Japan (Feb 2012) Day 6: Tomamu (Part 1)
We took the early morning train from Asahikawa to Sapporo, and then transferred to another train from Sapporo to Tomamu.
When we arrived at Tomamu, there's a bus from Tomamu resort waiting for us just next to the platform.
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| Lovely view from the train ride between Minami Chitose and Tomamu |
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| Train arrived at Tomamu station |
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| Tomamu resort's bus was waiting for us when we arrived at train platform |
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| Yeah. -11 degrees celcius today, -9 degrees celcius tomorrow. great. -.- |
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| We stayed at this hotel. Breathtaking view from the room. |
After dumping our luggage at the hotel, we headed for the Polar Village for Snow mobiling.
We didn't realised that Polar Village was so near our hotel, we waited 20mins for the shuttle bus...but when we alighted, we realised that Polar Village was actually just 2mins walk from our hotel. Haha.
Really enjoyed the Snow mobile ride. Awesome view along the route.
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| Hubby being taught how to operate his snow mobile |
I was holding on to my mobile phone (periodically taking short video clips) PLUS my Nikon D700 (periodically taking whatever shots I could) throughout the entire ride. Poor tour guide and hubby had to keep waiting for me. Heh.
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| Tell me, how can I resist stopping to take a quick shot when the scenery is like this. |
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| Tour guide was busy turning around making sure I caught up...and he didn't realised where he was driving and ended up got stuck in the snow. Oops sorry. :) |
After the Snowmobiling ride, we headed back to hotel to look for lunch
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| Chinese food outlet. |
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| look at the accumulated snow on the roof! |
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| Yeap. The 2 Towers of the Tower Hotel at Tomamu |
After lunch, while Hubby ventures off to check out the ski grounds, I roamed around the resort on my own, taking random photos.
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| hotel's shuttle bus timings. |
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I are planning to go to Hokkaido in Feb 2016. We decided to visit Tomamu for 1 night on our itinerary based on your blog posts. (The Ice Village at night looks especially beautiful)
We're not fans of skiing though, so we were thinking of filling our time with other snow activities while there. I'd like to ask a few questions:
For your snow mobile tour, how long was it? It seems like the longest one available is 40 minutes?
Are there other daytime activities you would recommend? If you were to go back to Tomamu, what other daytime activities would you do?
More info about snow mobile and other activities here (bear in mind that the prices quoted was for winter 2014/15, so there might be slight changes to activities' rates by the time of your visit):
Deletehttp://www.snowtomamu.jp/winter/en/play/polar/polar01.php
And more activities:
http://www.snowtomamu.jp/winter/en/play/polar/polar02.php
http://www.snowtomamu.jp/winter/en/play/polar/polar03.php
Since the duration of the snow mobile is dependent on the speed of your snow mobile, so the timing listed is just a gauge. There is a guide who will drive in front and you guys just need to follow him and his speed.
I've only tried snow mobile, so I don't know much about how their other activities are like.
One thing I have to say though, I really enjoyed Ice Fishing, but the one which I went was at Onuma-koen near Hakodate, and not the one from Tomamu. Tomamu's seemed pretty expensive, considering I only spent 1500yen for 1hr for mine at Onumakoen.
If I were to go pick an activity for my "next visit", I'd probably choose Snowshoe downhill.
Hi Samantha,
ReplyDeletei'm planning to go Hokkaido from Tokyo in Dec'16 and after that, returned back to Tokyo. May i know what's the best & cheapest way to travel?
I wanna go these places (Chitose / Sapporo / Otaru / Lake Toya / Noboribetsu / Tomamu (not in sequence) within 5days, is it sufficient?
Do i need to stay over for every destination?
Any recommendation for each destination?
Noboribetsu - which onsen would you recommend?
your trip to Tomamu is very interesting.
Appreciate your advise.
Thank you.
Pier
5 days 4 nights is going to be too tight for you to squeeze in Sapporo, Otaru, Noboribetsu, Lake Toya and Tomamu.
DeleteAssuming that you are staying 1 night overnight at Noboribetsu, Lake Toya, Tomamu, and maybe at least 2 nights at Sapporo, you'd probably need about 6 days.
My advice, if you only have 5 days, is to probably skip Lake Toya, and just go Noboribetsu for 1 overnight, 1 night Tomamu, and the rest at Sapporo.
The best and cheapest way to travel, well, it really depends on the airfares for domestic flights. Domestic flights usually open for bookings about 3 months in advanced.
Hi, May I ask if you made reservations in advance for the snow mobile tour?
ReplyDeleteNope. I didnt made any reservations. Just walked in.
DeleteOn my 2nd Tomamu visit, my brother did snow mobile at the same place too and we didn't made any prior reservations either.
Hi. May i know which hotel are u staying?
ReplyDeleteTomamu The Tower
Delete