Is historic Otaru the next big Hokkaido destination for international skiers?

Japan is a unique destination, and to get the most from a skiing trip, it can be better to base yourself in a large town or city rather than stay at the base area of a ski resort. I covered the pros and cons of this in more detail in my guide to using Morioka in northern Honshu as a base. The big benefits are: you get to visit a range of different ski resorts, you can enjoy all the cultural delights that a more developed area offers, and you can save some cash.

Just like Morioka in Honshu, Otaru is a perfect base for a road trip in Hokkaido. The difference is that Morioka is a large, developed city and a major transport hub that’s much busier than the local ski resorts, while Otaru is a smaller, more traditional option and less hectic than the big resorts in Hokkaido.

Otaru isn’t blessed with multiple destination resorts or lots of mid-size resorts within easy distance. Apart from the selection of small local resorts, the big draw here is Kiroro, and I think staying in Otaru is only really worthwhile if you’re interested in spending multiple days there. Kiroro can be expensive for accommodation, so Otaru is a good option to save money, or if you want to experience something more Japanese and you’re not a fan of sanitised, modern resorts. It’s also a great choice if you’re mostly progressive beginners and low intermediates, and you’re excited to visit a variety of small, quaint, picturesque ski resorts that 99% of international tourists have never heard of, let alone visited.

If you’re staying in Otaru, it’s best to drive (see my guide to planning a trip to Japan, including car hire), but buses are definitely doable, and some resorts are only a short trip from the town. Otaru Tenguyama is very close, and Asari is around 30 minutes away by bus, but Kiroro is around an hour.

Ski resorts on the way to Otaru

F village

F village isn’t a ski resort as such. It’s more of a training facility where complete beginners can just turn up without any gear and get an hour or two of tuition on real snow, only a 40-minute drive from the airport on the outskirts of Sapporo. See my full review here: Japan has invented a totally new way for beginners to learn to ski.

Learning to ski with a hula-hoop at F Village. Image: Jamie O’Brien

Sapporo Teine

Teine is a great little resort that I like to use for a gear check and to warm up the legs on the day of arrival in Hokkaido. Lift tickets are inexpensive (1,800 yen for a three-point lift ticket; we got two each). The 25-hour pass (25 x 1 hour) is also an interesting option if you’re around for a few days. They have night skiing, too, if you’re arriving in the daytime and want to get a few runs in. The red runs are interesting enough, and we have had lots of fun lapping the Nature Zone. It has nice, mellow trees and is a great place to learn tree riding before graduating to steeper runs. The views are spectacular, but like almost every small resort in Hokkaido, the pistes are short and not very challenging for advanced riders. Still, after a big dump of snow, the resort is transformed into a tree run and backcountry paradise and well worth a visit. Here’s our full guide to Teine: A skier’s tribute to Sapporo Teine, “One of the best places to ski in the entire world”. Teine is also within reach of Otaru at around 45 minutes’ drive.

Sapporo Teine course map. Image: Sapporo Teine.

Other smaller resorts

Sapporo Moiwa Mountain Ski Resort (or Moiwayama) was skier-only but has been bought out, changed its name to Moiwa Square, allows single-plankers as of 2025 and has plans for upgrades. There’s also Sapporo Bankei Ski Area and Snow Cruise Onze. All are on the west side of Sapporo City and are smaller than Teine, but would be perfectly good for beginners, some night skiing (where available), or a quick gear check.

Ski resorts close to Otaru

Kiroro

If you’re coming to Otaru for a ski trip, then Kiroro, at around 35 minutes’ drive, is the major reason for being here. It isn’t huge by international standards with 32 courses and eight lifts, but as I said in my full resort review: Kiroro is probably the best destination resort in Asia for a day trip – and that includes multiple day trips from Otaru. Kiroro is perfect for families, and while it may seem like there isn’t a whole lot on offer on piste for experts, the vast tree run areas are fantastic, and the backcountry is out of this world, so please don’t dismiss it as a place just for beginners and families.

