One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Bihoro美幌町
The pass where the whole Kussharo caldera appears
Okhotsk region · Drift ice in winter, wilderness gateways all year.
Bihoro's pass is one of Japan's great road-trip moments — the whole Kussharo caldera suddenly below your windshield.
Bihoro is a farming town on the Sekihoku Main Line just south of Memanbetsu Airport, and most travelers know it for one place: the Bihoro Pass, where Route 243 climbs out of the fields and suddenly the entire Kussharo caldera lies below, lake and islands and all. The town itself is low-key, with wide fields of wheat and beet, a river running through the centre and a local museum. It is the natural first or last stop between the airport and the Akan-Mashu lakes.
- Region
- Okhotsk (オホーツク)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~305 km · 4.7 h summer / 5.5 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~320 km · 4.9 h summer / 5.8 h winter
- Best season in Okhotsk
- Late January–March for drift ice; May–October for Shiretoko's lakes, falls and wildlife.
Bihoro at a glance
Drive estimates: straight-line × 1.35, at 65 km/h (summer) / 55 km/h (winter). How we calculate
What to see in Bihoro
Bihoro Pass
美幌峠
One of the great viewpoints in Hokkaido: Lake Kussharo filling the caldera below, Nakajima island in the middle and the Akan volcanoes beyond. A roadside station sits right on the top; in early morning the lake is often under cloud.
Bihoro Museum
美幌博物館
The town museum in a park on the edge of the centre, with natural history of the Bihoro River basin, farming tools from the settlement years and a good outdoor area for a stroll.
Bihoro River and the fields
美幌川と農村風景
The river runs through the middle of town and the land around it is classic Okhotsk farmland: wheat gold in late July, beet and potatoes into autumn, and long straight roads between them.
Getting to Bihoro
Memanbetsu Airport is about 15 minutes by car, the closest of any town in the region. Bihoro station is on the JR Sekihoku Main Line between Kitami and Abashiri. Route 39 links Kitami and Abashiri through the town, and Route 243 climbs south over the Bihoro Pass to Lake Kussharo and Teshikaga.
Okhotsk region: Fly into Memanbetsu Airport for Abashiri and Shiretoko's west side; drift-ice season adds special trains and buses.
When to visit Bihoro
May to October for the pass, when the road is clear and the view is reliable; early mornings in summer and autumn give the best chance of a sea of clouds over the lake. Winter views from the pass are spectacular but the road can close in storms.
What to eat in Bihoro
This is grain and root country: wheat, sugar beet, potatoes and beans from the flat land around the river, plus dairy from the hills. Local wheat goes into bread and noodles sold in town, and the roadside station on the pass serves the standard Okhotsk line of potato and dairy dishes.
Bihoro in context: the Okhotsk region
Click a town to open its page
Every winter, the Sea of Okhotsk performs one of the natural world's great spectacles on this coast: drift ice, sailing down from the north until the horizon turns white. Icebreaker cruises push through it from Abashiri and Monbetsu — an only-here experience in all of Japan.