hokkaido43.22° N, 140.97° E
Otaru
Otaru is a port town on Ishikari Bay, about forty minutes from Sapporo, whose canal and stone warehouses were built for the herring trade that made it rich.
The canal at blue hour, Otaru
- Region
- Hokkaido
- Our journeys
- Two stay here
- Where we stay
- Kuramure
Our tours stayA day on tourA Custom Tour of Japan
the place
A herring port of stone and gaslight, and a ryokan in the hills above it.
The canal was finished in 1923, and the warehouses along it still stand, their stone walls under ivy, the gas lamps lit along the towpath at dusk. The town's glass studios grew from the lamps and fishing floats of those years, and half an hour along the coast the Nikka distillery at Yoichi still fires its pot stills with coal.
We stay at Kuramure, by the river in the forested hills at Asarigawa Onsen, nineteen rooms of dark timber and stone, each with its own onsen, a quarter of an hour from the canal. The Summer Tour of Hokkaido and Pure Hokkaido, in The Private Collection, each give it two nights, and the Cherry Blossom Tour of Hokkaido gives Otaru and Yoichi a day from Sapporo.
what we do here
Otaru, as we show it
The canal
The stone warehouses of the herring trade along the water, and the gas lamps lit at dusk.
Glass
A visit to a glass studio, a craft the town learned from its lamps and fishing floats.
Yoichi
The Nikka distillery built in 1934 by Masataka Taketsuru, its pot stills fired with coal, and a tasting after the visit.
The Shakotan coast
The blue water at Cape Kamui, and cold sea urchin at a fisherman's counter above the sea.
Kuramure
A ryokan of timber and stone in the hills, its bar part of the stay.
where we stay
Kuramure
An antique-furnished ryotei above the port town, private and hushed, its bar part of the all-inclusive stay.
On The Summer Tour of Hokkaido and Pure Hokkaido, in The Private Collection
our journeys here
The journeys that stay in Otaru
questions
Questions about Otaru
Which of your tours stay in Otaru?
The Summer Tour of Hokkaido spends two nights here, at Kuramure, with a day out to the Shakotan Peninsula. Pure Hokkaido, in The Private Collection, gives Otaru two nights at Kuramure on the dates you choose. The Cherry Blossom Tour of Hokkaido spends a day in Otaru and Yoichi from Sapporo.
Where do you stay in Otaru?
At Kuramure, at Asarigawa Onsen in the hills above the town, where each of the nineteen rooms has its own onsen.
How far is Otaru from Sapporo?
About forty minutes by private car or by train along the coast of Ishikari Bay.
Otaru, created for you alone.
The Custom Tour of Japan is created around your party alone, on your dates, and Otaru can be any part of it. If you would rather travel independently, the Expert Japan Itinerary plans every day for you.