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Hokkaido’s Hidden Fall: Where the Highlands Breathe
While Japan’s cities celebrate fall with dynamic celebrations and taiko drums, Hokkaido provides a quieter, more natural experience. Here, nature takes center stage with cable television cars and trucks moving over early crimson peaks and awesome blue ponds that influence marvel. Fall shows up in Hokkaido in the past anywhere else in Japan, with its vibrant colors appearing as early as September. From Sapporo’s golden parks to mountain-onsens hidden in remote locations, these are the very best locations to experience Hokkaido’s really genuine fall.
< img loading=" lazy" class =" size-medium wp-image-162520" src="
https://outoftownblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Sapporo-Autumn-by-Cecelia-Chang-via-Unsplash-700×464.jpg” alt=” Sapporo Autumn by Cecelia Chang through Unsplash” width=” 700″ height =” 464 “/ > Sapporo Fall by Cecelia Chang through Unsplash Sapporo: Odori Park and Hokkaido University In autumn, Odori Park’s 1.5 km promenade is awash with the golden radiance of ginkgo leaves, transforming the heart of Sapporo into a glowing tapestry beneath the city skyline. As you wander previous striking sculptures, the sunlight streams through golden canopies overhead, dappling the courses listed below. The scent of roasted sweet potatoes sold by regional suppliers fills the air, instilling the walking experience with warmth and comfort. Odori Park remarkably captures the pause in between Sapporo’s metropolitan vibrance and Hokkaido’s untamed appeal, providing a relaxing space where fall’s appeal is on full display.
Extend your autumn journey to Hokkaido University, where the renowned Ginkgo tunnel ends up being a fairytale corridor lined with luminescent, golden foliage. With each action, the leaves produce a soft, whispering carpet underfoot. Not far away, the Heisei Poplar Avenue invites you down a tree-framed passage that opens effortlessly to the crisp, blue autumn sky– supplying among the campus’s best views of the season’s clear, stimulating appeal.
< img loading=" lazy" class=" size-medium wp-image-162521" src=" https://outoftownblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Kosetsuen-Garden-Photo-from-Japan-National-Tourism-Organization-700x394.jpg" alt=" Kosetsuen Garden Picture from Japan National Tourism Company "width=" 700" height =" 394"/ > Kosetsuen Garden Image from Japan National Tourism Company Kosetsuen Garden Konsetsuen Garden, first erected as a glamorous vacation home by the popular Iwafune merchant family in the 19th century, is now a lavish retreat boasting around 150 species of trees. In early September, the garden appears in a surge of autumn colors– fiery reds, brilliant oranges, and golden yellows– that cover the premises and complement the classy, conventional Japanese architecture.
Walk past moss-covered stone lanterns and curved wooden bridges surrounded by radiant foliage and serene ponds, ideal for capturing spectacular pictures. Go to between late October and early November to experience the Hakodate MOMI?G Festa, when the garden comes alive night: lit up autumn leaves radiance mystically under soft lighting, turning Konsetsuen into a captivating, dreamlike landscape.
< img loading =" lazy" class=" size-medium wp-image-162522"
src=” https://outoftownblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Daisetzuzan-Asahidake-Ropeway-Photo-courtesy-of-Visit-Hokkaido-700×466.jpg” alt =” Daisetzuzan Asahidake Ropeway Photo thanks to Go to Hokkaido” width =” 700 “height =” 466″/ > Daisetzuzan Asahidake Ropeway Photo thanks to See Hokkaido Daisetzuzan Asahidake Ropeway Riding the Asahidake Ropeway, you’re carried into Japan’s earliest autumn, where the landscape appears in waves of abundant reds, bright oranges, and deep golds as early as late August. By late September, the foliage has shifted almost entirely to golden shades.
Board the cable vehicle at Sugatami Station and see as a majestic panorama unfolds: mountain ridges adorned with the first traces of shimmering snow, and below, huge stretches of golden alpine grass ripple and dance with every brisk mountain gust. The crisp air, dynamic foliage, and sweeping vistas catch the wild charm of Hokkaido’s fall transformation.
< img loading =" lazy" class=" size-medium wp-image-162524" src=" https://outoftownblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Shirahige-Waterfall-photo-by-Hokkaido-Official-Tourism-Site-700x466.jpg" alt="
Shirahige Waterfall image by Hokkaido Authorities Tourism Site “width =” 700″ height=” 466″/ > Shirahige Waterfall photo by Hokkaido Authorities Tourism Site Biei: Blue Pond and Shirahige Waterfall At Shirogane Blue Pond, the normal crowds are replaced by stillness, permitting visitors to take in the almost otherworldly vibrance of its blue water. Surrounding the pond, golden larches reflect their fall radiance, and the haunting kinds of submerged trees reach up from listed below the surface, providing a scene formed by nature’s unanticipated occasions.
Just a five-minute walk away, Shirahige Waterfall thunderously puts down the mountainside, sending out mist into the air as the exact same mineral-rich stream that feeds the pond hurries past. From the vantage point on the gorge bridge, rising 500 meters above, the scene unfolds: the river’s surreal blue hues winding through forests ablaze in autumnal red and gold, all beneath the sprawling, open skies of Hokkaido.
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>< img loading=" lazy" class =" size-medium wp-image-162523 "src=" https://outoftownblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jozankei-Onsen-700x525.jpg" alt=" Jozankei Onsen" width=" 700" height= "525"/ > Jozankei Onsen Jozankei Onsen After days of checking out Hokkaido’s untamed wilderness– endless forests painted with fiery shades, misty valleys, and winding routes– tourists will discover solace at Jozankei Onsen. Tucked among remarkable river stuffs an hour from Sapporo, its mineral-rich, steaming swimming pools are encircled by towering cliffs that burst with the rich oranges, crimsons, and golds of peak fall. Pick a standard ryokan with open-air baths overlooking this living tapestry, where you can immerse yourself in heat under a canopy of color, or take off your shoes and wade into complimentary riverside swimming pools while cool mountain air fills your lungs and the rustling foliage soothes the senses.
Fall in Hokkaido is a quiet magic. It doesn’t reveal itself with spectacle– its wonder exposes itself in intimate minutes: the reflection of scarlet trees rippling across the water, the gentle touch of warm mist on your skin, the hush of a valley scented with earth and rain. There’s no scramble of crowds– just nature setting the rate, where each steaming spring and every crimson leaf seems like a discovery made for you alone. This is autumn’s truest self: tranquil, immersive, inviting you to enjoy what it implies to come from the season.
Hokkaido Travel Trip Bundles You Ought To Try
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Hokkaido’s Hidden Fall: Where the Highlands Breathe
Melo Villareal
Out of Town Blog site