Booking a taxi from Abashiri to Shiretoko

Hello,

I do not have winter/snow driving experience and would like to visit Shiretoko on 14th February for the drift ice walk tour. Are there any taxi companies available that can take us from Abashiri to Shiretoko and back? Please suggest some references.

I did check the public transport, however I am worried that the tour timing and the bus arrival timing may not match.

Thanks!
Sahana

Have you checked East Hokkaido Express bus?

https://easthokkaido.com/en/expressbus_winter/

To get on these buses, you need to be the guest of some hotels they listed.

Yes, I did check it out. My hotel is in Abashiri and none of these buses go from Abashiri to Shiretoko and back. Thanks for your sharing this :)

So you will not be staying in Utoro? Do you plan to day trip from Abashiri? Maybe it is possible, but the taxi fare will be quite expensive, about 30000 yen one way plus waiting fee.

https://www.abashirihire.jp/course/

You can negotiate with taxi company, but you need to keep one taxi for a full day, so it will not be less than 60000 yen.

Yes, we are staying in Abashiri and plan to do a day trip to Shiretoko.
I understand that the taxi will be expensive, but I have no other choice. Do yo have any other recommendations? Thanks. I will check out the link you shared.

Hufff, I wrote an answer that has apparently not been posted (maybe it will appear at some point?).

With the winter airport bus (from the "Sharibus" company), if you manage to book an afternoon drift ice tour, you could take the bus in the morning, and taxi back in the afternoon.
http://www.sharibus.co.jp/rbus_memanbetu.html

There are also a few trains between Shiretoko-shari and Abashiri, so you could also do a combination of taxi & train (might also be easier to find a taxi from Shiretoko-shari?).

JR train from Abashiri to Shiretokoshari

Abashiri 9:50 10:42 Shiretokoshari (Ryuhyo Monogatari, 970 yen base fare plus 840 yen reserved seat fee: There are non-reserved seat, free of charge)

https://www.jrhokkaido.co.jp/travel/ryuhyo/

Shiretoko airport liner from Shiretokoshari to Utoro.

http://sharibus.co.jp/pdf/ShiretokoAirPortLiner2025_1.pdf

Shari bus terminal (just next to JR Shiretokoshari station) 11:02 11:48 Michi no Eki Utoro. 1650 yen

Take afternoon tour in Utoro.

Michino eki Utoro 17:11 18:00 Shari bus terminal 1650 yen
JR Shiretokoshari 19:00 19:49 JR Abashiri 970 yen.

I would rather take snow shoe hike to Furepe falls 3 hours which is very scenic than the drift ice walk.

I am checking the bus option too but I am slightly worried in case there is a delay, I might miss the tour. The Drift ice tour starts at 12.30 pm and ends at 2 pm. According to the Shari bus schedule, I can board the bust at Abashiri Bus terminal at 10.05 am and reach Utoro onsen bus terminal at 11.48 am. I would have enough time to reach Lantoko drift ice tour assembly area. Do I need to book a taxi in advance from Utoro to Abashiri or can I hail a taxi on the spot?

Regarding the Furepe showshoe tour, I couldn't find any company offering this. The one's that are offering, the slots are all sold out. Do you have any recommendations of the company offering this tour. Would love to check it out.

Thanks!
Sahana

This company offers a tour that starts at 3pm, so you could take the morning bus: https://shiretoko-picchio.com/en/distinations/drifticewalking360/

Or you could take the morning tour which ends at 11am, and the bus back at 12:20pm

Do I need to book a taxi in advance from Utoro to Abashiri or can I hail a taxi on the spot?

I have never been to that area, but I would definitely book the taxi in advance for peace of mind. Once you make a reservation for your tour, you can't afford arriving late, and if the taxi is your only option to get there, there's really no reason not to book it beforehand.

Thanks for sharing the link - https://shiretoko-picchio.com/en/distinations/drifticewalking360/

Checked them out in later November and their tours for February was already booked up.

Now that I have a tour booked with Lantoko, I would rather book the transport in advance. Thank you so much for your help :)

https://www.sno.co.jp/w-furepe.html

Though I cant find English page this company has vacancy (not so many) for Furepe snow shoe hike for 14th Feb, starting at 13:30 (till 15:30). If you can't read it, just call them at 0152-22-5041.

