Sounkyo in February?

Hi,

I'm planning a trip to Hokkaido with friends to coincide with the 2014 Sapporo snow festival and we're all planning to stay in Furano and, if possible, Sounkyo.

we were planning to stay 2 nights in Furano, leave early on the third day for Asahikawa and then catch a bus to Sounkyo where we would stay the night. the next day we would see the sights in Soukyo and then leave back for sapporo in the afternoon.

My worries are that:
a) there won't be anything interesting to do as we are not skilled in hiking, etc.
b) the travel times are too long to leave any time for sightseeing in sounkyo with just one day.

does anybody have any experience of Sounkyo in february or at least in winter that can help me out? is one day too short? or should I give up altogether?

I'm interested to see the winter lights festival, the frozen waterfalls and just some pretty winter landscapes.

I was there during the February festival many years ago. We were picked up by the hotel (complimentary) near lunch time and arrived just in time for check-in. The ride from Asahikawa was fine and I don't recall it was too long.

Since my purpose to Sounkyo is to attend the festival and have some onsen time I found one night is sufficient. The next morning we had another soak after breakfast (no one at all - all tour groups left) prior to being picked up by another hotel's shuttle to another destination. I believe it's possible to use that time to check out the waterfall instead.

I enjoyed my time in Sounkyo. The ice festival they had was different from that of Sapporo's snow festival but really nice too. It has a small town vibe to it. They distributed free red wine to keep one warm in the cold.

By the way since you mentioned winter landscape, I've thought it mostly more of the same in most parts of Hokkaido, until when we were on the way to the other destination I mentioned (Lake Akan). We had to pass through Kitami and that route between Sounkyo and Kitami was really beautiful. I remember reading a blogger mention that beautiful route but did not put too much thought into it. But when there was convinced it was the best scenery we experienced in Hokkaido.

As it's 10 below zero or colder in February make sure you have other things to do. I doubt you'll be doing much hiking or want to spend much time outside at all. - Even if you want to.
However, make sure you allow time to visit the Asahiyama Zoo at Asahikawa as it was a real highlight of our trip to Hokkaido in February.

From what I experienced, it was almost -20 degree in Sounkyo. That's warm winter in Sounkyo. However the earth is warming up... Sounkyo and Asahikawa area can go down to lots more than that. Surprisingly, the place I felt coldest was in Otaru... weird. Of course the actual reading and wind chill can be different. Just remember the rules to keeping warm... 90-100% down jacket, inner layers stick to wool or polyester. Cotton is huge no-no.