The Beauty of Niseko’s Nature: Hot Spring and Sulfur Mountain Experience
1-DAY
DIFFICULTY
GREEN SEASON
1 day
Min. 15, Max. 16
Hiking
- HIGHTLIGHTS
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- Feel the geological history of the Niseko Mountain Range by hiking Mt. Iwaonupuri
- See how the volcanos are directly connected to Niseko by walking around Oyunuma (a sulfuric mud hot spring)
- Heal your body in the Yukichichibu Hot Spring (sulfur mud hot spring)
- LOCATION
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Niseko Town and Rankoshi Town
Hiking up Mt. Iwaonupuri
Top of Mt. Iwaonupuri
Oyunuma (sulfur mud hot spring)
Yukichichibu Hot Spring
OVERVIEW
Niseko’s mountains are famous throughout Hokkaido and consist mainly of the Niseko Mountain Range, a group of 11 peaks reaching over 1000 m, stretching 25 km from Niseko to the Sea of Japan. The group hosts a variety of different ponds and marshy grassland and are actually a range of volcanos. Among the group is Mt. Iwaonupuri, a volcano well known for its sulfur deposit. Mt. Iwaonupuri is the youngest of all the volcanos in the mountain range and offers fascinating insight into the younger history of the Niseko Mountain Range. We invite you to experience how life in Niseko is shaped by the volcanos of the Niseko Mountain Range. Feel Niseko’s changing landscape by hiking to the top of Mt. Iwaonupuri. Heal your exhaustion through one of the volcanos sulfur hot springs. Taste the food and water enriched with minerals from Niseko’s volcanos.
ITINERARY
7:30-9:30
Tour start: The tour starts at from a designated meeting point in Sapporo. From here we move via private shuttle bus to Niseko Town`s Goshiki Information Center.
09:45-12:45
Mt. Iwaonupuri Hike: The hike starts at an altitude of 755m and goes up to 1116m at its peak; hiking up the mountain will take around 3 hours (approx. 4km). While revealing insight into the volcanic history of the Niseko Mountain Range – the crater, ash, petrified lava, and sulfur of Mt. Iwaonupuri are all still clearly visible and easy to access – the hike is physically not too demanding. Compared to the other mountains around it where the volcanic features are mostly hidden beneath the flora, Mt. Iwaonupuri holds a special place in the Niseko Mountain Range that shouldn’t be missed out on.
13:00-14:00
Lunch at the Yukichichibu Hot Spring: Yukichichibu you are served local food including tofu made with the spring water of Mt. Yotei, another volcano in Niseko, letting you taste the impact of Niseko’s volcanos on the local food.
14:00-14:30
Hot spring seminar: Deepen your understanding of Hot spring through a seminar by “Hot Spring Sommelier” Mr. Tsutomu Sato. Mr. Sato will explain the connection between the volcano, Mt. Iwaonupuri, and the Yukichichibu Hot Spring. After the seminar, we will walk around the mud sulfur hot spring Oyunuma, close to Yukichichibu.
15:00-16:00
Sulfur hot spring bath: Take a relaxing bath in the Yukichichibu Hot Spring.
Mr. Sato will also join us in the men’s hot spring, and you can ask him as many questions about hot springs as you like. The women’s hot spring will also be accompanied by a female guide from our tourist association who will assist you with information.
16:00-18:00
Tour end: Moving back to Sapporo via shuttle bus.
LUNCH
Lunch place
Yukichichibu Hot Spring (Rankoshi Town)
Lunch menu
Pork soup + rice + tofu + vegetable salad + “onsen tamago” (eggs boiled with hot spring water that are usually served half boiled)
All vegetables and the rice offered in the lunch are local and produced using water from the Shiribetsu River, renowned for being one of Japan’s clearest rivers. For the rice, Rankoshi’s award-winning Yumepirika Rice is used, known for its sweetness and puffiness. The tofu is made from whole soybeans with clear Yotei spring water, making it rich in plant fibers and more nutritious than regular tofu.
Tour Operator / Contact
Meitetsu World Travel, Inc
- Address
6th fl., Brickcube Sapporo Bldg.,
North 3 West 1, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido
060-0003 Japan
- TEL
+81 (0)11-205-5223
- Official web site
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