Furano

Run counts and piste kilometres are indicative. Green runs only exist in France, Spain, Andorra, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Japan, the United States, Morocco, Algeria, Lesotho, South Africa, Egypt, Canada, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand; Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Germany start at blue. Indicative average snow depth near the top of the resort, in cm.

Get to know the resort

The skiing splits between the Kitanomine and Furano zones, linked at altitude on the same Mount Kitanomine massif, with twenty-five kilometres of pistes that lean confidently towards the blue and red end of the spectrum. The grooming is meticulous, an old habit from Furano's years on the World Cup giant slalom circuit, and the ropeway out of the base lifts you 900 vertical metres in a single bite. Below the lifts, mellow forests of birch and Sakhalin spruce hide quiet sidecountry stashes that hold powder for days after a storm because so few people come here. The town itself, ten minutes by bus from the base, is the real selling point. Sake breweries, soup curry counters, melon farms, a covered shopping street and surprisingly good wine from the Furano basin make for an après-ski culture that has nothing to do with imported alpine clichés. Families and lower-intermediate skiers find Furano gentler than Niseko; experts find pockets of untouched japow within the resort boundary that would already be tracked out by 9am elsewhere. New Chitose airport sits roughly two and a half hours away via the JR Furano-Biei Norokko line.

Hotels in Furano

Hotels and apartments around the lifts. Compare prices on Booking, Expedia and Hotels.com.

Plan your trip

Frequently asked questions