Shakotan Peninsula

September is the best month for fruit picking in Hokkaido. Youchi, situated just 60km from Sapporo is filled with fruit farms. For about 600yen you can pick and eat as much as grapes and apples. 

Cape Shakotan

Cape Shakotan is a beautiful cape located 100km from Sapporo. There are several hiking trails to choose. A steep decent of about 30 minutes using steps take you to the shore.  You can enjoy vivid rock cliff formations and a serene beach.

Cape Kamui

Further 15km drive takes you to Cape Kamui. The wooden trail and steps take you to the edge of the cape in about 30 minutes and allow you to enjoy beautiful sea cliffs and blizzard rock formation all the way.

Lake Toya and Usuzan

Lake Toya is a beautiful caldera lake situated 100km south from Sapporo. Riding a bicycle around the lake is one of the best ways to enjoy the serene beauty. The distance around the lake is about 37 kilometres. Our visit to Lake Toya was in late May. We saw lots of tourists kayaking, fishing and riding speed boats in the Lake. There are several campsites around the lake. Almost all were full with campers. 

Mount Yotei

Mt. Usu, an active volcano standing close to Lake Toya erupted in the year 2000. This eruption destroyed several buildings and roads around Mount Nishiyama. There are several walking trail that leads you to see newly created craters, destroyed buildings, and abandoned roads. A paid observatory on the other side allows you to see newly created craters of  Mt. Usu and enjoy the spectacular views of Lake Toya. 

Mt. Usu west creator

Showa Shinzan is a young volcano situated 9km from Mount Nishiyama parking lot. Mt. Usu ropeway starts from here. We took the ropeway to the top of Mt. Usu. From there you can have a walk along a footpath and steps to see Mt. Usu Crater. 

Showa Shinzan

Mt. Usu Largest Crater

Winter Festivals in Hokkaido

Winter sports such as Skiing and Snowboarding draws thousands of tourists to Hokkaido in every winter. For those who are looking for something else there are numerous winter festivals.

Lake Shikaribetsu Kotan (Igloo Village)

Lake Shikaribetsu lies about 200km away from Sapporo a 4 - 5 hour drive on the icy roads on the winter. From late January to Late March a village of Igloos built on the frozen lake surface. There are bars and conference rooms additional to traditional igloos. For those who like to have a bath there is a bath house also. Entrance is free of charge.

Sapporo Winter Festival

Sapporo winter festival held annually in February over seven days. There are hundreds of snow statues and ice sculptures built by teams and individuals from various countries.

Useful Links

• Visit Tokachi
• Sapporo Snow Festival

A perfect day out in Sapporo

Takino Suzuran Hillside National Government Park (国営滝野すずらん丘陵公園) is a great place to enjoy a day out in Sapporo. This is just a 45 minutes drive from Sapporo Station and offers hiking trails, several waterfalls, and kids play area.  Ashiribetsu waterfall is the largest and most beautiful of three waterfalls. We visited the park during the Summer.  Ashiribetsu frozen during the winter is also a popular attraction.

Children play area offers various activities for kids.

In nearby Makomanai Takino Cemetery you can enjoy replicas of popular tourist attractions all around the world including Moai and Stonehenge. Some are still under construction and closed to public. Admission is free of charge and a drive through the cemetery is really worth the time. 

 

Useful Links

• Takino Suzuran Hillside Park opening hours and fees

Onuma Quasi-National Park

Sakura comes to full bloom in Hokkaido during the first two weeks of May.  When driving towards Hakodate on Route 5 from Sapporo, you can reach the Oniushi Park (オニウシ公園) in Mori Town. This is one of the best places to view Cherry Blossoms in all Hokkaido.

Onuma Quasi National Park is a one hour drive from Oniushi Park. This is a great place to have a day out. There are several walking trails. If you like cycling, you can rent a bicycle. A boat ride or Kayak ride is a another way to enjoy the serene environment. For those who coming from Sapporo it is just a 4 hour drive.

Garo Falls (賀老の滝)

On a summer weekend we decided to visit Garo Falls. At 70m in height and 35m in width it is the largest waterfall in Hokkaido. From Niseko in the shortest route it is about 110km. But we took the scenic Route 66 to Iwanai which added additional 20km to the journey. Most of the journey was along the Sea of Japan shoreline.

We reached a parking lot following map directions. Unfortunately, this magnificent waterfall cannot be found on google maps by searching in English. You need to search with Japanese input. From the parking lot there was a paved road, which was closed to vehicles. After walking about fifteen minutes we found the footpath descending to the waterfall. It took about half an hour on a winding footpath downhill to reach the falls. There were warning of possible bear encounter. Even though we didn't see any signs of bears we saw some people wearing bear bells.

Uphill climb took a bit more than 30 minutes. From the parking lot, if you drive further up the road and take a left turn there is another parking lot. A 10 min walk down a footpath takes you to a nice red bridge over a stream. This is the stream that makes Goro fall downstream.

Goro falls is a nice day trip from Sapporo for nature lovers.

Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park

With Sakura season coming to an end It was the tulip season beginning in Hokkaido. On a late May weekend we decided to visit the Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park, one of the largest Tulip gardens in Hokkaido. At a distance of about 370km from Niseko, it was not a good option for a one day trip. But last minute planning didn't leave us a choice. So we left early in the morning hoping to save as much time as possible. Out of two possible routes to Asahikawa we chose the route through Sapporo because it was about 30km shorter than going through Chitose. We hoped there would be no traffic in the early morning. But we forgot the traffic lights. Hundreds of traffic lights standing inch by inch kept us waiting for nothing and added at least an hour to our travel time.

It was noon when we reached the tulip park. It was a spectacular scenery with hundreds of varieties of flowers as far as the eye can see. The parking lot was almost full and there was a huge crowd. The entrance fee was 500 yen for an adult. There were motored carts for those who have difficulties to walk.

We strolled in the park for about two hours before have Ramen for lunch from a food stall. It was hot and there was a long line to buy ice creams. Additional to food stalls there were some souvenir shops also.

After enjoying the Tulip park we started our journey back home. The Daisetsuzan National Park was a short detour from Asahikawa. So we decided to visit Ginga no Taki and Ryusei no Taki waterfalls which are situated adjacent to each other. Waterfalls were only few hundred meters from the main road at a distance about 3km from Sounkyo Onsen. There was a parking lot and the waterfalls could be seen through the foliage even from the parking lot.

After enjoying the waterfalls we continued further up the road to visit Obako a river gorge with a remarkable rock formation.

Useful Links

• Hotels in Asahikawa
• Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park