Furano Japan
The Furano Ski Resort in Hokkaido finds a great balance for a Japan ski or snowboard holiday. Furano ski resort has well developed amenities and services, but unlike some Japan ski resorts such as Tomamu, Kiroro or Rusutsu, Furano doesn’t feel too “resortified”. The nearby town of Furano is rather authentic, and both the town and resort provide adequate creature comforts including the ability to cater to English speaking guests, without losing the essence of Japan.
Furano Japan is a fantastic all-rounder with ski and snowboard terrain for all ability levels, off-piste and backcountry riding, and quality Central Hokkaido powder.
Pros and Cons of Furano Ski Resort
Pros
- Furano Japan is very well suited to on-piste riding for beginners through to advanced riders and is a decent sized resort (by Japanese standards).
- It makes a great base to explore nearby ski resorts that are great for powder hounds and guided day trips from Furano are available if booked in advance. And nearby are backcountry areas such as Furano-dake and Tokachidake.
- Most Japanese ski resorts don’t have enough on offer to keep the interest of advanced and expert riders for more than a few days, yet a powder hound could play at Furano for a while, especially considering the number of day trip options to chase powder.
- It isn’t fully westernised. It provides a good Japanese cultural experience particularly in the town of Furano, and there are lots of different Japanese restaurants.
- Furano is reasonably family friendly and caters somewhat for English speaking children. And kids 12 and under ski free.
- Furano accommodation is well priced.
Cons
- As Furano ticks a lot of boxes, it’s not surprising that it’s become more popular. Lift queues are sometimes problematic, and there are now more people heading into the trees and less freshies on offer.
- There are limited Furano onsen opportunities compared to many Japan ski towns.
Pro or Con Depending on Your Perspective
- Due to its central Hokkaido location, the quality of the Furano snow is generally even better than the coastal resorts such as Niseko. The volume of snow is somewhat less, but the upside is more fine weather days.
- Furano doesn’t offer a lot of easy to navigate off-piste terrain like places such as Rusutsu or Niseko, but if you’ve got a guide or navi and avi skills and put in just a tiny bit of effort, then Furano has phenomenal terrain.
Furano Ski and Snowboard Terrain
Furano Ski Resort is a large ski area by Japanese standards (so it’s not huge!), with 9 lifts and 28 courses (ie marked runs) and 839 metres of vertical (235 - 1,074m), which enabled the resort to be put on the world cup ski racing map.
Furano Japan is renowned for the long groomed runs for beginners through to advanced riders, and whether you like to cruise or want to zoom down runs at Mach 2 until your eyes water, if you like groomers then
Furano skiing is rather good. When all the lifts are actually running, the lift infrastructure is reasonable and you can usually get in plenty of skiing or snowboarding each day.
Furano Ski Resort also has piste that are left au naturel. The “Premium Zone” is the steepest run, although it’s not always open because they don’t do a lot of active avalanche control.
For advanced and experts the main attraction is the very good off-piste terrain and amazing side-country (easily accessed backcountry) for those
with avalanche gear and the know-how.
Furano Snow
Furano receives 9 metres of snow per season on average, which is less than some of the coastal Hokkaido ski resorts such as
Niseko and those near
Otaru. Nevertheless the Furano snow is still often knee deep, commonly waist deep, and we’ve even experienced it neck deep! And the powder is generally delightfully light and fluffy – this is what Central Hokkaido skiing is all about!
The Furano weather is generally more pleasant and there are more blue-sky days than at ski resorts such as Niseko.
Where is Furano Ski Resort?
Furano is located in
Central Hokkaido, Japan. Furano is 59km south of
Asahikawa (about an hour away) and 141km (by road) northeast of
Sapporo.
Furano makes a good base for a ski holiday from which nearby ski areas can be accessed for a day trip such as
Kamui,
Asahidake,
Tomamu, and
Sahoro. Or Furano Hokkaido makes a great base to head out on a
guided ski tour to nearby backcountry areas.
Airport to Furano shuttles:
See the Furano travel page for more location and travel information.
Furano Accommodation
Furano accommodation consists of mostly western style hotels and pensions. Furano also has a range of self-contained accommodation options such as apartments/condos and houses. Furano is less expensive than
Niseko accommodation or
Rusutsu accommodation, and there are lodgings to suit most budgets.
Furano accommodation listings – see map, pros and cons of different zones, availability and pricing.
Ski Resort Facilities
The Furano Ski Resort is severely lacking when it comes to on-mountain lunch spots.
There are ski and snowboard lessons in English for kids and adults. One company provides group lessons which sell out well in advance, or there are
private lessons available at Furano.
The Furano childcare ceased operations for the 2023-24 season and it’s unclear as to whether this will operate for the 2024-25 season.
Furano also has various family friendly activities on offer and there are other
Furano activities such as snowmobiling, onsen tours, or ice hole fishing if that takes your fancy.
Furano Guiding – Ski/Snowboard Tours
Furano ski guiding is available as private day guiding and includes lift-accessed powder tours at Furano or guiding at nearby ski areas, or
backcountry ski touring/splitboarding tour. These need to be booked well in advance – see the
Furano day ski tours page for options.
Or if you think you’ll want multiple days of guiding at Furano and nearby areas, there are multi-day multi-area tours inclusive of guiding, transport and lodging. These can be bespoke private tours or there are various mixed group tours (ie you can join as a solo or couple) that are based in Furano for all or part of the tour. See the
Furano guided tours for options.
