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Can you use へ and に interchangeably, as in:

> 北海道 **へ** 行く

and

> 北海道 **に** 行く ?

Are there any subtle differences in the use of these two?
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2011-05-31T21:46:23.797
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grammar particles particle-に particle-へ
When going somewhere, is there any difference between e (へ) and ni (に)?
There is a very subtle difference between the two--with に, the destination is
more important; with へ, the journey is more important. You might use に if you
want to say you're going " _to_ the store" and へ if you want to say you're
going " _in the direction of_ the store [and ending up there]."

Is there a lot of practical difference in how they are used? Not really.
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2011-05-31T21:50:03.940
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I've always seen に as meaning going somewhere directly without any intention
of stopping, whereas へ shows that they are going that way, but if they see
something interesting they may stop or make a detour.
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2011-05-31T21:51:10.893
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* に emphasizes the location
  * へ emphasizes the direction
  * まで emphasizes the process or journey
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2011-05-31T21:53:00.243
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へ is also used to soften に in some cases, since it's slightly more vague. For
instance, at a restaurant I saw a sign posted over a counter that used
something like 「こちらへ食器をお返し下さい」.
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2011-05-31T21:56:09.473
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Side note to the question but relevant:

Use **only** へ when you want to use the grammatical construct 〜への〜.

> ◯ 改札口への階段はどこですか。 Where are the steps to the ticket gate?
>
> × 改札口にの階段はどこですか。
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2011-06-01T00:02:50.950
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Those 2 threads asking the same question should be merged and maybe become
wiki to be edited easily (particles questions are recurrent)

see also: [How to use へ (-e), に (-ni), まで (made) and の方 (no-hō) with
destination and
direction?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/275/how-to-use-e-ni-
made-and-no-h-with-destination-and-directi)

To sum up and try to correct some of the answers already given:

-へ is the direction particle. You could say it focuses on the journey

-に is the destination particle. It focuses on the destination.

-まで Is a final destination particle as well but implies that you're coming **from** somewhere (から) and thus that there's some distance between the 2 points.

-のほう（の方） means in the direction of. It could be used in a case where you are giving direction to someone:

郵便局の方へ３００メートルをあるいて、中学が右に見えます。

(walk 300m towards the post office and you will see the middle school on your
right)
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2011-06-01T10:22:48.243
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On a pedantic note, there is an old saying the goes like

> 京へ、筑紫に、坂東さ (ca 1609)
>
> 京に、つくしへ、坂東さ (ca 1496)
>
> [[Source](http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/1274740.html)]

which shows how each dialect used different particle to say 北海道○行く around that
time. 京 is for Kyoto, 筑紫(つくし) is Kyushu and 坂東 is Kanto/Tohoku.

Being just a layperson on Japanese linguistics, I'll just stop here, but I'm
sure a more learned person will have a lot to say about why the place of に and
へ are different between the two quotes above, and how these regional
differences came about.
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2011-06-14T10:24:12.193
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へ is the direction に is the purpose

When I say デパートへ行きます, I am just heading towards the department store. When I
say デパートに行きます, I am going to the department store with a purpose. The
department store is the location where I will complete my purpose.

It is the same as saying 買い物に行きます or 仕事に行きます Shopping and work are not
physical places but merely activities or purposes in this sentence. に cannot
be replaced by へ in that case.

But when we are speaking about a location, we could either used へ or に as we
usually go to a place with a purpose. Japanese people tend to never use へ in a
conversation but rather に
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2017-04-09T13:25:13.897
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