quirrow

Thanks for sharing this trip report! Hokkaido is one of my favourite places to go in Japan, since they have the freshest seafood, some of the nicest food like the melons in Farm Tomita and of course in winter time lots of powder for skiing/snowboarding!

shuigao

As for the town of Sounkyo Onsen, it's got a very very nice public bath in the town itself called Kurodake no Yu (黒岳の湯, ¥600 entry fee). This bath has probably the best outdoor bath (露天風呂 or 'rotenburo') in the area - large and with magnificent views.

Otherwise it's best just to take a hot dip in your own resort. The Choyo Resort Hotel has a pretty sweet outdoor onsen with nice views and averagely hot water. It's calming and soothing too thanks to the sounds of the nearby stream.

Oh, btw this photo was totally not taken by me with a gopro that was smuggled in when there was nobody else in the bath. I totally found it randomly online.



Anyway after a nice soak we do a bit of sightseeing around the area, to search for some autumn colours.



About 5 minutes drive nearby are the dual waterfalls of Ginga no taki (銀河の滝) and Ryusei no taki (流星の滝)



And another 5 minutes down the road is the Taisetsu Dam (大雪ダム)



After sightseeing we head back to the hotel for another mediocre buffet dinner and some early rest & relaxation.

The next day, check out time after breakfast! On the drive back to Sapporo we stopped by Asahikawa for a morning at the Asahiyama Zoo. My wife and I like to visit zoos in cold countries cos it's super pleasant to walk around in 10-ish deg C and see animals, unlike SG Zoo's 30+ humidity.

Aventine

It's a definite must go for the beef, skiing and seafood!

shuigao

Thanks for the support! Mrs shuigao and I've been to Japan twice previously (Kansai/Tokyo) and we also agree that Hokkaido's our favorite!

shuigao

Today's post continues with a few more pictures of animals at Asahiyama Zoo.






Then we drove to Asahikawa Ramen Village for late lunch: Here there are eight of the city's most famous (touristy?) ramen shops. Since we only tried one so we dunno which one actually is 'best.' Follow your instinct, use the force!



The right hand side / bottom one is interesting, it's a clear broth made from white-feathered Silke Chicken (a welcome change from all the pork pork pork miso pork ramen elsewhere.



After lunch, we drove back to Sapporo as a 'launch pad' for a few more day trips. Different hotel this time: Route Inn Sapporo Chuo (susukino), ¥10,900/night, plus ¥1,000 for parking. I think this hotel is really good value. Location is good (right in the middle of susukino), the rate includes breakfast, and there's a nice public bath.

Downside: Below our window in the alley there was a BBQ restaurant so when we opened the window the room smelled like BBQ meat.



Dinner we won't bother with any pictures: we went to window shop in a mall (ito yokado) and ate some really crappy food from the food court.

zboub345

love your TR ; thanks for sharing

shuigao

Today we're doing autumn leaves chasing day trip to Jozankei Onsen and Hoheikyo Dam! Starting of course with breakfast of champions.



From there it's a drive straight to Hoheikyo Dam. Except that we can't drive right to the dam, need to park and pay for an expensive electric bus ride through the tunnels ... or be cheap and just walk.



It's worth it, though, cos the dam area is super pretty. Will let the pictures do the talking:






After a couple of hours at the dam, it starts to rain heavily with super strong winds. End up we are totally drenched and cold and shivering so we go to Jozankei Onsen for day onsen at 章月グランドホテル (Shogetsu Grand Hotel). Actually we wanted to stay the night but no budget.



After nice soak explore Jozankei onsen a bit, area is quite pretty also!

shuigao

After driving back to Sapporo, we have an early dinner at Daruma Honten. On the menu: Genghis Khan - lamb and vegetables charcoal-grilled on a dome-shaped cast iron plate. Supposedly the dome resembles the helmets that mongolian soldiers where, hence the name.

Anyway it's simply yet surprisingly delicious. For more food-related reviews check out eight foods you must eat in Hokkaido.




The rest of the night is filled up wandering the neon lights of Sapporo, and more shopping at Pole Town, Mitsukoshi and Tanukikoji.

After a restful night filled with dreams of lamb fat, we check out and hit the road again! Our destination is Noboribetsu Onsen, with a couple of pit stops along the way.



First stop: Shiraoi, where there is an Ainu museum called Porotokotan.



It's a museum dedicated to preserving the culture of the Ainu: Hokkaido's indigenous people (before the Japanese came). To be frank this 'museum' is a little ... underwhelming. There are some bears, some dogs, some houses and a series of shows which are in Japanese only.



Next stop: Noboribetsu Bear Park! This attraction (perhaps a little pricey at around ¥2,500/person) starts off with a cable car ride up a hill, and when you exit you're greeted by some adorable baby Hokkaido Brown Bears.



There's also a small cafe (which sucks terribly), a duck race which you can wager money on ...



... a short, 20-minute dog show ...



... and bear feeding!! We're not too sure if this is exactly PETA-approved; but it's OK cos it's fun! The park sells packs of carrots and salmon at ¥100-¥300 as bear feed.