The view from the top of the gondola at Kiroro, looking down the Asari Dynamic course. Image: kiroro.co.jp

Sapporo Kokusai

Sapporo Kokusai is close to Kiroro, so it’s blessed with the same massive annual snowfall. It’s over the peak on the same mountain range, but accessed by a different road and also takes about 35 minutes by car from Otaru (it takes about 45 minutes to drive between the two ski resorts). Look out for the Asari dam on the way and the crazy elevated motorway that loops around in front of the dam wall.

Sapporo Kokusai course map. Image: Sapporo Kokusai

There’s no village or accommodation at the base. Being just 40 minutes drive from the western suburbs of Sapporo and having only four lifts and seven official courses, it can get very busy, especially at weekends. However, on a weekday after a big dump of snow, it’s well worth a visit for the easy access sidecountry with a guide to help you learn where the danger is.

There’s also plenty of backcountry options, both from the resort or starting from the roadside. We did an introduction to backcountry tour with Max from Otaru Powder Guides. This included an introduction to all the equipment, snowshoeing techniques and how to use a transceiver, including some test searches.

Learning how to use a transceiver with Max from Otaru Powder Guides, just outside Sapporo Kokusai

Asari Ski Resort

With nine courses and four chair lifts (and no course map on their website!?!), Asari is another small ski area in Otaru that gets more than its fair share of fluffy powder snow. The views here over Otaru and the sea of Japan are incredible, and sometimes you can even see the wind picking up moisture from the sea, forming bubbling clouds, blowing them towards you and dropping fine white powder. There’s a small tree area here where you can have some fun, but Asari is most notable for its terrain park, cheap lift tickets, family-friendly slopes and low crowds. We had a lot of fun here bombing down the empty wide pistes on a fresh dusting of snow. It’s just 15 minutes drive (or a 30-minute bus ride plus a little walk) from Otaru and, due to its low elevation, a great place to go if the lifts are closed elsewhere because of storms.

Otaru Tenguyama

Tenguyama is similar to Asari, but it has only five courses and three lifts. It does, however, have a ropeway cable car, and it’s even closer, actually being in Otaru and only a 20-minute bus ride away. It also has some short but steep expert terrain. While it can get busy with tourists coming up for the views, the competition for fresh tracks is minimal.

Otaru Tenguyama course map. Image: Otaru Tenguyama

Ski resorts within reach of Otaru

Niseko and Rusutsu are still very much in range at 1h 15m and 1h 30m – if you’re driving and you’re happy to get up early. An overnight trip visiting both is a good plan. It’s also possible to add one or two nights in Kuchan to an Otaru stay before returning to New Chitose Airport. See my full guide to Rusutsu here: Is Rusutsu the Japanese ski resort that truly has it all?

Skiing and Snowboarding lessons

Otaru Adventure Snowsports School is based in Otaru and offers a concierge service, which includes transport to various Otaru resorts. This is a great way to experience multiple resorts as you aren’t tied down to a single resort for your lessons. Kiroro resort also has English-speaking instructors.

Guiding Services

Both Otaru Powder Guides and Otaru Adventure Snowsports School are based in Otaru and offer in-bounds and backcountry guiding in the area.

Otaru town

Otaru isn’t a small town. If you search on Google Maps at the height of summer, there’s a surprising number of restaurants, izakayas, and stores, but in winter, the reality is that many seem to close. Hokkaido is a big draw for Asian tourists in the summer, and picturesque places like Otaru, just a short trip from Sapporo, see many visitors. Otaru was once the administrative centre of Hokkaido and was very wealthy due to the fishing industry.

With the rise of Kiroro as a destination resort, there’s talk about Otaru becoming the next big ski town in Hokkaido. Compared to nearby Kutchan with its strict grid of streets, modern buildings and no real centre or high street, Otaru is the picture-perfect old-Japan winter town, with ancient buildings, a canal and a real sense of history.

Otaru Shukutsu Panorama Observation Deck, just north of Otaru. There’s something very Japanese about waves lapping against snow on the beach. Image: Jamie O’Brien

This old-world feeling follows through into its surrounding ski hills. Apart from Kiroro, these are mainly small, beginner-friendly places with stunning scenery. Still, some also have just enough about them to provide a fantastic day after a massive dump of the dry, fluffy champagne powder they get in these parts. If you don’t like the crowds at the big resorts and you want to see more of the real Japan, Otaru can be a good place to start, and it’s easy to tag on a two or three-day stay in Niseko after a week in Otaru if you want to compare.

