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# Which Airport for Drift Ice Hokkaido Memanbetsu or Kushiro?
- URL: https://www.nipponstays.com/memanbetsu-vs-kushiro-vs-new-chitose-for-drift-ice/
- Published: 2026-10-24T01:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T05:26:05.000Z
- Description: Memanbetsu, Kushiro or New Chitose: which airport gets you to Hokkaido's drift ice fastest, with bus and train connect times and where to sleep the first night.
- Author: Hideaki Yasukawa
- Tags: Hokkaido, Practical, #2026-11-drift-ice-doto-01

Which airport for drift ice Hokkaido Memanbetsu or Kushiro should you book? Fly into Memanbetsu if drift ice is the whole point of the trip — it's about a 30-minute bus ride from the terminal to the port town of Abashiri (Abashiri Bus, checked September 2026), and AIRDO adds Haneda–Memanbetsu flights for the 2027 drift ice season, February 5 to March 8\. Choose Kushiro instead if you're looping through Tanchou crane country and Lake Akan on the way in, and book a room near [Akan Yuku-no-Sato Tsuruga](https://www.trip.com/hotels/kushiro-hotel-detail-1098665/akan-yuku-no-sato-tsuruga/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=memanbetsu-vs-kushiro-vs-new-chitose-for-drift-ice&trip%5Fsub3=D20138365&ref=nipponstays.com) on the hot-spring strip. Landing at New Chitose on one international ticket? Either the train (about 5 hr 25 min to Abashiri) or a short connecting flight to Memanbetsu gets you there; for a first night close to the port itself, [Dormy Inn Abashiri](https://www.trip.com/hotels/abashiri-hotel-detail-6446369/dormy-inn-abashiri-natural-hot-spring/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=memanbetsu-vs-kushiro-vs-new-chitose-for-drift-ice&trip%5Fsub3=D19740268&ref=nipponstays.com) is an easy walk from the station.

## Three Airports, Three Kinds of Trip

The decision isn't really about which airport is "better" — it's about what the rest of your itinerary looks like. Memanbetsu exists almost entirely to serve Abashiri and the drift ice coast, so it's the fastest way in if that's your only reason for being in eastern Hokkaido. Kushiro sits further south and serves a different set of destinations — Kushiro Wetland, the tanchou crane sanctuaries, and Lake Akan — so it makes sense if drift ice is one stop on a longer eastern-Hokkaido loop rather than the destination itself. New Chitose is neither: it's Hokkaido's main international gateway, and flying there means you'll need a second leg, by train or by air, to reach either coast.

| Airport     | Flights from Haneda                                        | Flights from New Chitose                                           | Onward to Abashiri                                                                                  | Onward to Lake Akan                                                                |
| ----------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Memanbetsu  | AIRDO: 4/day, rising to 6/day Feb 5–Mar 8, 2027            | \~50-min flight, several times daily (ANA/JAL)                     | Airport bus, about 30 min, timed to flights                                                         | No practical same-day link — routed via Abashiri or Kushiro instead                |
| Kushiro     | AIRDO/ANA/JAL: 4/day (2 round trips), no seasonal increase | \~1.5-hr flight, or Limited Express Super Ozora, about 4 hr 10 min | No practical same-day link — well over four hours either way                                        | Akan Bus Airport Liner, about 75–80 min, timed to flights                          |
| New Chitose | Hokkaido's main gateway — dozens of flights a day          | —                                                                  | Limited Express Okhotsk, about 5 hr 25 min, 2x daily; or a \~50-min connecting flight to Memanbetsu | Limited Express Super Ozora to Kushiro (\~4 hr 10 min), then the Airport Liner bus |

## Memanbetsu: 30 Minutes to the Port Town

Memanbetsu Airport's whole reason for existing, in winter, is the coast a half-hour away. The [Abashiri Bus airport line](https://www.abashiribus.com/en/memanbetsu/?ref=nipponstays.com) runs directly from the terminal to Abashiri Station and the bus terminal, timed to meet arriving flights, for a fare of ¥1,050 and a journey of roughly 30–35 minutes (Abashiri Bus, checked September 2026). In the 2025–26 season, the operator also ran a longer Shiretoko Airport Liner from the terminal on to Utoro between January 17 and March 8 — useful if your loop continues to the Shiretoko side, though the 2027 dates for that extended service weren't published yet at the time of writing.

