Hokkaido Summer Photography Tour

We will pick you up from Chitose airport in the morning and then drive to Biei stopping to get stunning landscape photos. The farmland, mountains and rivers along the way provide the perfect canvas for unique, colourful or even minimalistic landscape photography. Once we arrive we will take you to the stunning Shirahige Falls, visit the Biei Blue Ponds and then watch (and of course photograph) sunset over the colourful farmland. You can then head back to your Japanese style room at Yumoto Shirogane Onsen Hotel. Here you can kick back and review your images from the day with your professional photographer guide, take an onsen and join the team for a delicious buffet dinner.

On day two, after an early buffet breakfast, your guide will take you around the Biei and Furano area to visit striking flower farms. You will also have an opportunity to try delicious local produce and a local restaurant for lunch. Where possible your guide will be opportunistic in assisting you to photograph any local wildlife seen along the way. Spend another night in your Japanese style room at Yumoto Shirogane Onsen Hotel.

A beautiful drive (with many photography stops along the way) will take us to a ropeway which accesses the fumaroles of Hokkaido’s largest mountain: Mt Asahidake. The top of the ropeway is called ‘Sugatami-no-ike’. There are many walking trails and here you will be able to spend some time photographing the mountain, as well as the many indigenous wildflowers and animals. After a picnic on the mountain, you will descend back down the ropeway to a secret location to photograph the mountain range on sunset before spending another night in your Japanese style room at Yumoto Shirogane Onsen Hotel.

On day 4 your photographer guide will drive you around the Daisetsuzan mountain range towards the Lake Akan area. This will be a long day with lots of stops as the trip is absolutely mind blowing. The forest in this mountain range is incredibly beautiful and you will stop to photograph waterfalls, gorges, lakes, rivers and if lucky some sika deer, foxes, squirrels and birdlife. This will be a big day of driving but very worth it with a picnic lunch by the river (we will stop for you to get items for your lunch along the way). You will arrive at the lake district quite late, so you can go straight for an onsen and another buffet dinner before retiring to your Japanese style room at Akan No Mori Tsuruga Resort Hanayuuka.

Day 5 will commence with a delicious breakfast followed by a walk through the forest, along Lake Akan to the bubbling mud pools known as bokke. Along the way you will see whopper swans and other wildlife. You will then jump in the car to explore the Lake Kussaro and Lake Mashu area, stopping for photo opportunities along the way. This will be a full jam packed day of landscape and wildlife photography. You can retire in the evening to your Japanese style room at Akan No Mori Tsuruga Resort Hanayuuka.

After some more exploration around the lake area in the morning, we will drive towards Shiretoko, again stopping to photograph deer and waterfalls as you drive into the magnificent world heritage park. In the evening we will photograph the sunset over a glass of wine and cheese platter (provided by us). Check in to Hotel Shiretoko, have an onsen, buffet dinner and spend the night in your own western style room.

The 7th day will be spent exploring Shiretoko. After breakfast we will head out from Rausu on a whale watching boat for 2.5 hours to look for orcas, sperm whales, dolphins and sea birds. Your guide will then take you to a local restaurant for lunch where you can compare and discuss your photographs from the special morning trip. In the afternoon you will be taken for a 3 hour Goko Lakes walking tour through Shiretoko National Park. This will be an opportunity to photograph the stunning flora and fauna along the way, and maybe even see a bear.  You can then relax after another onsen, buffet dinner and finish the night in your western style room at Hotel Shiretoko.

This day will start with an early morning sunset shoot, and then back to the hotel for breakfast. We will then take settle back into the car for the pretty drive down south to visit the Akan International Crane Centre and observatory in Kushiro where you will spend the day photographing these magnificent birds and other local wildlife. Your photographer guide will then drive you to Obihiro in the afternoon where you can once again relax for an onsen and buffet dinner Kangetsuen Hotel where you will have a western style room, or you can even head out for a bit of culture and night time street photography with your personal photographer/guide.

On day 9 your photographer guide will slowly drive towards Sapporo, stopping along the way to photograph flower fields, mountains, forests and wildlife. Once in Sapporo you will spend the evening exploring the northern city focusing on your street photography. You will also go out for a delicious traditional Sapporo Ramen or Soup Curry (depending on the groups preference). In Sapporo you will spend the night in a western style room at the Sapporo Park Hotel overlooking Nakajima Park.

On this morning you will be able to gorge yourself on your final Japanese buffet breakfast before heading out to walk it off and explore Nakajima Park. Your photographer/guide will then take you to Chitose airport ready to board your departing flight.