Unkai Terrace

Cloud forms in the Yufutsu plain below Tomamu on mornings when the night has cooled the ground under moist air, and from 1,088 metres the result is a flat white surface stretching to the horizon with the Hidaka mountains standing out of it. The gondola runs from before sunrise in the season so that visitors are up there for it. The resort publishes a daily probability the evening before, based on humidity, wind and temperature, and the long-run rate is around forty percent - which is honest and also means most people who come for one morning do not see it. The terrace has been extended with viewing structures: a deck projecting out over the drop, a net suspended above the slope, and a cloud-shaped platform. Warm clothing matters even in July; it is close to freezing at dawn up there. There is a cafe at the top.

What you actually see

• A cloud sea from 1,088 metres - a flat white surface with mountains standing out of it.
• A dawn gondola - first lift running before sunrise through the season.
• Viewing structures - a projecting deck, a suspended net and a cloud-shaped platform.
• A published probability - the resort's own estimate, issued the evening before.

When to go

May to October, at dawn. A morning; consider two, to improve the odds.

Honest expectations

The cloud sea appears on roughly four mornings in ten and cannot be booked. The gondola runs only in season and closes in wind. Dawn temperatures at the top are near freezing even in midsummer. The resort is remote.

Nearby

Furano is north-west; Obihiro is south-east.