However, I recommend you to re-think about your total itinerary: Utoro is by far the best place to see drift ice, and your experience will deeply influenced by the weather of the day. I stayed 2 nights in Utoro and the morning session of the 2nd day was brizzard. First day afternoon and second day afternoon was very nice, but drift ice was not so many on 1st day.

I think you may better stay at least one night in Utoro to increase your chance to see drift ice.

In any case, Utoro is very nice place in mid February. I combind it with Snow Festival in Sapporo, and honestly, Utoro's landscape is much better.

On another note, I think as per the Shiretoko airport liner schedule [http://sharibus.co.jp/pdf/ShiretokoAirPortLiner2025_1.pdf], I can board the bus at Abashiri Bus Terminal at 10.05 am and reach Utoro onsen bus terminal at 11.48 am. I would have enough time to reach Lantoko drift ice tour assembly area before 12.30 pm. Any idea on how regular are the busses as per their set schedule? Will there be any delays?

If there are no delays then I can manage via bus one way atleast.

Thank you for the suggestion regrading staying a night in Utoro, as much as I want to do it, at this point I will not be able to make changes to my itinerary.

I will be in Abashiri from 13th Feb - 16th Feb. I will be coming in from Sapporo. So I will just have half a day on 13th and my flight back to Tokyo is on 16th early morning.

I did find a tour site offering snowshoe hiking with frozen waterfall in Notoro Peninsula. https://hokkaidoxpert.com/products/icefall-snowshoe-trekking-tour-abas...

I hope the experience would be something similar. May be next time I will plan a stay in Utoro :)

I will be in Abashiri from 13th Feb - 16th Feb. I will be coming in from Sapporo.

I haven't looked at the hotel prices in Utoro, but if the prices are not too high, and considering you were initially willing to spend over 30,000 yens on a taxi, maybe you could book a room on the 14th (while still keeping your original booking in Abashiri if it cannot be amended).

Please ignore my previous message, I missed the fact that you booked your tour at 12:30!

We can’t predict where is the best place to see drift ice on Feb 14th and 15th, but you can see the data for the past.

https://www.data.jma.go.jp/gmd/kaiyou/db/seaice/archive/c_1/okhotsk_mo...

Though it is only in Japanese but you can understand what it means. Just click 2月 of the 2024年 row.

https://www.data.jma.go.jp/kaiyou/db/seaice/archive/c_1/okhotsk_monthl...

You can see the present ice coverage.

https://www.data.jma.go.jp/kaiyou/shindan/c_1/okhotsk_anl/okhotsk_anl....

And the comparison with average year while red lines demarcates the periphri of the ice of the average year.

https://www.data.jma.go.jp/kaiyou/shindan/c_1/okhotsk_anl/okhotsk_anl....

Sadly it states that “オホーツク海の海氷域の広がりは、平年より遅くなっています。”

Meaning “Sea ice extent in the Sea of Okhotsk is slower than normal.”

You can also see the prediction.

https://www.data.jma.go.jp/kaikyou/seaice/tile/jp/index_fct.html#zoom:...

You can enlarge this map to see the place of your interest. Cape Notoro is northwest of Abashiri.

Drift ice comes from Amur river with northwest winds. This wind is accompanied with snow so it should be a blizzard. Then the best weather to see drift ice is: northwest winds for several days, then it stops and becomes sunshine :).

Hope you a good luck!

I got on a “Aurora” from Abashiri,

https://www.ms-aurora.com/abashiri/en/
But we can only see very small ice on that cruise.

Thanks a bunch for all the pointers. The links to monitor the drift ice is great. I will keep a tab on the links.

As for my question regarding public transport from Abashiri to Utoro, I found the Shiretoko Airport liner; it departs from Abashiri Bus terminal at 10.05 am and reachs Utoro onsen bus terminal at 11.48 am.

However, are there any buses departing from Utoro after 2pm? If I can get to Shiretoko-shari, I can take a train back to Abashiri.

Please let me know.

Thanks

Please ignore my question:

I found this Shiretoko line time table - http://www.sharibus.co.jp/pdf/2024_shiretokow1.pdf
I can board the bus no. 5 at 14.30 in Utoro Bus terminal and reach Shari bus terminal at 15.20 and then take a train from Shiretoko shari to Abashiri.

Thanks for all the help. Truly appreciate it :)