Best Places to Stay in Furano
Less-developed than resorts such as Niseko and Rusutsu, Furano offers visitors world-class powder and a good range of accommodation located within the resort and nearby Furano village. On this page you will find the following information:
— Best Places to Stay in Other Hokkaido Ski Resorts
— Hokkaido Ski Resorts: The Stats & Facts
— Japan Ski Resorts: Everything You Need to Know
Lying around 115km / 2 hours to the east of Sapporo and 200km / 4 hours to from Niseko United, Furano is many people’s favourite resort in Hokkaido. Sitting further inland than Niseko, Rusutsu and Kiroro and being at low altitude, Furano doesn’t receive as much snow however still boasts a very healthy season average of 9 metres, and being located away for the coast, the snow is typically dry powder allowing for fantastic skiing and snowboarding. With a decent amount of terrain and long runs, Furano offers something for everyone including excellent side and backcountry. Less-developed than resorts such as Niseko, Furano retains a local character without the high-end developments of Niseko and at which the focus is what happens on the slopes and in the trees.
WHERE TO STAY IN FURANO?
Furano Ski Resort offers a great balance of excellent skiing and snowboarding and enough amenities including some good accommodation, without the resort being overdeveloped – a criticism you might hear levelled at Niseko. As such Furano retains its Japanese character with most accommodation located at the base of the ski fields or around 20-minutes away in Furano Village.
Furano is operated by Prince Hotel groups, with two large hotels located in the Kitanomine and Furano Zones of the resort. Both hotels offer a variety of room types, multiple restaurants, in-house shops, rental and a full-suite of services targeted at the Japanese market and families. Away from the hotels, there’s a good range of smaller lodges and family-run guesthouses, typically available at much lower rates than you’ll find in Niseko or nearby Hoshino Resorts Tomamu. It’s important to note that while Furano has a large village with plenty of accommodation, it sits around 20-mintues from the Kitanomine zone of the resort and is actually at its busiest outside of winter when the region attracts thousands of visitors to its famous flower fields. While it is certainly an option when looking for accommodation, if you’re after easy access to the ski fields make sure to find some closer to the resort base. For accommodation listings, see our ‘Furano Ski Resort Area’ hotel page.
BEST PLACES TO STAY IN OTHER HOKKAIDO RESORTS
Among the other major resorts in Hokkaido, the following four offer the best skiing and snowboarding, accommodation and dining options:
NISEKO UNITED SKI RESORT – RUSUTSU SKI RESORT – KIRORO SKI RESORT – HOSHINO RESORTS TOMAMU
Each resort offers world-class powder and fantastic skiing and snowboarding with access to great backcountry. Niseko, Rusutsu, Kiroro all offer high-end hotels that will suit the needs and tastes of international visitors. Let’s start with the resort with the largest overall and most popular resort in Hokkaido:
NISEKO UNITED SKI RESORT
Operating under the banner of ‘Niseko United’, Hokkaido’s best-known resort is in fact four connected resorts covered by an all-mountain pass. Accommodation is available in and around each of the four resorts with Niseko Grand Hirafu and Niseko Village having the greatest range of options, followed by Niseko Annupuri and Niseko Hanazono. Niseko is without doubt Japan’s most international and high-end ski resort, attracting visitors from all over the world. For more information including accommodation listings, see our ‘Best Places to Stay in Niseko’ page.
RUSUTSU SKI RESORT
Rusutsu Ski Resort is the largest stand-alone resort in Hokkaido. Less-crowded than Niseko, Rusutsu also caters to the high-end market with large hotels including Rusutsu Resort Hotel, The Vale Rusutsu and Westin Rusutsu resort offering luxury accommodation and good services for families. All three of these hotels are conveniently located in close proximity to the ski fields. For accommodation listings, see our ‘Best Places to Stay in Rusutsu’ page.
KIRORO SKI RESORT
Kiroro Ski Resort is notably less-developed than Rusutsu, but still offers some excellent large hotels including The Sheraton Hokkaido Kiroro Resort, The Kiroro Tribute Hotel and Yu Kiroro. Much like Rusutsu, most of Kiroro’s nightlife and dining is located within these hotels. Away from these hotels Kiroro doesn’t offer much other accommodation or nightlife. For more information including accommodation listings, see our ‘Best Places to Stay in Kiroro’ page.
HOSHINO RESORTS TOMAMU
Hoshino Resorts Tomamu is another resort operated by a hotel group targeting the high-end market. While the resort itself is very good and receives excellent snow, Tomamu is very much designed for the market wanting a full ‘resort’ experience with everything revolving around two twin tower hotels – RISONARE Hotel and The Tower hotel. For more information including accommodation listings, see our ‘Best Places to Stay in Tomamu’ page.
HOKKAIDO SKI RESORTS: THE STATS & FACTS
Blessed with the longest seasons in Japan and huge annual snowfall, the ski resorts of Hokkaido rank among the best in Asia and enjoy some of the best powder in the world. The combined resorts of Niseko United are the largest and most popular ski fields in Hokkaido, while nearby Rusutsu and Kiroro attract plenty of fans in their own right. Rounding things-out, Furano and Tomamu lie further inland and receive slightly less snow but that bit of extra distance from the coast only means the powder is even drier, with some people claiming these resorts enjoy the best powder in the world. Our ‘Hokkaido Ski Resorts’ page has you covered for everything you need to know about each – a great place to start when planning your next winter adventure in Hokkaido.
HOW TO GET TO THE FURANO
Our ‘How to Get to the Hokkaido Ski Resorts’ page has everything you need to know about how to get to Furano and Hokkaido’s most popular resorts – including bus, train and rental car information from New Chitose Airport, Asahikawa Airport and Sapporo.
JAPAN SKI RESORTS: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
Did you know that the resorts of Hokkaido are just some of the hundreds spread throughout Japan? Needless to say, when you choose Japan for your winter getaway you are spoiled for choice! Our ‘Japan Ski Resorts’ page has everything you need to know to start planning your ski and snowboard adventure including: LATEST NEWS & DEALS, THE BEST RESORTS IN NAGANO & JAPAN, FAQs and of course OUR SKI PACKAGES, ACCOMMODATION, TRANSPORT & TOURS.
