Michelin Green Guide Hokkaido — Three-Star Shiretoko, Lake Mashu and Lake Akan, and How to Cover All 90 Starred Sights

What the Michelin Green Guide is — 90 starred sights in Hokkaido

This is the Michelin Green Guide (Le Guide Vert), which rates destinations rather than restaurants. The Japan edition is published in France: the 4th edition in 2015, the 6th in 2020, and the current one in 2025. Every star below is given with the edition that awarded it.

The count includes entries rated separately inside a single place, such as an observation deck or a sightseeing boat. One fact shapes every Hokkaido itinerary: three of the three-star entries — Shiretoko, Lake Mashu and Lake Akan — are all in the east, four to five hours one way from Sapporo or Hakodate. Treat eastern Hokkaido as its own separate trip.

Three-star 1: the east — Shiretoko, Lake Mashu, Lake Akan

Shiretoko National Park (★★★)

Three stars in the 2015 edition. The peninsula became a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site in 2005. In the same edition the Shiretoko Five Lakes and Kamuiwakka Falls hold two stars. The elevated boardwalk at the Five Lakes is open to anyone during the season, but the ground-level loop is restricted while brown bears are active. To avoid arriving and finding you cannot walk, check the dates and registration rules before you go.

Lake Mashu (★★★) and Lake Kussharo (★★☆)

Lake Mashu is three-star in the 2015 edition, and its first and third observation decks are two-star each. The lake is famous for fog, and whether you see the water is down to the day. If the first deck is fogged in, move to the third. Neighbouring Lake Kussharo and the Wakoto Peninsula are two-star, and the 2020 edition added the road to Mt. Io at one star.

Lake Akan (★★★)

Three stars in the 2015 edition. This is the lake where marimo moss balls grow, a Special Natural Monument. The Lake Akan sightseeing boat, Lake Onneto and Mt. Meakan are two-star, and the Ainu Kotan village on the shore is one-star. Mashu, Kussharo and Akan sit inside the same national park, so by car all three fit into one day.

Three-star 2: the view from Mt. Hakodate, and the rest of Hakodate

Mt. Hakodate is two-star in the 2015 edition and the view from it is three-star. What earns the rating is the night view of a city pinched between two bays; a ropeway takes you to the top. In the same edition the Goryokaku fort, the slopes of Motomachi and the former Hakodate Public Hall are two-star. Motomachi is the district of churches and Western-style houses on the hill, where Hachiman-zaka and Moto-i-zaka are one-star.

The 2020 edition added the Hakodate Morning Market at two stars and the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses at one. The market really only works in the morning, so plan on sleeping in Hakodate.

Hakodate is the only starred cluster connected to Honshu by shinkansen. You can collect its stars without going through Sapporo, which makes it a natural gateway or a pairing with Tohoku.

The north — Daisetsuzan, Biei and the Blue Pond

The 2015 edition gives two stars to Daisetsuzan National Park, Mt. Asahidake and the Sugatami area. Ride the Asahidake ropeway and a short walk at the top takes you past volcanic vents and alpine flowers.

The 2020 edition added the Blue Pond at two stars, with Furano and Biei, the Panorama Road and the Patchwork Road at one. Dissolved minerals scatter the light in the pond and turn it a milky blue; the colour is strongest on clear, windless days and muddies after rain. The two hill roads assume a car or a rental bike.

Central Hokkaido — the Sapporo Snow Festival, Otaru, Shikotsu-Toya

The 2015 edition makes the Sapporo Snow Festival three-star. Held in Odori Park and elsewhere in early February, it is unlike the others on this list: a three-star sight with fixed dates. If you want it, start booking accommodation six months out. In the city, Moerenuma Park and the Historical Village of Hokkaido are one-star.

The 2020 edition added the Otaru Canal, the Otaru City Museum and the Nikka Whisky Yoichi Distillery at one star — three sights in a single day out from Sapporo by JR. To the south, Shikotsu-Toya National Park, Lake Shikotsu, Lake Toya and Noboribetsu Onsen are one-star in the 2015 edition.

One caveat the book cannot carry: the Ainu Museum in Shiraoi, one-star in the 2015 edition, closed in 2018 and reopened in 2020 as Upopoy, the National Ainu Museum and Park. Upopoy is where you go now.

Model routes by length, and which pass to use

Sapporo and the east do not fit in one day — it is four to five hours each way by limited express. The three eastern three-star sights are mostly far from any station, so Shiretoko and the Akan-Mashu area effectively require a rental car or a tour.

For central Hokkaido alone you do not need a pass. The moment you extend to the east or to Hakodate, the 7-day JR Hokkaido Rail Pass pays off. If you come up from Honshu by shinkansen, the Honshu leg is covered by the Japan Rail Pass.

Michelin Green Guide Hokkaido — FAQ

Star ratings: ★★★ worth a special journey / ★★☆ worth a detour / ★☆☆ interesting. Stars come from the 4th (2015) or 6th (2020) edition of the Michelin Green Guide Japan, as noted for each sight, and are reviewed with every edition. “Starred sights” counts every entry the guide awards stars to — including buildings inside a site, museum pieces, viewpoints and routes — so it is not a count of separate locations.