Otaru is mostly flat and walkable, but some hotels are clustered on a very steep hill in the Shinonome-cho district. Otaru is a freezing cold place with slippery, icy streets. Many people fall on the streets at night, so wear proper winter boots with good grip and wrap up warm. You’ll be much colder walking to your restaurant than you’ll ever be on the hill.

We chose to stay in Otaru because some of our group were non-skiers or complete beginners, and they weren’t sure how much skiing they would be doing. The canal is an attraction (it is lit up at night), and there are various museums, local arts and crafts, good cocktail bars and excellent seafood.

Otaru can feel very different depending on when you visit. I was there at the end of January, and it felt a little deserted. Ski Asia founder and editor, Rupert Orchard, visited just a couple of weeks later and had a different experience, which may have been due to Chinese New Year travellers and the Sapporo Snow Festival that brings a lot of non-skiers to the area in the daytime.

Non-skiing activities

There are other things to see and do in Otaru, but in the winter, it isn’t somewhere non-skiers are going to want to spend a week. The Music Box Museum is a popular stop (as well as the other museums that can be visited with a single ticket), and although it’s a little run-down, the aquarium is worth a visit. Just outside Otaru and on the way to Kiroro, Margo’s Garden farmstay has horse riding, animal petting and a farm shop, as well as accommodation. Activities can be booked by messaging them on Instagram. The seafood restaurants and artisan stores of Otaru are also a big draw for day-trippers.

Pony riding at Margo’s Garden farmstay.

You can also visit the Nikka Yoichi distillery, about 30 minutes drive west of Otaru, their first in Japan, which opened in 1934.

Recommended Otaru restaurants

There are many inexpensive, high-quality, and authentic restaurants, and the sushi is particularly good, but it can be hard to get a booking, either because they are fully booked, only speak Japanese, or they close at 8pm.

It’s best to ask your hotel reception to make a booking for you, preferably two or three days before, rather than walking around town in the cold. We stayed at OMO5 Otaru by Hoshino Resorts, and the staff found us some excellent choices at short notice.

That said, when you do find a place, it’s usually a very friendly, very Japanese experience that would be hard to find in a ski resort. Once we were at the restaurant, we could get by with basic Japanese and Google Translate. Most staff are patient enough to reply with Google Translate, too.

Alcohol is relatively cheap in restaurants at around ¥500 for a beer or a highball, and ¥1,500 for a small bottle or carafe of Japanese sake.

Miyako Sushi

This sushi restaurant was good value for omakase, and strangely, we were the only diners. This happened a few times, and I have a feeling this is because they accepted a late booking for a big group after normal hours and stayed open to accommodate us.

Super-fresh sushi at Miyako Sushi in Otaru.

The omakase menu at Miyako Sushi, where the chef serves the best fish of the day piece by piece, included fantastic premium items like fresh sea urchin and fatty cuts of tuna. They even made off-menu cucumber rolls and other kid-friendly sushi for a seven-year-old child at the sushi counter.

Sushi Bar

We managed to book a table at Sushi Bar, a popular, great-value sushi restaurant on the covered Miyako dori Shopping Street, when walking by in the daytime. Half the tables remained empty even though a queue formed outside, as the place had just one sushi chef and they didn’t want to overwork him.

Delicious and good-value local sake and sashimi at Sushi Bar in Otaru. Image: Robin Watts

Otaru Masazushi Zenan

We didn’t manage to eat at Otaru Masazushi Zenan, but if you’re after something a little more tourist-friendly with online booking, it’s a good choice. If you’re lucky, you can get a seat with a view of the canal.

Recommended Otaru Bars

In some ski resorts in Japan, vending machines are the only place you can get a drink in the evening. If you stay in Otaru, this isn’t a problem with countless speakeasies, izakayas, micro izakayas (tiny bars), listening room bars, and bars that seem to be in a shed in a back alley. The people of Otaru like a drink. It’s a very cool place to explore and stumble upon some weird and wonderful bars.

カヌー (Canoe)

In most of the world, the art of bar service seems to be dying out – in Otaru, it’s nice to get a seat at a bar and get mixed a proper cocktail by a professional barman. Canoe was empty in the early evening, so we got the full treatment.

