Hokkaido Summer

Cool air, long evenings and five rounds while the rest of Japan swelters.

Nights: 7
Rounds: 5
From: $5,400 pp
Best season: June – September

Hokkaido in July is the best-kept secret in Asian golf: 22°C, dry, and light enough to finish a round at seven in the evening. Five courses within an hour of each other, seafood that justifies the trip on its own, and an onsen town to recover in halfway through.

Day by day

Day 1
Arrive New Chitose
Optional afternoon nine
Twenty minutes from the airport to your hotel. With a morning arrival there is time for nine holes before dinner.
Day 2
Chitose
The North Country Golf Club
A broad, generous opening round on a women's tour venue.
Day 3
Tomakomai
Hokkaido Classic Golf Club
The Nicklaus course through birch forest — the round most groups remember.
Day 4
Noboribetsu
Coastal championship course
Golf in the morning, then to Noboribetsu for sulphur springs and a ryokan dinner.
Day 5
Lake Shikotsu
A non-golf day: canoeing on the lake, or an easy hike and a long lunch. Caddies get a rest too.
Day 6
Sapporo
Sapporo-area championship course
A final serious round, then into the city. Dinner in Susukino.
Day 7
Sapporo
Optional fifth round
Either one more eighteen or a day at the Sapporo Beer Museum and Nijo Market.
Day 8
Depart
Transfer to New Chitose for your onward flight.