Aomori City
Aomori City is located at the northern tip of the Honshu Island of Japan. This port city used to be very busy with ferries between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, until the Seikan Tunnel was built in 1988. Aomori is one of the snowiest cities in Japan, with an average of 6.6 metres of snow per winter, so it’s no surprise that up in the nearby mountains it absolutely dumps with snow. Sukayu Onsen near Hakkoda has held the world record for the highest average annual snowfall of 17.6 metres (58ft) over a 30 year period.
Aomori is a nice city to use as a base to visit nearby ski areas. It provides some lovely Japanese culture and has amazing seafood and a variety of restaurants, although it might not win any awards for the best nightlife in Japan. Aomori City has a population of about 300,000 which is slowly declining as the young party animals move to other more vibrant cities.
If you have a down day from skiing or snowboarding, you could visit the nearby Hirosaki Castle or travel to some of the amazing onsen that the prefecture has to offer.
Where is Aomori?
Aomori is located in central
Aomori Prefecture at the top of Honshu. Aomori Airport receives flights from Sapporo New Chitose, Tokyo Haneda and Osaka-Itami as well as Seoul-Incheon (Korea) and Tianjin Binhai (China). You can search for flights here. From Aomori Airport there are buses to Aomori station.
It’s really easy to get to Aomori via shinkansen (bullet train), with a trip from Tokyo to Shin-Aomori station taking just over 3 hours. The Shin-Aomori train station is also connected to Hokkaido (via undersea tunnel) and the train trip to Shin-Hakodate Hokuto takes one hour. The trip onto Sapporo takes another 3-3.5 hours, which will reduce over time as the Hokkaido Shinkansen further develops. See Hyperdia for routes, timetables and fares.
If you have a car you can get to Aomori from Hokkaido by getting an inter-island ferry which takes 1:40 hours to 3:40 hours depending on the boat.
Ski Resorts Near Aomori City
There are a few good ski resorts near Aomori City that can be easily accessed if you’re on a guided multi-day tour. Alternatively you can rent a car at the Shin-Aomori train station and self-drive. There are also ski resorts in the region that might be a little far away for a day trip from Aomori City, but close enough to become your next pit stop.
Aomori Hotels
The city of Aomori has a large number of hotels, in part so that there is adequate accommodation to cater for the masses that visit the city in August for the Nebuta Festival. None of the Aomori hotels are particularly luxurious, but there are some nice mid-range hotels that provide very good value for money.
Aomori Hotel Listings
Food
Aomori City is known for its apples, sake and seafood so it’s not surprising that these feature heavily in dining experiences and it’s seems that a quintessential Aomori experience is to go to a sushi restaurant. The city has a good range of other restaurants as well as little bars to explore. This is a city where you can find the real Japan, so don’t expect a significant amount of English to be spoken or English menus in restaurants. Sounds like fun!