Cocktails at Canoe bar in Otaru. Image: Robin Watts

Music&Liquor despera デスペラ

This triangular shed/bar only had eight seats, but they were quickly all taken. Music&Liquor despera is run by a wild-haired, slightly grumpy fellow who loves to show off his extensive vinyl collection. Drinks are strong and good with the free side of potato chips.

This tiny backstreet bar is well worth a visit. Image: Jamie O’Brien

Bar Hatta

This is another fantastic cocktail bar with a tiny entrance you’d barely notice. Stepping inside Bar Hatta was a shock. It’s the kind of retro cocktail bar with great attention to detail that you would expect to find in Tokyo. Again, we got the full treatment, just asking for our favourite cocktails and watching them get mixed with precision. We didn’t see a menu once. If you’re in Otaru, you have to drop by this place.

No menu and no Japanese wasn’t a problem. Image: Robin Watts

Accommodation in Otaru

OMO5 Otaru by Hoshino Resorts

We stayed at OMO 5 Otaru by Hoshino Resorts, a hotel designed with skiers and snowboarders in mind, in the heart of Otaru. They have a free waxing station, a drying room, lift tickets and rental purchase in the lobby, and a reservable shuttle bus from the hotel to Kiroro.

The hotel’s rooms are split between a historical building and a new wing. Image: Hoshino Resorts

As the operators of multiple resorts such as Sahoro and the new Nekoma Mountain, Hoshino Resorts know how to look after the needs of skiers and snowboarders. It has the perfect mix of old-Otaru charm and modern, spotless rooms with full-size beds and large en-suite bathrooms with a bath and separate shower.

Modern spacious rooms at OMO5 Otaru by Hoshino Resorts. Image: Hoshino Resorts

There’s a beautiful restaurant and bar on the top floor of the old building, where they have a music box and daily listening performances. The breakfasts, dinners and cocktails were all top quality, as you would expect from Hoshino Resorts.

The buffet breakfast at OMO5 Otaru by Hoshino Resorts.

If you’re comparing staying in Otaru with staying at Kiroro, you can still book a room here in January or February for less than ¥10,000 a night three months before the start of the ski season. To stay in Kororo resort, you’ll need around seven to ten times that amount, but at this point, almost everything is sold out. You’ll get luxury and all-inclusive benefits, but OMO5 Otaru still feels luxurious for a ski trip – and you get to explore the city at night.

Parking is ¥1,000 per night, either at the hotel or in affiliated spots nearby. You can easily walk to the canal, the seafront and Otaru’s attractions, and it’s perfectly positioned for the drive in and out of town, being one turn off route 697. The hotel also runs guided walking tours for breakfast at the market or to the shops in the evening to help you find the best spots.

Powder House Otaru

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly option for a big group, Powder House Otaru is a perfect choice at just ¥45,000 per night. It has four bedrooms, can sleep up to nine people and has a dedicated waxing and ski storage room.

Powder house Otaru. Image: otarupowderguides.com

How to get there

Internal flights from Tokyo to New Chitose are cheap and easy to book, as it’s one of the most frequent flight routes in the world. You can also fly directly to New Chitose from Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Shanghai, while Qantas will resume flights from Sydney to New Chitose for the 2025-26 season.

Otaru is just over an hour’s drive away from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. The driving route is straightforward, along major roads the entire way (Expressway E5/E5A) and doesn’t involve any mountain driving. You’ll pass through Sapporo, which is well worth a one or two-night stay, either to have a look around and enjoy the culture, to visit some of the nearby ski resorts or shop for gear.

What I love about Otaru

I can’t see myself visiting Kiroro in the future and not staying in Otaru. What I particularly like is the connection you get at small restaurants, bars and other small businesses. At big international resorts like Niseko, most of the staff aren’t local, and the number of people coming through in a day means familiarity or conversations aren’t possible. The pace is slower in Otaru, and you can enjoy the novelty of being a foreigner in a strange place, rather than one of the masses – but you still have the world-class facilities of Kiroro on your doorstep. If you’re a regular visitor to Hokkaido, make sure you put Otaru on your itinerary next time.