From the port town itself, the icebreaker cruises and the drift ice walk operators are a short trip from the station-area hotels, which is why [our guide to where to stay in Abashiri](https://www.nipponstays.com/where-to-stay-in-abashiri-drift-ice-season/) treats "how close to the port can you get" as the whole basis for choosing a room. If Memanbetsu is your only reason to be in eastern Hokkaido, this is the airport to book.

## Kushiro: The Loop Start

Kushiro makes sense for a different trip — one where drift ice is a leg of a longer eastern-Hokkaido loop rather than the destination. The [Akan Bus Airport Liner](https://www.akanbus.co.jp/airport/?ref=nipponstays.com) runs a direct, flight-timed service between the terminal and Lake Akan Onsen's bus center, taking about 75–80 minutes each way (Akan Bus, checked September 2026); a parallel local route also serves the same corridor with more stops if the direct liner doesn't line up with your flight. For the hot-spring side of the loop, [our guide to Lake Akan in winter](https://www.nipponstays.com/lake-akan-winter-where-to-stay-ice-festival/) covers which of the ryokan actually suit a family group.

What Kushiro doesn't give you is a fast path to the coast. There's no direct bus or train between Kushiro and Abashiri; the practical routes all go back through Sapporo or Kitami, adding hours you don't need if drift ice is the point of the trip. If a flight lands late in Kushiro and pushing straight on to Lake Akan doesn't make sense, the city itself has ordinary station-area business hotels — [Super Hotel Kushiro Ekimae](https://www.trip.com/hotels/kushiro-hotel-detail-2198737/super-hotel-kushiro-ekimae/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=memanbetsu-vs-kushiro-vs-new-chitose-for-drift-ice&trip%5Fsub3=D20138393&ref=nipponstays.com) sits about a minute's walk from JR Kushiro Station, on the same corridor the Airport Liner uses the next morning.

One data point from personal experience, for what a single trip is worth: I've flown into Memanbetsu myself on the short Okadama–Memanbetsu hop that Hokkaido Air System runs from Sapporo's smaller in-town airport, while my wife flew in separately via New Chitose the same day. Neither of us hit a weather delay or cancellation on that particular trip, and the flight home from Memanbetsu to Haneda left on schedule too. That's one data point, not a track record — Hokkaido's regional airports do see weather delays in winter — but it shows the connections work as advertised when conditions cooperate.

## New Chitose: One International Ticket

Most international itineraries still route through New Chitose, since it's the airport with the widest choice of international connections. From there, reaching the drift ice coast takes a second leg either way. By rail, the regular, year-round Limited Express Okhotsk covers Sapporo to Abashiri in about 5 hours 25 minutes, running twice daily in each direction. JR Hokkaido also adds a separate winter-only extra service on the same route (Okhotsk 81/84), which ran on selected high-demand dates in the 2025–26 season with a longer routing — a 7:41 departure from Sapporo and a 13:53 arrival in Abashiri, just over six hours door to door (JR Hokkaido's winter limited-express operating plan (特急列車の運転計画について), checked September 2026); whether it returns for 2026–27, and on which dates, wasn't published at the time of writing. If five and a half hours on a train doesn't fit your schedule, a roughly 50-minute connecting flight to Memanbetsu, on the New Chitose–Memanbetsu route flown by ANA and JAL several times a day, is the faster option.

If the plan is Lake Akan rather than the coast, the rail option is the Limited Express Super Ozora to Kushiro — about four hours ten minutes, with several round trips a day — followed by the Airport Liner bus. Either way, if your flight lands at New Chitose and you need somewhere to sleep before the onward leg, [our guide to a first night near New Chitose](https://www.nipponstays.com/where-to-stay-first-night-new-chitose-arrival/) and [our piece on New Chitose's snow-delay risk](https://www.nipponstays.com/new-chitose-snow-delays-hotels/) both cover that side of the trip; a comparison of Hokkaido's other winter gateways is in [our Asahikawa-versus-New-Chitose guide](https://www.nipponstays.com/asahikawa-airport-vs-new-chitose-winter-flights/), and the day-by-day version of a car-free loop through all three towns is in [our guide to eastern Hokkaido without a car](https://www.nipponstays.com/eastern-hokkaido-winter-without-a-car/).

