can incorporate multi-day touring staying at the Yufure-goya Hut.

WhiteRoom Tours offer private backcountry guiding from Furano to Tokachidake, Asahidake and Kurodake, and also to the backcountry areas around the Furano Ski Resort such as Furano-nishi-dake.

Summit Ski is another good option for Furano backcountry guiding or ski touring/splitboarding at other Central Hokkaido zones.

Photography Tours

Another option for exploring the many powder stashes is on a guided photographic tour with Sea and Summit Media.

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Family Activities Furano

Head to Furano Snow Land where they offer a plethora of Furano activities including snow rafting, snowmobiling tandem rides, banana boating, cross country skiing, snow shoeing, and sledding. Furano Snow Land is located just a 2 minute walk from the New Furano Prince Hotel.
The Prince Hotel also holds various events for families and treasure hunts for kids.

Also near the New Furano Prince Hotel is Furano Kan Kan Mura, the snow night fantasy village where there are a few activities and an ice café.

A little down the road from the New Furano Prince Hotel is dog sledding with Furano Trekking Support Yuma.

Adventure Activities

Furano snowmobiling is a popular Furano activity. There are a few companies that offer snowmobiling, with variability in the length of the trail ride, the power of the snowmobiles, and the cost.

Other Furano winter activities for a bit of excitement include snowshoeing, hot air ballooning, and ice hole fishing if you really want to freeze your butt off.

Leisure Activities Furano

Leisure options include a visit to the cheese factory or wine tasting at one of the wineries which have surprisingly good wine. Wandering around the quaint town of Furano is also enjoyable.

The Asahiyama Zoo near Asahikawa is an interesting visit, where you can see super cute penguins, seals and polar bears. There are sometimes shuttle buses to get between Furano and the zoo.

Furano Onsen

Onsen options in Furano are somewhat limited. A few of the Furano hotels and pensions have communal baths that are not true onsen, but are still nice for relaxing. One example is Hotel Edel Warme.

Hotel Naturwald Onsen has a few indoor baths and a rotenburo for each gender which is a “milk bath” which looks pretty cool. It’s open for day trippers after 3pm.

Hotel Bell Hills in Kitanomine has day trip bathing from 3pm to 9pm. There are indoor and “open-air” baths, although the ladies’ bath in particular is more like an indoor bath with a window that opens.

The New Furano Prince Hotel Shisai No yu allows non hotel guests in the afternoon. It also has a sauna and massage service to complete your relaxation.

Onsen Highland Furano is a public onsen adjacent to the Highland Furano Hotel, and about 6km northwest of Kitanomine. Popular with the locals, the onsen baths are renowned for offering views of the lavender fields during summer. The views aren’t not rave worthy in winter, but both the indoor and outdoor baths are quite nice.

Or if onsen is high on your priorities, you may want to stay at La Vista Furano Hills in downtown Furano. The indoor onsen baths are lovely and the outdoor onsen offers views of the mountains. The outdoor area also has small individual baths and there are private baths on a first-come first-served basis. 

Onsen Near Furano

Furano Tourism used to run onsen tours to Tokachidake but it appears these bus trips are no longer in operation. The Tokachidake onsen are probably most ideal if you are skiing or riding at Tokachidake and you want a relaxing soak to finish the day before returning to Furano. Tokachidake is about 40 minutes drive from Furano.

At Tokachidake, a popular onsen is at the Ryounkaku ryokan and it features red-brown water. On fine days, the views from the outdoor baths are amazing.

Just down from the road from the Tokachidake Onsen village is Fukiage Onsen. You can head to the Hakuginso Onsen Centre which has lovely indoor baths, and the outdoor baths are particularly aesthetically pleasing. In addition to gender specific baths, there are also mixed baths.  

Or there is the free public Fukiage Onsen baths which are completely outdoors and you just get changed on the side of the pools. The onsen is mixed gender and the baths may be so hot that you might not be able to remain immersed for too long, so hopefully you’re not shy. You probably could get away with wearing your bathers in these baths if you really didn’t want to go au naturel. It’s a few minutes walk from the car park down to the baths.

If you’re skiing or riding at Asahidake for the day, there are a few onsen options in the village.

Or if you’re skiing at Kamui for the day, you could have an onsen at Ashibetsu Onsen Starlight Hotel on the way back to Furano.

See our Japanese onsen overview for tips on the etiquette of using an onsen.

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