It's uncanny how human-like these bears are. They make begging motions, they stand, and they wave and beckon to try and get your attention.



We spent a good hour here just throwing food at random bears.

offerendum

Surely not

shuigao

After bear park, we explore the town of Noboribetsu Onsen. It's quite charming, also got a mini geyser / hot spring that bubbles and spews clouds of steam into the cold air:




Then after that, we head to Jigokudani, the Hell Valley. It's got a half dozen hiking trails (beginner level), very very nice to walk around the area to get different views of all the pools and steam and smell the sulfur.






After almost 2 hours of hiking and enjoying the sights we check in to the best ryokan in the area: Dai-Ichi Takimotokan ¥31,400 per night inclusive of buffet breakfast and in-room kai-seki dinner.



We say it's the best ryokan in town because of the onsen. There are seven different pools in total, with sauna, steam room, and even outdoor rotenburo which overlooks the main jigokudani valley. Totally amazing



(No photos of inside the onsen though ... for obvious reasons ...)

shuigao

So to continue on the hotel, our room rate includes in-room kaiseki dinner. It's served at a time of your choice.



Food's ... decent. The resort has 400 rooms, so assuming it needs to cook for 800+ people, you can imagine that it won't be particularly super gourmet or anything.



Anyway next morning we checked out after breakfast and started the drive to Hakodate! Surprisingly even though it's only around 200km, because of the super low speed limits it takes 3hours++. Our lunch: a Hakodate legendary burger chain, Lucky Pierrot.



Each lucky pierrot outlet it seems has a huge leeway in decorating. So for example this one we went to was modeled sort of like an american diner; one more we saw later on was a 'santa claus' themed one with santa claus statues everywhere. Anyway we tried the chinese chicken burger and tonkatsu burger. Was pretty good (for a fast food burger chain).



Our hotel in Hakodate: Hakodate Grand (formerly known as Chisun grand). ¥9,500/night + ¥1,000 for parking. This hotel among all the ones we stayed in can really feel that it's old and past its' prime and really due for a renovation. But it's also 'fairly' cheap ... hmmmm.



View out the window's not bad.



After check in we hop on the tram (¥600 for day pass, available at hotel receptions) and head to Goryokaku. It's a star-shaped western-style fort that's been converted to be a huge botanical gardens. Quite pleasant to walk around in. There's also a viewing tower but we didn't go up.

shuigao

Hakodate, Hokkaido's 3rd largest city, was supposedly one of the first ports opened to gaijins and so in some parts of the city there's a curious mish-mash of Western and Japanese influences, especially around the area around the harbor. We start our walking tour around the harbourfront at some sort of prize winning rabbit named Panda ...



... some 'red brick warehouses,' which used to be warehouses but are now flea-market-ish shopping areas.



Sloping road going heading towards Hakodate hill.



One of the churches around the area (think this one is motomachi church)



And a nearby Japanese styled temple or something.



Anyway we had planned our walking trail to end at the ropeway / cable car station up to the peak of Mt Hakodate for views of the city, but disaster!!! It's under maintenance!! During 5pm-9pm (or 10pm depending on season) the road is closed to private car and you have to either take the ropeway, taxi, or bus. Since the ropeway is closed, there is a freaking long queue for the bus so we say screw it ...



... and head to the morning market area for a dinner at the amazing Uni Murakami!



Not sure how many sea urchin / uni had to give their lives for this glorious bowl of uni-don. I think each sea urchin has 5 'tongues?' Seems to be around 25+ tongues here. いただきます!



As a recap, I have a separate guide to 8 foods you must eat in Hokkaido.

TheTakeOffRush

^ Top marks for (1) a captivating and fun TR and (2) a ridiculously sweet trip itself! I'm bookmarking this while I plan my next Japan Trip. I'm curious if any of the spots you visited surprised you (in the good way)?

shuigao

As I mentioned in the previous post, the ropeway / cable car was closed for maintenance and we didn't want to waste time queue'ing for who knows how long for the public bus to go up the hill. Luckily, the road re-opens to the public at 9pm (or 10pm depending on season), so we still manage to go up anyway! There's a pretty nice three-level viewing deck on the summit, a souvenir shop and a cafe. Would've been nice if we got the evening / sunset view too, but ... I guess this night one will have to do




The next morning, we woke up very early to go have some breakfast ... but uh ... the tram wasn't operating yet!! :x ... so we decided to just walk the half hour to Hakodate's Morning Market.



Of all the markets in Hokkaido, Hakodate's one is the most popular. Lots of stalls selling mostly seafood but also a lot of other groceries, souvenirs, etc.




There are quite a few seafood shops which have small eating areas where you can choose a (live) crab and get them to grill it for you. We're not exactly looking forward to share a 3kg king crab at 7 in the morning, though, so we settle for Kikuyo Shokudo Honten:



Naturally, a variety of Kaisendons (seafood rice bowl) are on the menu, including SanshokuDon (three 'colour' rice bowl) and this unique mish-mash bowl of assorted chopped seafood topped off with a raw quail egg called a Bukkake Don.

mkjr

too bad...those looked actually pretty cheap for the size of them!!!