What an Abashiri drift ice cruise costs
Nobody sells a plain Aurora ticket through GetYourGuide or Viator, so the price you pay is always a package. Two coach tours from Sapporo charge per person and add a hotel night, while a private day in Abashiri charges one price for the whole car. Below we set them side by side and add what each total leaves out.
Five tours in one table
The first three rows put you on the Aurora in Abashiri. The last two use the Garinko icebreaker in Monbetsu, a different ship in a different town, and we list them for comparison only. Prices are the regular "from" figures on the listings.
| Tour | From | Priced | Length | Starts | Included | Free cancellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JUN Travel private day (our pick) | ~$2,082 | Per group of up to 6 | 8 h | Abashiri-area hotels | Car and guide, three museums, Aurora ticket | 24 h |
| H.I.S. two days | ~$401 | Per person | 2 days | Sapporo, about 9:45 am | Hotel, three meals, zoo, Prison Museum, Aurora | 7 days |
| Club Tourism two days | ~$430 | Per person | 2 days | Sapporo Station, 7:30 am | Hotel, three meals, ice touch, Aurora | 6 days |
| Garinko III private day | ~$541 | Per person | 11 h | Sapporo hotels | Car and driver, Garinko ticket, tolls | On the listing |
| Garinko two days | ~$427 | Per person | 2 days | Sapporo | Not checked in detail | On the listing |
None of the five had a single review of its own when we compared them, because all are new listings. That makes the price and the small print the main evidence you have, so read both.
JUN Travel's private day, priced per car
JUN Travel's day in Abashiri, from ~$2,082 per group, looks like the most expensive tour on this site until you divide it. The figure covers up to six people. Two travelers each pay half of it. That works out at roughly two and a half times one seat on the H.I.S. coach. Four people pay a little more each than the two-day tours cost per head. Six people sharing the car pay a little less each than those two-day prices.
For that you get eight hours with an English-speaking driver-guide who picks you up from your hotel in the Abashiri area and brings you back. Parking and fuel are covered too, plus four tickets for the Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum with its room of real drift ice, the Abashiri Prison Museum, the Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples and the Aurora cruise. Lunch is not included (the guide can suggest a place), and hotels outside the Abashiri area cost extra to reach. The bigger hidden cost is getting to Abashiri at all and paying for a night or two there, both of which the coach tours fold into their price. More on the format in our guide to private and small-group days.
H.I.S. two days with the zoo and an onsen night
The H.I.S. coach tour, from ~$401 per person, is the lowest price that puts you on the Aurora. It covers the coach from Sapporo and back, a hot-spring hotel by Lake Abashiri with lodging and bath taxes, a buffet dinner, breakfast, lunch at the Prison Museum, and entry to Asahiyama Zoo and the museum. The Aurora fare is included too, with a guaranteed booking for the ship.
Budget separately for lunch on day 1 (the coach stops at Asahikawa Ramen Village) and for the Sounkyo Ice Waterfall Festival, which charges 1,000 yen on site. You cannot choose your room type, and tattoos are barred from the baths, stickers included. The catch for the money is time spent on the road, about ten hours of coach and stops on day 1, with groups of up to 40.
One price for the car, not the head
JUN Travel collects you at your Abashiri hotel and fits the museums around the Aurora's sailing for up to six people, from ~$2,082 per group. You can cancel without charge until a day before, and payment can wait until later.
Club Tourism with the ice touch and a Shiretoko hotel
Club Tourism's two days, from ~$430 per person, cost a little more than H.I.S. and spend the money differently. You get the Shiretoko Daiichi Hotel in Utoro with a large public bath, a buffet dinner with drinks and breakfast, then an Ishikari hot-pot lunch in Kitami on day 2. Also in the price are the 40-minute drift ice touch experience in Shari and the roughly hour-long Aurora cruise. Lunch on day 1, at a roadside station in Engaru, is on you.
A licensed guide interpreter travels on the coach, but the expert on the ice walk speaks Japanese. The tour runs whatever the ice does. If there is no ice, the Aurora sails as a sightseeing cruise and the fare difference comes back to you, which our page on what happens when the ice stays away covers in full.
The Garinko extras
Two more listings reach drift ice from Sapporo, but on the Garinko in Monbetsu, not the Aurora. TeruTeru's Garinko III private day, from ~$541 per person at its regular price (often shown lower), includes the car with its highway tolls plus the cruise ticket. The catch is eleven hours, most of them on the road; no food is included and nobody has reviewed it yet. A two-day Garinko trip from Sapporo, from ~$427 per person, also often shows a lower price; it has no reviews yet either, and it goes to a different town and ship. Our Aurora or Garinko guide sets the two ships side by side.
Doing it yourself
You can also reach the Okhotsk coast by train or plane and stay in a hotel there, buying the Aurora fare at the terminal for a few thousand yen. For one or two people that usually comes out cheaper than any package here. You then carry the planning yourself, from transfers in snow to the risk of a sold-out sailing on a busy February weekend. Our page on getting from Sapporo covers the train and flight options, and the timing guide shows when the ice and the crowds peak.
Cancellation and the small print
- JUN Travel. No charge to cancel until a day ahead, and you can book now and settle the bill later. If weather forces a change to the cruise and you do not accept the new plan, you get a full refund
- H.I.S. Free cancellation up to 7 days before. If the cruise is cancelled, the Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum replaces it
- Club Tourism. Free cancellation up to 6 days before, confirmation within 48 hours. After that, cancellation fees apply even if the ice never arrives
Drift ice is never guaranteed on any of these tours. Neither are seals or eagles. Pack properly too, because a cheap tour spent shivering on deck is poor value; our clothing guide lists what to bring.