Passeio GARINKO GO Ⅲ, FESTIVAL DE SOUNKYO

Due to the remote location of the activity, travel time occupied most of the itinerary. The icebreaker experience was excellent, but the time spent at the Cloud Gorge Ice and Snow Festival was too short, preventing us from fully exploring and taking photos. The tour guide only spoke Japanese, but communicated using Google Translate and had pre-translated information prepared for foreign tourists (Figure 4), showing great professionalism. As for Klook's activity information and customer service, both were very poor! The description of the activity meeting point was incorrect, and when I raised questions with customer service, they continued to cite the erroneous information from the description and directed guests to the wrong meeting point! If I hadn't personally confirmed with the activity provider before departure, I would have missed the entire day's itinerary!

The round trip takes 8-9 hours, with stops at rest areas for restrooms. Although the journey is long, it's well worth it. The seafood hot pot for lunch was delicious. As it was cold, the sea was covered with thick ice, which was a magnificent sight. Watching the icebreaker break through the ice one by one was an amazing feeling. The Sounkyo Ice Waterfall Festival light show was another highlight of this trip, with many indoor ice sculptures enhanced by beautiful lighting effects. However, the 40-minute sightseeing time felt a bit rushed, and some areas were slippery, making it easy to slip, so one had to be very careful. The tour guide was Japanese, but there were no communication barriers; he always wrote down the return time, and everyone was punctual. Overall, I highly recommend this tour.

Es ist eine sehr lange Reise. Stellen Sie sicher, dass Sie das Wetter überprüfen, bevor Sie die Reise buchen, wir können kein Eis auf dem Meer sehen. Aber die ganze Reise ist trotzdem empfehlenswert.

It was very good to have the tour guide on this trip. And wear more clothes to keep warm.

It is recommended for all who want to have the long trip to see the ice on sea:)

This is truly a spectacular place. You don't have to go to Finland to experience the feeling of an icebreaker. Although some of the ice had melted when we went, it was truly an unforgettable experience, and also my first time experiencing a -20°C world.

Although we encountered the large boat service being suspended due to strong winds on site, and the Sounkyo ice house being closed due to melting ice, the overall experience was still quite convenient. If given the chance, I would still choose this itinerary to make up for what we missed.

This was quite the highlight of the trip! Nice view and memorable experience. The journey there was pretty long with several short service stops along the way. Lunch was free and easy at the terminal with limited choices but given the time, it was just nice enough time before boarding. Those who signed up for one with lunch will drop at the earlier stop where the rest shopped for fresh seafood. Next stop was the Sounkyo Ice Fall Festival which was a little underwhelming. Though it stated a 40mins, in reality we only have about 20-30mins as it accounts for time taken to get to the parking area meeting point which is a distance. Though the guide conducted the tour mainly in Japanese, there was audio translation in English for the benefit of foreign travellers who form the minority of the tour group. Do be mindful that the Japanese tour unlike other tours requires all travellers to follow a set of rules e.g. to remain quiet, light snacking and be punctual.

Multiple pick-up appointments, but I chose Sapporo View Hotel Odori. They were very punctual, checked names, took temperatures, and assigned seats. We visited the fish market and the icebreaker ship site. You can eat here (not included in the voucher). The ice was beautiful. We stopped by the night ice festival, which was nice but we had little time. Overall, it was good.

Grateful to have successfully seen and boarded the icebreaker. However, the journey from Sapporo is long and not highly recommended. While you do get to see drift ice, I personally didn't find it particularly special. The weather was too cold... Lunch was the worst; by around 1:30 PM, the food court had run out of food. We had to eat instant noodles from a convenience store to fill up... I suggest everyone buy food in advance. But I must praise Japan's ice festivals; they are truly excellent, with many photo opportunities. Unfortunately, we missed the fireworks at the Sounkyo Ice Festival as our 8:30 PM tour couldn't wait. Next time, to fully enjoy everything, self-driving is a must!