## Where Airlines Actually Add Capacity

Airlines only add seats where the demand is, and their own winter schedule shows exactly where that is. AIRDO's published 2026–27 winter plan keeps Haneda–Kushiro flat at four flights a day (two round trips) for the entire season — no seasonal change at all. Haneda–Memanbetsu is different: AIRDO lifts it from four flights to six a day — a third round trip — for 32 days between February 5 and March 8, 2027, plus two extra dates in late October 2026 ([AIRDO's second-half FY2026 flight plan (2026年度下期運航計画)](https://www.airdo.jp/corporate/release/2026/release-10628.html?ref=nipponstays.com), published 2026-08-18, checked September 2026). That's about as close as a timetable gets to an airline confirming, in its own scheduling data, which airport the drift ice season actually belongs to.

| Route                       | Mode                              | Time          | Winter note                                                                        |
| --------------------------- | --------------------------------- | ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Haneda–Memanbetsu           | Flight (AIRDO/ANA/JAL)            | \~1 hr 45 min | AIRDO adds a 3rd daily round trip Feb 5–Mar 8, 2027                                |
| Haneda–Kushiro              | Flight (AIRDO/ANA/JAL)            | \~1 hr 35 min | No seasonal increase — same 4 flights/day year-round                               |
| Memanbetsu Airport–Abashiri | Bus (Abashiri Bus)                | \~30 min      | Scheduled to meet every arriving flight                                            |
| Kushiro Airport–Lake Akan   | Bus (Akan Bus Airport Liner)      | \~75–80 min   | One inbound, one outbound direct service a day                                     |
| Sapporo–Abashiri            | Limited Express Okhotsk (regular) | \~5 hr 25 min | Runs year-round, 2x daily each way                                                 |
| Sapporo–Abashiri            | Okhotsk 81/84 (winter extra)      | \~6 hr 12 min | Ran on selected high-demand dates in 2025–26 only; 2026–27 dates not yet published |

## Trip Essentials for Eastern Hokkaido

Things worth booking before you land, all in English:

- **eSIM** — [Airalo's Japan eSIM](https://airalo.tpm.lv/2TWpibQS?ref=nipponstays.com): install it at home and data works as soon as you switch off airplane mode at Memanbetsu or Kushiro Airport.
- **Tickets and day trips** — [Klook](https://klook.tpm.lv/YUDFuAUZ?ref=nipponstays.com) covers Abashiri's drift-ice icebreaker cruises; booking ahead skips the ticket-window line.

## FAQ: Which Airport for Drift Ice

### Which airport is closest to the drift ice viewing points?

Memanbetsu. It's about a 30-minute, ¥1,050 bus ride from the terminal to Abashiri, where the icebreaker cruises depart and the port-front hotels sit (Abashiri Bus, checked September 2026).

### Are there more flights to Memanbetsu during drift ice season?

Yes. AIRDO increases its Haneda–Memanbetsu schedule from four flights to six a day for 32 days between February 5 and March 8, 2027, plus two extra dates in late October 2026\. Its Haneda–Kushiro route gets no such boost — it stays at four flights a day all winter.

### Can I fly into Kushiro and still see drift ice the same day?

Not realistically. There's no direct bus or train between Kushiro and Abashiri, and the workable routes run back through Sapporo or Kitami, adding hours. Kushiro is built for the Lake Akan side of a trip — about 75–80 minutes from the airport on the Akan Bus Airport Liner — not the coast.

### What if I land at New Chitose?

Two options: the Limited Express Okhotsk train, about 5 hours 25 minutes to Abashiri with two round trips a day, or a roughly 50-minute connecting flight to Memanbetsu. For Lake Akan instead, it's the Limited Express Super Ozora to Kushiro (about four hours ten minutes), then the Airport Liner bus.