On the coldest day in my last Hokkaido snow festival trip, I took a long bus ride from Sapporo to Sounyko which meant to be 3.5 hours but turned out to be 5.5 hours! At least I got there and settled in a hotel with hot-spring. That’s nice! Locating in a hot spring area in Daisetsuzan, the largest national park in Hokkaido, the Sounkyo Ice Waterfall Festival is an interesting ice festival occupying 10,000 square meters of open space by the riverbank. Evening is the best time to visit when the venue is illuminated with colorful lights. Firework starts at 8:30pm every night and lasts about 5 to 10 mins. There is a small entrance fee of 300 Yen per person. The event will be held from January 23 to March 27 in 2016.  It is recommended that you stay over in Sounkyo and combine a trip to Asahiyama Zoo for the penguin parade and Asahikawa Snow Festival. Soukyo is only 1.5 hours away from Asahikawa by bus. There are some scheduled buses that run between Asahikawa and Sounkyo. And some hotels in Sounkyo offers…