A truly Tomamu travel experience.

There are two key elements to the experiences Japan’s Hoshino Resorts group offers. As a premier hotel chain, they provide guests with elegantly luxurious amenities, but each location also seeks to harmoniously highlight the beauty of the local landscapes.

In the case of Hoshino Resorts Tomamu, that means snow and ice, and lots of them, thanks to the hotel’s proximity to Mt. Tomamu in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost, and chilliest, prefecture. Hosino Resorts Tomamu has so much ice that it builds an Ice Village on its grounds every winter, and this year’s version is getting set to start welcoming visitors soon.

This year’s Ice Village opens on December 10 and will consist of 11 structures spread out over a 3.2-hectare area. Returning this year is the Ice Chapel, which has hosted more than 660 wedding ceremonies since its first iteration in 2005 and this year will feature a new design in which friends and family will be seated in a circle around the bride and groom. The chapel will also be open between ceremonies in the evening between January 20 and February 14 for visitors to come in and see even if they’re not getting hitched.

▼ Even the pews are sculpted out of ice.

In terms of joyous occasions, many would say that finding good food ranks right up there with finding the love of your life, and so the Ice Village will also have an Ice Restaurant serving a mix of hot and chilled foods. In the first category are cheese fondue made with milk from local dairies and minestrone soup, and if you’re looking to double down on the chilliness, you can opt for a bowl of ice ramen, with chilled noodles and frozen toppings.

▼ The Ice Ramen appears to come in a bowl that’s made of ice, or at least covered in frost.

And while you’re enjoying your ice meal, don’t forget to save room for ice dessert. Inside the Ice Sweets Shop, which is making its Ice Village debut this year, you can craft your own sweets by pouring melted chocolate and candied bits into molds and watching them freeze-fuse together, or make white chocolate ice bars.

▼ As an added bonus, you won’t have to rush when eating them, since there’s very little risk of them melting.

And for those looking for even more icy adventures, there’s the Ice Hotel, a special room made entirely out of ice where one party per day can spend the night between January 20 and February 20.

A look at the preview map also shows that the village will also have a bar, open-air bath, post office, and giant slide made out of ice, as well as an ice-skating rink, which is just about the only thing that you would normally expect to be made of ice.

▼ The Ice Post Office will have a mailbox made of ice and offer post cards whose visual design changes depending on the temperature.

This year’s Ice Village will be open nightly, from 5 to 10 p.m., from December 10 to March 14. Though it’s part of Hoshino Resorts Tomamu, you don’t have to be staying at the hotel to check it out, as non-guests too can purchase admission tickets for 600 yen (US$4), with children under 7 admitted for free with a paying parent.

Related: Hoshino Resorts Tomamu
Source, images: PR Times
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