[Tomamu Unkai Terrace] Visitors May Meet with Superb Sea of Clouds if They Are Lucky

Hoshino Resort Tomamu Unkai Terrace

Hoshino Resort Tomamu (星野リゾートトマム) is a popular tourist attraction in Tomamu, Shimukappu village located in the northwestern direction of Obihiro city, and is famous as a resort that tourists can enjoy a golf in a summer, a ski and a snowboarding in a winter. In 2005, they started Unkai Terrace (雲海テラス) that utilized a ski-lift in the summer, and it has became the popular in an instant. * The Unkai means "A sea of clouds" in Japanese. It is one of most popular tourist attractions of the sea of the clouds in Hokkaido. The Unkai Terrace has an observation platform, Tenbo Cafe (てんぼうかふぇ), Cloud Walk (クラウドウォーク), Sky Wedge (スカイウェッジ), Contour Bench (コンターベンチ), Cloud Pool (クラウドプール), Cloud Bed (クラウドベッド), Cloud Bar (クラウドバー) at about 1,100 m above sea level. A parking lot is free of charge. The Unkai Terrace closes a business from mid October to mid May.

Movie of Unkai Terrace

A resort liner bus runs between Tomamu Ski Resort and New Chitose Airport, Sapporo and Asahikawa.

Look of Hoshino Resort Tomamu Unkai Terrace

In the large site of the Hoshino Resort Tomamu, a ski gondola station is built near Mina-Mina Beach, and most of visitors go up to the Unkai Terrace by the ski gondola, and it takes about 15 minutes by the ski gondola from Gondola Yamafumoto Station (ゴンドラ山頂駅) to Gondola Sancho Station (ゴンドラ山麓駅). In addition, Visitors can go up the mountain for about 40 minutes on foot, and aims for the Tenbo Cafe at the Unkai Terrace. * The Cloud Walk, the Sky Wedge, the Contour Bench, the Cloud Pool, the Cloud Bed and the Cloud Bar were not built at that time. A lot of visitors lined up to take a ski gondola when I visited here at 05:30 on weekdays in mid September 2014. It was very popular. I also formed a line for about 30 minutes. Gondola fees is JPY 1,900. Unaki Season Passport (雲海シーズンパス) is JPY 5,000. It is a good deal if you visit here many times.

I took a ski gondola alone, and it was good not to share it with others. While the ski gondola went foward in the fog, I saw Twin Towers and ski courses, and I arrived at the Gondola Sancho Station. By the way, a postcard is gaven when the visitors take a ski gondola. A post is built on the mountain, and the visitors can send it without stamp there. That may has become a good memory for the visitors. A lot of visitors came to the Gondola Sancho Station. Unfortunately, the sea of the clouds did not appear, so most of the visitors had tea or view a scenery. In addition, Yoga is held, too. Anybody can take part in the yoga for free, and can enjoy breathing the fresh air.

The sea of the clouds have 3 types. The first is Tomamu-type, and the bottom of the basin-formed topography is cooled, and the sea of the clouds occurs from Tomamu district. The second is Pacific-type, and the sea of the clouds come over from Hidaka Mountain Range (日高山脈) after sea fog is cooled in the Pacific. The third is Bad Weather-type, and the sea of the clouds occurs from the interval of the cloud in the bad weather. There are 40 % chance that visitors may meet with all types. For natural phenomenon, the visitors may not to be met with the splendid sea of the clouds.

At that day, I saw nothing with view defectiveness at first. Business hours of the ski gondola is different depending on seasons, but it is about from 04:30 to 08:00. Most of the visitors can see the sea of the clouds only between the time. Fortunately, the weather was cleared just before the end of the ski gondola. Therefore I was able to see the small sea of the clouds occurred around Twin Towers. Still I could not help moving by the mystery of nature. Other visitors cheered very much as well as me, too. I want to see the big sea of the clouds live.

Unkai Terrace Can Be Watched on Youtube

Movie of Unkai Terrace

Gondola fee	Adult: JPY 1900, Child: JPY 1200. Pet: JPY 500.
Parking lot	Free parking lot is provided (100 cars)
Business hours	04:00-08:00 * It varies according to seasons
Regular closing day	From late October to mid May
Telephone number	+81-167-58-1205 * Unkai information
Home page	Home page is here
Reservation	Jalan is here, Rakuten is here
Mapcode	608 510 338*21

List of Accommodations

Refer to following websites for the accommodations in the Shimukappu. You can get information regarding online reviews and photos.

SHIMUKAPPU

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Hoshino Resorts Tomamu The Tower(星野リゾート トマム ザ・タワー)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hoshino Resorts RISONARE Tomamu(星野リゾート リゾナーレトマム)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Pension Ing Tomamu(ペンション イング・トマム)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Petit Hotel Gracey Tomamu(プチホテル グレーシィトマム)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Club Med Tomamu Hokkaido(クラブメッド 北海道 トマム)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Alps Pension(あるぷすペンション)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Auberge POLE STAR(オーベルジュ ポーラスター)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Lodge Aspen(ロッジアスペン)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Osafune Ryokan(おさふね旅館)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Ryotei Yuki-kan(旅亭遊季館)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Farm Inn Nora(ファームインのら)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Somin-kan(双民館)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Log House Tomamu-so(ログハウストマム荘)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Niniu Campsite(ニニウキャンプ場)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten

YUNOSAWA ONSEN

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Mori-no-Shiki(森の四季)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten