Hokkaido

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Sapporo · Otaru · Niseko · Hakodate · Tōya · Furano & Biei · Tokachi · Shiretoko · Wakkanai

Sapporo 110 places · area 1 of 9

Ōdōri · Susukino · Nijō Market · Maruyama · Moiwa · Jōzankei

Photo: Daigaku2051 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

1 Must see within Sapporo

Ōdōri Park (大通公園)

The 1.5 km green firebreak that splits Sapporo north from south — stage of the Sapporo Snow Festival in February, beer gardens and the autumn food festival.
Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Hatsune Miku / Snow Miku — the Snow Miku snow statue has stood at the Sapporo Snow Festival's Ōdōri 11-chōme site for 17 years (2026: 'Sweet Snow Ver.' plus Oshi no Ko & Medalist statues, KADOKAWA) · odori park snow festival
Ōdōri Nishi 1–12-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0042, Japan

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2 Must see within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Menya Saimi (麺屋彩未)

The miso-ramen counter Sapporo queues for — three white misos over a clear pork-bone broth, a dab of grated ginger on the chāshū. Michelin Bib Gourmand (Hokkaido 2017) and Tabelog Ramen Hokkaido 100 (2024).
5-3-12 Misono 10-jō, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 062-0010, Japan

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Photo: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

3 Must see within Sapporo

Sapporo Clock Tower (札幌市時計台)

The 1878 wooden drill hall of the Sapporo Agricultural College, its clock still striking the hours — the city's symbol and an Important Cultural Property.
Look for clock tower
Kita 1-jo Nishi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0001, Japan

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Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

4 Must see within Sapporo

Former Hokkaido Government Office (Akarenga, 赤れんが庁舎)

The 1888 neo-baroque red-brick seat of the Hokkaido Development Commission — reopened 25 July 2025 after a multi-year restoration as a museum of Hokkaido history with a free garden.
Look for red brick government office
Kita 3-jo Nishi 6-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8588, Japan

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Photo: もんもん · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

5 Must see within Sapporo

Moerenuma Park (モエレ沼公園)

Isamu Noguchi's last great work: a former landfill sculpted into one park-sized artwork — Mt Moere, the Glass Pyramid, the Sea Fountain.
Look for isamu noguchi art park
1-1 Moerenuma-kōen, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 007-0011, Japan

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6 Must see within Sapporo

Nijō Market (二条市場)

A city block of crab, uni, ikura and fish stalls since the Meiji era, with kaisendon counters and the Noren Yokochō drinking alley.
Look for seafood market
Minami 3-jō Higashi 1–2-chōme, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Photo: T DMY · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

7 Must see within Sapporo

Hokkaido University — Poplar & Ginkgo Avenues (北海道大学札幌キャンパス)

The 1876 Sapporo Agricultural College campus, 7 minutes from the station — the 1903 Poplar Avenue (replanted after the 2004 typhoon), the ginkgo avenue, and a 1929 scratch-tile museum of 3 million specimens.
Look for university campus
7 minutes walk from JR Sapporo Station, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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8 Must see within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Aji no Sanpei (味の三平)

Where miso ramen was born in 1955 — the owner took his cue from miso soup.
Daimaru Fujii Central 4F, Minami 1-jō Nishi 3-chōme 2, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0061, Japan

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9 Must see within Sapporo

Jingisukan Hitsujikai no Mise Itadakimasu (羊飼いの店いただきます。)

A Susukino jingisukan run by an owner who took up shepherding to supply it — rare cuts of purebred Hokkaido Suffolk on the domed grill.
Minami 5-jō Nishi 5-1-6, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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10 Must see within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Menya Yukikaze Susukino Honten (麺屋雪風すすきの本店)

No. 3 in MAPPLE's Sapporo ramen top 30 — a rich-yet-clean 'nōkō miso' of pork-bone and chicken paitan with curly medium noodles.
Susukino, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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11 Must see within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Ebisoba Ichigen Sōhonten (えびそば一幻総本店)

Sapporo's prawn-ramen original, burning through ~60 kg of shrimp heads a day; pick your broth from pure shrimp to half pork-bone.
Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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12 Must see within Sapporo · Kissaten & coffee

Snow Brand Parlor Sapporo Honten (雪印パーラー札幌本店)

Sapporo's 1961 dairy parlour: 30-plus parfaits and the 'Snow Royal' ice cream first made for a 1968 imperial visit.
Taiyō Seimei Sapporo Bldg 1F, Kita 2-jō Nishi 3-1-31, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Photo: Ermell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

13 Must see within Sapporo

Mount Moiwa (藻岩山)

Ropeway and mini-cable car to a 531 m summit for one of Japan's 'new three great night views' over the Sapporo grid.
Look for night view ropeway
Moiwayama, Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Photo: S5A-0043 · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

14 Must see within Sapporo

Hokkaido Shrine (北海道神宮)

Hokkaido's principal Shinto shrine in the Maruyama primeval forest, founded 1869 for the island's pioneer deities — cherry and plum blossom in spring.
Look for shrine maruyama
474 Miyagaoka, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 064-8505, Japan

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15 Must see within Sapporo

ES CON FIELD HOKKAIDO — Hokkaido Ballpark F Village (エスコンフィールドHOKKAIDO)

The Fighters' 2023 retractable-roof ballpark at the heart of a 32-ha 'F Village' — with TOWER 11's natural hot spring and sauna overlooking the field; parts open free on non-game days.
Hokkaido Ballpark F Village, Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido, Japan

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16 Must see within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Sumire Susukino (すみれ札幌すすきの店)

The Murakami family house (1964) that codified the lard-sealed, scalding Sapporo miso bowl; the late-night Susukino branch pours the Nakanoshima honten broth. Tabelog Ramen Hokkaido 100 2024 & 2025.
Pixis Bldg 2F, Minami 3-jō Nishi 3-9-2, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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17 Must see within Sapporo

Jingisukan Daruma Honten (だるま本店)

The Susukino jingisukan room since 1954 — a cast-iron dome at every seat, one cut of mutton, sweet-spicy dipping sauce, a queue from 17:30. Cash only.
Crystal Bldg 1F, Minami 5-jō Nishi 4, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 064-0805, Japan

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18 Must see within Sapporo

Soup Curry Garaku (スープカレー GARAKU)

Numbered tickets and daily lines for a soup curry whose broth borrows udon-shop dashi technique — pork bone and herbs stewed two days, kelp and bonito layered in.
Okumura Bldg B1F, Minami 2-jō Nishi 2-6-1, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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19 Must see within Sapporo

Sapporo Beer Garden (サッポロビール園)

Restaurants spread through the garden serve fresh-lamb jingisukan and seasonal Hokkaido produce with Sapporo draught — Kessel Hall does all-you-can-eat-and-drink.
Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan (beside the Sapporo Beer Museum)

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20 Must see within Sapporo · Sushi & kaisen-don

Sushi Zen Honten (すし善本店)

The grand old name in Sapporo sushi — an all-hinoki house with several counters and private rooms, Hokkaido fish handled with Edomae technique.
Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan (honten)

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21 Must see within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Sapporo Miso Ramen Senmonten Keyaki Susukino Honten (けやきすすきの本店)

The miso-only Susukino counter with a permanent queue — an unclouded broth of pork knuckle, stewing hen and vegetables simmered over ten hours.
Susukino, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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22 Must see within Sapporo

Magic Spice Sapporo Honten (マジックスパイス札幌本店)

The shop that named 'soup curry' — a broth of about twenty spices built on the idea that food is medicine, ordered by escalating heat levels.
Hongō-dōri 8-chōme Minami 6-2, Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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23 Must see within Sapporo

Okushiba Shōten Ekimae Sōseiji (奥芝商店駅前創成寺)

Soup curry rebuilt around a sweet, rich shrimp-head dashi, piled with Hokkaido vegetables — the chain's station-side temple-themed branch.
Hokuren Bldg B1F, Kita 4-jō Nishi 1-chōme, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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24 Must see within Sapporo

Tsukisappu Jingisukan Club (ツキサップじんぎすかんクラブ)

Fresh mutton over charcoal in clay braziers, at a ranch-side club that began in 1953 as members-only.
Tsukisamu-higashi 3-11-2-5, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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25 Must see within Sapporo · Sushi & kaisen-don

Kaisen Shokudō Kita no Gourmet-tei, Curb Market (海鮮食堂北のグルメ亭)

The Curb Market's longest-running big canteen-cum-shop — its signature bowl lays twelve oversized toppings over rice.

Sapporo Central Wholesale Market — Jōgai Shijō, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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26 Must see within Sapporo · Kissaten & coffee

Rokkatei Sapporo Honten (六花亭札幌本店)

Tokachi confectioner Rokkatei's Sapporo flagship — the shop below, and a café above serving store-only desserts; home of the Marusei Butter Sand (white chocolate, raisins, Hokkaido butter).

5 minutes' walk from JR Sapporo Station (south exit), Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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27 Must see within Sapporo

Ajanta Yakuzen Curry Honpo Sōhonke (アジャンタ薬膳カリィ本舗総本家)

Ajanta's 1970s medicinal curry is where Sapporo soup curry began; this is the head shop.

Kita 23-jō Higashi 20-2-18, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Historical Village of Hokkaido, open-air museum buildings — Photo: t-konno · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

28 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Historical Village of Hokkaido (北海道開拓の村)

Open-air museum of 50-plus relocated Meiji–early Shōwa buildings — herring lodges, farmhouses, a horse-drawn tram — telling the story of Hokkaido's settlement.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — Noda Satoru's building reference; filming location of the 2024 live-action film (Sugimoto's horse-sleigh drag on the main street) · open-air museum meiji

50-1 Konopporo, Atsubetsu-chō, Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 004-0006, Japan

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29 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Shiroi Koibito Park (白い恋人パーク)

Ishiya's Tudor-style chocolate factory behind Hokkaido's most famous souvenir cookie — factory line views, cookie workshops, a free courtyard and café.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — ISHIYA's long-running Golden Kamuy × Shiroi Koibito collab tins (6th edition, Ogata, March 2026) are sold at the park's Shop Piccadilly · chocolate factory cookie

Miyanosawa 2-jō, Nishi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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さっぽろ羊ヶ丘展望台 - panoramio — Photo: kanesue · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

30 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Hitsujigaoka Observation Hill (さっぽろ羊ヶ丘展望台)

The hill with the bronze of Dr William S. Clark pointing to the horizon ('Boys, be ambitious!') over sheep pasture and the Ishikari Plain.

Look for clark statue view

1 Hitsujigaoka, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 062-0045, Japan

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Sapporo Kokusai Ski Resort Autumn Festival — Photo: 禁樹なずな · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

31 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Kokusai Ski Resort (札幌国際スキー場)

Under an hour from the city yet with Niseko-rivalling snowfall — a 3.6 km forest trail and a 100 m-wide family run.

Jōzankei, Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Sapporo Beer Museum exterior (May 2007) — Photo: K. Takeda · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

32 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Beer Museum (サッポロビール博物館)

Japan's only beer museum, in the 1890 red-brick Sapporo Sugar Company building — the story of the oldest Japanese beer brand, with a tasting salon.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — the museum displays a signed shikishi donated by author Noda Satoru; the 'Sapporo Beer Factory' arc (2025 films) is set at the Kaitakushi brewery · beer museum

Kita 7-jo Higashi 9-chome 1-1, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 065-8633, Japan

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33 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Ōkurayama Ski Jump Stadium & Sapporo Olympic Museum (大倉山ジャンプ競技場)

The 1972 Winter Olympics large hill — ride the chairlift to the top-of-jump observatory over the city, then the Olympic Museum at its foot.

Look for ski jump olympic view

Miyanomori, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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34 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Factory (サッポロファクトリー)

Shopping complex on the site of the first Sapporo Beer brewery — the original brick buildings plus a vast glass atrium, shops, restaurants and a cinema.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — stands on the site of the Meiji Kaitakushi brewery, the setting of the 'Sapporo Beer Factory' arc (2025 theatrical release) · brick brewery shopping

Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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35 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Hokkaido Museum (北海道博物館)

The prefecture's museum of nature and history beside the Historical Village — five themes including Ainu culture, history and wildlife.

Look for history nature museum

53-2 Konopporo, Atsubetsu-chō, Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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北海道立近代美術館 - panoramio — Photo: yukinojo · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

36 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art (北海道立近代美術館)

Hokkaido's largest art collection — over 5,000 works by Hokkaido-linked masters (Kataoka Tamako, Iwahashi Eien, Kida Kinjirō, Kanda Nisshō) — next to the Hokkaido Governor's Official Residence.

Look for art museum

Kita 1-jō Nishi 17-chōme, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Jyozankei-124-r1 — Photo: 河川一等兵 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

37 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Jōzankei Dam & Sapporo Lake (定山渓ダム・さっぽろ湖)

The 117.5 m dam of 1989 that formed deep-blue Sapporo Lake — look up at it from the downstream park, with a dam museum and seasonal inside tours.

Look for dam & lake

Jōzankei, Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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38 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Tsukigata Kabato Museum — former Kabato Prison (月形樺戸博物館)

Museum in the 1886 headquarters of Kabato Shūjikan, the Meiji convict prison whose inmates cleared the Ishikari valley — irons, cells and the real men behind several Golden Kamuy convicts.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — Kabato prison held the real models of 'Pirate' Bōtarō, forger Kumagishi Chōan and 'Lightning' Sakamoto; a fan pilgrimage stop · prison history museum

Tsukigata, Kabato-gun, Hokkaido, Japan

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39 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Hokkaido University Museum (北海道大学総合博物館)

A 1929 scratch-tile campus building holding 3 million+ specimens gathered over 140 years — free, 10 minutes' walk from Sapporo Station.

Kita 10-jō Nishi 8-chōme, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Mizuhoike — Photo: Route275 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

40 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Nopporo Forest Park (野幌森林公園)

2,053 ha of lowland forest on Sapporo's edge — 17 trails through a wildlife sanctuary of Ezo squirrels and 150 bird species; the Hokkaido Museum and Historical Village sit at its edge.

Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo / Ebetsu, Hokkaido, Japan

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41 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Asahiyama Memorial Park (旭山記念公園)

A hillside park between Mt Moiwa and Maruyama built for Sapporo's centenary — its lookout at 137.5 m takes in the whole grid of the city and is one of Sapporo's classic free night-view spots.

Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan (between Mt Moiwa and Maruyama)

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42 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Sushi & kaisen-don

Oiso, Nijō Market (二条市場大磯)

The classic first stop in 'Sapporo's kitchen' — morning queues for donburi of sea urchin, salmon roe and crab, ¥2,000–3,000.

Sapporo Nijō Market, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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43 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Ganso Sapporo Ramen Yokochō (元祖さっぽろラーメン横丁)

The narrow Susukino alley of a dozen-plus tiny ramen counters, open into the small hours — the classic post-drinking miso bowl.

Susukino, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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44 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Kissaten & coffee

Jazz Café Bossa, Tanukikōji (ジャズ喫茶 BOSSA)

A Tanukikōji jazz kissa open since 1971 whose owner's 15,000 records and CDs have carried Sapporo's jazz scene for half a century.

Tanukikōji, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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45 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Senshūan Honten (札幌千秋庵本店)

Confectioner since 1921, maker of the Northman bean-paste pie and Yama-oyaji biscuits.

Minami 3-jō Nishi 3, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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46 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Ame wa, Yasashiku No.2 (雨は、やさしくNo.2)

A creative Sapporo shop whose signature bowl comes with a scallop paste you stir in as you eat. rurubu's 2025 list of local favourites includes it.

Kita 7-jō Higashi 3-chōme, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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47 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Sushi & kaisen-don

Kaiten-zushi Nemuro Hanamaru, JR Tower Stellar Place (回転寿司根室花まる JRタワーステラプレイス店)

Sapporo Station branch of the Nemuro conveyor-belt chain, with fish shipped direct from Nemuro. Locals rank it among the city's best kaiten-zushi, and the queues are long.

Sapporo Stellar Place Center 6F, Kita 5-jō Nishi 2-chōme, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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48 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo TV Tower (さっぽろテレビ塔)

The 147 m 1957 tower at the head of Ōdōri Park — the 90 m deck looks straight down the park's length.

Look for tower observation

Ōdōri Nishi 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0042, Japan

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49 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Hokkaido University Botanic Garden (北海道大学植物園)

A 13 ha 1886 garden in the middle of downtown — native Hokkaido flora, Ainu ethnographic collection and the Miyabe memorial.

Look for botanic garden

Kita 3-jo Nishi 8-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0003, Japan

Jōzankei Onsen, Sapporo — Photo: MIKI Yoshihito from Sapporo City,Hokkaido., JAPAN · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

50 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Jōzankei Onsen (定山渓温泉)

Sapporo's own hot-spring town an hour south, in a Toyohira River gorge inside Shikotsu-Tōya National Park — foot baths and autumn colour.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Pokémon — Sapporo's official 'Poké-lid' (Pokéfuta) manhole with Vulpix & Slaking (Hokkaido's 'I Love Hokkaido' Pokémon) sits at the Jōzankei Tourist Association · onsen town

Jōzankei Onsen, Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 061-2302, Japan

51 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Susukino (すすきの)

Japan's biggest entertainment district north of Tokyo — the Nikka neon man, Ramen Yokochō, izakaya towers and the February ice-sculpture site.

Look for nightlife district neon

Minami 4-jō – Minami 7-jō Nishi 2–6-chōme, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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52 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Curb Market — Jōgai Shijō (札幌場外市場)

Around 60 stalls and seafood diners on the edge of the Central Wholesale Market — early-morning crab and kaisendon away from the downtown crowds.

Look for morning market seafood

Kita 11-jō Nishi 21–22-chōme, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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53 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Tanukikōji Shopping Street (狸小路商店街)

Hokkaido's oldest shopping arcade (1873) — seven covered blocks of drugstores, souvenir shops, retro diners and the market at 7-chōme.

Look for shopping arcade

Minami 2/3-jō Nishi 1–7-chōme, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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54 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Maruyama Zoo (札幌市円山動物園)

Opened 1951 beside the Maruyama primeval forest — polar bears seen from an underwater tunnel, a new elephant house and Hokkaido wildlife.

Look for zoo polar bear

Miyagaoka, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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55 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Maruyama Park (円山公園)

The city's favourite hanami park at the foot of Mount Maruyama, beside Hokkaido Shrine — barbecue under the cherries in early May, red maples in autumn.

Look for cherry blossom park

Miyagaoka, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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56 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Hōheikan & Nakajima Park (豊平館・中島公園)

The 1880 white-and-ultramarine Western-style imperial guesthouse, an Important Cultural Property, in the downtown park with Shōbu pond, the Hassōan teahouse and Kitara concert hall.

Look for meiji guesthouse park

Nakajima-kōen, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Sapporo art museum — Photo: 札幌芸術の森美術館 · CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons

57 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Art Park (札幌芸術の森)

A 40-ha forest campus with a sculpture garden of 70-plus outdoor works, the art museum and craft studios — glorious in autumn colour.

Look for sculpture garden museum

Geijutsu-no-mori, Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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滝野すずらん丘陵公園 (Takino national government park) - panoramio (16) — Photo: t-konno · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

58 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Takino Suzuran Hillside National Government Park (国営滝野すずらん丘陵公園)

Hokkaido's only national government park — flower hills, the Ashiribetsu waterfall and forest trails, a snow park in winter.

Look for flower park waterfall

Takino, Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Sapporo Ainu Culture Promotion Center 201705 — Photo: 禁樹なずな · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

59 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Pirka Kotan — Ainu Culture Promotion Center (サッポロピリカコタン)

'Beautiful village in Sapporo' — some 300 Ainu garments and tools you may handle, made by Ainu artisans.

Look for ainu culture centre

Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Hoheikyo-87-r1 — Photo: 河川一等兵 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

60 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Hōheikyō Dam (豊平峡ダム)

A 102.5 m concrete arch dam (1972) on the upper Toyohira River beyond Jōzankei — autumn colour in the Jōzankei hills.

Look for arch dam autumn

Jōzankei, Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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JR Sapporo Sta07s3s2790 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

61 Worth the detour within Sapporo

JR Tower Observatory T38 (JRタワー展望室 T38)

The 38th-floor deck of the Sapporo Station tower — a 360° view down the city grid to Ōdōri and the mountains.

Look for observation deck

JR Tower (Sapporo Station), Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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62 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Dome (札幌ドーム)

The silver dome stadium of football and concerts, with an observatory over the city.

Look for stadium observatory

Hitsujigaoka, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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63 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Pokémon Center Sapporo (ポケモンセンターサッポロ)

Hokkaido's only official Pokémon Center, on the 8th floor of Daimaru by Sapporo Station — ~2,500 items incl. Sapporo-only Pikachu goods and pins.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Pokémon — the franchise's official flagship store for Hokkaido, with Sapporo-exclusive merchandise · character store

Daimaru Sapporo 8F, Kita 5-jō Nishi 4-7, Chuo-ku, Sapporo 060-0005, Hokkaido, Japan

前田森林公園 (Ｍaeda forest park) - Panoramio 113155602 — Photo: t-konno · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

64 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Maeda Forest Park (前田森林公園)

A 1980s–90s landscape park whose 600 m-long, 15 m-wide canal runs dead straight toward Mt Teine.

Look for landscape park

Teine-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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百合が原公園（Yurigahara park） - panoramio (1) — Photo: t-konno · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

65 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Yurigahara Park (百合が原公園)

A 25.4 ha flower park of some 6,400 plant varieties — the World Lily Gardens and gardens built with sister cities Portland, Munich and Shenyang.

Look for flower park

Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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66 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Hiraoka Park plum grove (平岡公園梅林)

About 1,200 red and white plum trees — one of Sapporo's largest groves — whose May bloom draws some 100,000 visitors and announces spring.

Look for plum blossom park

Kiyota-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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67 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara (札幌コンサートホールKitara)

Hokkaido's first dedicated concert hall and home of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra — a glass-walled hall in Nakajima Park famed for its soft, deep acoustics.

Nakajima Kōen 1-15, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Mt. Teine in Sapporo taken in March 2009 — Photo: Nikm · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

68 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Teine (サッポロテイネ)

Sapporo's largest ski area, 40 minutes from downtown, with two 1972 Winter Olympic runs — the Olympic torch still overlooks the city and the Sea of Japan.

Teine-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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69 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Sushi & kaisen-don

Donburi Chaya, Nijō Market (どんぶり茶屋)

Born in Nijō Market, a specialist with over fifty kaisendon — all-crab, all-shrimp, uni-ikura-crab-scallop-botan-ebi — plus grilled-seafood bowls.

Sapporo Nijō Market, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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70 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Soup Curry Picante, Kita 13-jō Honten (ピカンティ)

One of the founding soup-curry houses (1996), by Hokkaido University — vegetable-heavy curries with a choice of rich, light or shrimp-dashi broth.

Near Hokkaido University (Kita 13-jō), Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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71 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Kissaten & coffee

Kitakaro Sapporo Honkan (北菓楼札幌本館)

Kitakaro's flagship in a historic building long loved as the city library and an art museum — sweets shop plus a café serving the cake set with Hokkaido-milk soft-serve.

Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan (3 min walk from Ōdōri Park)

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72 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Kani Honke Ekimae Honten (札幌かに本家札幌駅前本店)

Crab bought direct at the fishing grounds and served at fair prices in set courses, steps from Sapporo Station.

Near JR Sapporo Station, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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73 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Ramen Shingen Minami 6-jō (らーめん信玄南6条店)

Line-out-the-door miso ramen whose broth is simmered for more than three days into something rounded and gentle.

Minami 6-jō, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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74 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Sapporo Rakkyo Kotoni (札幌らっきょ琴似店)

A Kotoni stalwart whose deep, concentrated broth is the one curry-heads graduate to.

Capitaine Kotoni 1F, Kotoni 1-jō 1-7-7, Nishi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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75 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Ramen Sapporo Ichiryūan (ラーメン札幌一粒庵)

The station-side ramen shop most fixated on local sourcing — Hokkaido wheat noodles, Hokkaido pork bones and vegetables, miso made to order.

Hokuren Bldg B1F, Kita 4-jō Nishi 1-chōme, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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76 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Miyoshino Tanukikōji (みよしの狸小路店)

Sapporo's own gyoza-and-curry chain — the cult combo plate of six dumplings beside a pool of curry rice.

Minami 3-jō Nishi 2-chōme 16-4 (Tanukikōji 2-chōme), Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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77 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Sushi & kaisen-don

Marusan-tei, Curb Market (まるさん亭)

Run by crab-and-seafood wholesaler Marusan Mikami Shōten — about eight seasonal toppings (tuna, uni, scallop, salmon) heaped on one bowl.

Sapporo Central Wholesale Market — Jōgai Shijō, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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78 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Sushi & kaisen-don

Kaisen-dokoro Uoya no Daidokoro, Nijō Market (海鮮処魚屋の台所)

A Nijō Market bowl shop opened by a long-time sushi chef to sell the freshest fish at fair prices — No. 2 in a MAPPLE readers' seafood ranking.

Nijō Market, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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79 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Curry Shop S, Susukino (カレーショップ S)

A basement soup-curry counter in the middle of Susukino, on both the city tourism board's and GoodLuckTrip's Susukino lists.

Silver Bldg B1F, Minami 3-jō Nishi 4-chōme, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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80 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Kissaten & coffee

Night Parfait Nanakamado (夜パフェ専門店ななかまど)

A dedicated night-parfait bar in Susukino — the after-dinner, after-drinks parfait until late.

Dai-4 Fujii Bldg 2F, Minami 4-jō Nishi 5-10, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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81 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Kissaten & coffee

Parfaiteria PaL (パフェテリアパル)

A second night-parfait specialist in Susukino, open every night of the year until midnight or later.

Susukino, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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82 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Kinotoya Ōdōri Kōen & KINOTOYA Café (きのとや大通公園店)

Sapporo patissier Kinotoya's Ōdōri café — the fresh, silky milk soft-serve that topped New Chitose Airport's ice-cream election two years running.

Ōdōri Kōen area, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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83 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Ōdōri BISSE (大通ビッセ)

A station-linked complex whose ground floor gathers famous Hokkaido confectioners and farm-milk soft-serve and gelato counters.

Directly connected to Ōdōri subway station, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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84 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Chitose-tsuru Sake Museum (千歳鶴酒ミュージアム)

The shop and small museum of Sapporo's only sake brewery (Nihon Seishu), with free tasting counter and brewery-only bottles.

Minami 3-jō Higashi 5-1, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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85 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Do Ermitage, Susukino (ドゥ・エルミタアヂュ)

An old-school authentic bar run by a woman with about 50 years behind the counter; more than 400 whiskies.

Minami 3-jō Nishi 4 Bldg 10F, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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86 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Nama-Ramu Jingisukan Yamagoya, Susukino (生ラムジンギスカン山小屋)

Susukino fresh-lamb grill carrying on the 1956 sauce of Otaru's Keishōen.

Dai-5 Green Bldg 1F, Minami 4-jō Nishi 4-13-2, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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87 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Beer Bar North Island (ビアバーノースアイランド)

Taproom of Sapporo's North Island Beer (founded 2003, now brewed in Ebetsu) — fresh kegs, guest and seasonal beers.

Large Country Bldg 10F, Minami 2-jō Nishi 4-10-1, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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88 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Misoramen Senmonten Ōkami Soup (味噌らーめん専門店狼スープ)

Started as a yatai in 2000 and reopened in 2012; it serves miso ramen only.

Near Nakajima Park, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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89 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Hachinoki (八乃木)

Keeps the traditional Sapporo miso style while developing its own. One of rurubu's seven classic miso shops for 2025, and new on Ramen Adventures' Hokkaido list at #15.

Hassamu, Nishi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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90 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Sapporo Menya Mitsubaki (札幌麺屋美椿)

A noren-wake offshoot of a famous Sapporo shop; its miso ramen layers miso, stock and wok-fried vegetables. On rurubu's classic-seven list, and a new entry at #19 on Ramen Adventures' 2024 Hokkaido list.

Nishi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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91 Worth the detour within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Sapporo Bon no Kaze (札幌凡の風)

Serves two signature bowls: a clean tanrei shōyu and a modern miso. On rurubu's 2025 local-favourites list, and new on Ramen Adventures' 2024 Hokkaido list at #21.

Minami 8-jō Nishi 15-chōme, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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92 Worth the detour within Sapporo

Soup Curry TREASURE (スープカレートレジャー)

Sister shop of GARAKU. Its soup curry uses a Japanese stock made from eight kinds of dried fish flakes, finished with a secret paste of minced pork and spices. Three minutes' walk from Ōdōri Station.

Asuka Bldg 1F, Minami 2-jō Nishi 1-chōme 8-2, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan 〒060-0062

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93 Deep cut within Sapporo

Sapporo Salmon Museum (札幌市豊平川さけ科学館)

A free museum in Makomanai Park with tanks of some 20 salmonid species (including the giant itō) and outdoor pools where wild salmon spawn each autumn.

Makomanai Kōen 2-1, Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Hongo Shin Memorial Museum of Sculpture, Sapporo - Main Hall — Photo: 禁樹なずな · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

94 Deep cut within Sapporo

Hongō Shin Memorial Museum of Sculpture (本郷新記念札幌彫刻美術館)

Museum for Sapporo-born Hongō Shin (1905–1980), a leading figure of postwar Japanese outdoor sculpture — 1,800 pieces including plaster models for his public works and sketches.

Look for sculpture museum

宮の森4条12丁目, Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Sapporo Satoland center house — Photo: Route275 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

95 Deep cut within Sapporo

Sapporo Satoland (サッポロさとらんど)

A 74.3 ha agricultural park of flower fields, farm animals and lawns — pick potatoes, onions and corn from mid-June to early November.

Look for farm park

Okadama-chō 584-2, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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96 Deep cut within Sapporo

Sapporo Science Center (札幌市青少年科学館)

A hands-on 'see, touch, think' science museum by Shin-Sapporo Station, with Hokkaido's largest planetarium.

Atsubetsu-chūō 1-jō 5-chōme 2-20, Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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97 Deep cut within Sapporo

Kotoni Tondenhei Village Barracks Site (琴似屯田兵村兵屋跡)

The barracks-house site of the Kotoni tondenhei (farmer-soldier) village — the settlers who laid the groundwork of the town — designated a National Historic Site, with a 'Road of Pioneering History' (開拓の歴史の道) board mapping the tondenhei relics around it.

Kotoni, Nishi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Kita 1 Jonishi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture 060-0001, Japan - panoramio (5) — Photo: yasusii · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

98 Deep cut within Sapporo

Hokkaido Governor's Official Residence (北海道知事公館)

A 1936 Mitsui villa, state property since 1953 — its lawn garden, with millennium-old pit-dwelling remains, is open year round.

Look for historic villa & garden

Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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旧永山武四郎邸3 — Photo: K. Takeda · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

99 Deep cut within Sapporo

Former Nagayama Takeshirō Residence (旧永山武四郎邸)

The c.1880 home of Hokkaido's second governor — a forerunner of pioneer-era houses joining a pure Japanese study and reception rooms to Western-style building.

Look for Meiji residence

Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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131103 Seikatei Sapporo Hokkaido Japan01s3 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

100 Deep cut within Sapporo

Seikatei (清華亭)

An 1880 rest house built for Emperor Meiji's Hokkaido visit — a Western-style building blended with Japanese rooms; a city-designated cultural property.

Look for Meiji pavilion

Kita 7-jō Nishi 7-chōme, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Mount Kannon-iwa 201705 — Photo: 禁樹なずな · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

101 Deep cut within Sapporo

Mount Hakken — Kannon-iwa (八剣山)

A 498 m jagged ridge on the way to Jōzankei — about an hour up with ropes on the steep upper half, for a 360° summit view.

Look for hike

Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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三岸好太郎美術館 - panoramio — Photo: yukinojo · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

102 Deep cut within Sapporo

Migishi Kōtarō Museum of Art, Hokkaido (北海道立三岸好太郎美術館)

Devoted to the Sapporo-born modernist painter who died at 31, with a reproduction of his atelier.

Kita 2-jō Nishi 15-chōme, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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札幌の文学館 — Photo: 下記参照 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

103 Deep cut within Sapporo

Hokkaido Museum of Literature (北海道立文学館)

Inside Nakajima Park: Hokkaido's literature from Ainu oral epics to Takiji Kobayashi and Ayako Miura — some 260,000 items.

Nakajima Kōen 1-4, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Koganeyu spa 2011 — Photo: Soica2001 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

104 Deep cut within Sapporo

Koganeyu Onsen (小金湯温泉)

A quiet 1883 hot-spring hamlet on the Toyohira River, 5 km short of Jōzankei — settlers found the water under a giant katsura tree.

Koganeyu, Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Nakajima Park Sapporo14n4272 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

105 Deep cut within Sapporo

Sapporo City Astronomical Observatory (札幌市天文台)

A 1958 public observatory in Nakajima Park with a 20 cm refractor — free night-time stargazing on six evenings a month.

Nakajima Kōen 1, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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SapporoShiShiryokan201109 — Photo: Ninosan · CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons

106 Deep cut within Sapporo

Sapporo Shiryōkan — former Sapporo Court of Appeals (札幌市資料館)

The former Sapporo Court of Appeals building at the west end of Ōdōri Park, now the city's Shiryōkan (archive museum).

Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan (west end of Ōdōri Park)

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107 Deep cut within Sapporo

Jingisukan Yōyōtei Sapporo Honten (ジンギスカン羊々亭札幌本店)

Specialist lamb grill known for its rare 'Roaring Forties' lamb.

Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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108 Deep cut within Sapporo · Ramen & tsukemen

Ramen Tetsuya Minami 7-jō Honten (らーめんてつや南7条本店)

The Sapporo shop that brought rich back-fat tonkotsu shōyu to a miso city; the head branch is in southern Chuo-ku.

Minami 7-jō Nishi 12-chōme 2-19, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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109 Deep cut within Sapporo

Shiawase no Recipe ~Sweet~ Susukino (幸せのレシピ～スイート～すすきの店)

A late-night parfait basement in central Susukino, open until about 2 am: seasonal parfaits built on more than 20 house-made gelato.

Big Silver Bldg B1F, Minami 3-jō Nishi 4-chōme, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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110 Deep cut within Sapporo · Kissaten & coffee

Kotobuki Coffee, M's Nijō Yokochō (寿珈琲)

A retro coffee house next to Nijō Market that roasts its own beans. The room keeps its Meiji-era Sapporo soft-stone and red-brick walls, and it stays open until midnight on weekdays.

M's Nijō Yokochō 1F, Minami 2-jō Higashi 1-chōme 1-6, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

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Otaru & Shakotan 35 places · area 2 of 9

canal · Sushi-ya Dōri · Yoichi Nikka · Shakotan uni

浅草橋 (2309866875) — Photo: Yamaguchi Yoshiaki from Japan · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

1 Must see within Otaru & Shakotan

Otaru Canal (小樽運河)

The 1923 freight canal lined with stone warehouses and gas lamps — Otaru's postcard, best at dusk and during the February Snow Light Path.

Your guide’s note ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — Otaru is Lt. Tsurumi's 7th Division base and near Asirpa's kotan; the canal recurs throughout the series · canal warehouses

Minato-machi, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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2 Must see within Otaru & Shakotan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Isezushi, Otaru (伊勢鮨)

Otaru's Michelin-starred sushi counter (Hokkaido guide one star), with a casual by-the-piece outpost inside Otaru Station.

3-15-3 Inaho, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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3 Must see within Otaru & Shakotan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Otaru Masazushi Honten (おたる政寿司本店)

Founded 1938 on Otaru's Sushiya-dōri — the old guard of the city's sushi, as loved by locals as by visitors. 11:00–15:00, 17:00–21:00.

1-1-1 Hanazono, Otaru, Hokkaido 047-0024, Japan (Sushiya-dōri)

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4 Must see within Otaru & Shakotan

Tanaka Shuzō Kikkōgura, Otaru (田中酒造亀甲蔵)

An 1899 brewery in a stone warehouse that brews all four seasons thanks to Hokkaido's cool climate — walk the brewery, then taste free.

Shinkō-chō 2-2, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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5 Must see within Otaru & Shakotan

Nikka Whisky Yoichi Distillery (ニッカウヰスキー余市蒸溜所)

Masataka Taketsuru's 1934 distillery, chosen because Yoichi most resembled Scotland — coal-fired pot stills, stone kilns and a tasting hall.

Look for whisky distillery

Kurokawa-chō, Yoichi, Yoichi District, Hokkaido, Japan

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6 Must see within Otaru & Shakotan

Cape Kamui, Shakotan (神威岬)

An 80 m knife-edge cape on the Shakotan Peninsula — the 'Charenka trail' ridge walk to the lighthouse above 'Shakotan blue' sea.

Look for cape ridge walk shakotan blue

Kamuimisaki, Shakotan, Shakotan District, Hokkaido, Japan

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7 Must see within Otaru & Shakotan

Wakadori Jidai Naruto Honten (若鶏時代なると本店)

Otaru's soul food since 1952: a half young chicken from Date, seasoned only with salt and pepper and fried at 200 °C for 10–12 minutes — crackling outside, juicy inside.

Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan (honten)

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8 Must see within Otaru & Shakotan · Kissaten & coffee

LeTAO Main Store, Otaru (ルタオ本店)

Otaru's patisserie of record at the end of Sakaimachi — the Double Fromage, a baked-and-rare two-layer cheesecake of Hokkaido dairy, plus store-only sweets.

East end of Sakaimachi Street, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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9 Must see within Otaru & Shakotan · Soba & udon

Otaru Ankake-dokoro Tororian (小樽あんかけ処とろり庵)

The ankake-yakisoba specialist run by the old Abe noodle mill — crisp-fried noodles under a thick, generous seafood-and-vegetable sauce.

Sakura 5-chōme 7-23, Otaru, Hokkaido 047-0156, Japan

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10 Must see within Otaru & Shakotan

Kama-ei Factory Store, Otaru (かま栄工場直売店)

Otaru's kamaboko house since 1905 — the pan-roll is, sold only here because it can't be shipped; café on site.

Sakaimachi 3-7, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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11 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Fugoppe Cave (フゴッペ洞窟)

A cave with over 800 Zoku-Jōmon engravings (c. 1,500–2,000 years old) — people, boats, fish and winged shamanic figures thought to be carved for ritual. Closed mid-Dec to early April.

Look for rock carvings cave

栄町87, Yoichi, Yoichi District, Hokkaido, Japan

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12 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Otaru City General Museum (小樽市総合博物館)

Hokkaido's railway birthplace — steam locomotives in the old Temiya roundhouse, plus the canal-side annex in a former warehouse.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — held the special exhibition 'Otaru inside Golden Kamuy' (Jul–Sep 2016: the real Otaru behind the manga's art, plus Ainu tools) · railway museum

Temiya, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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Nishin-Goten1 — Photo: タクナワン · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

13 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Former Aoyama Villa — Otaru Kihinkan (小樽貴賓館旧青山別邸)

The opulent 1923 retreat a herring-fishing dynasty built from its fortune — painted ceilings, lacquer and a peony garden.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — model for the herring-fishing boss's mansion in the Otaru arc · herring villa

Shukutsu, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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14 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Niikuraya Hanazono Honten, Otaru (新倉屋花園本店)

An 1895 wagashi house whose Hanazono dango wear their red-bean paste in a single mountain-shaped sweep.

Hanazono 1-3-1, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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15 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Rinyū Asaichi Morning Market, Otaru (鱗友朝市)

The locals' fish market by the port, open from 4 a.m.: a dozen stalls of fresh fish, dried and salted catch, plus a diner for breakfast seafood bowls (closed Sundays).

Ironai 3-10-15, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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16 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Sakaimachi Street (堺町通り)

The preserved Meiji–Taishō merchant street a short walk from the canal — glass workshops, music boxes, LeTAO and Kitakaro sweet shops.

Look for merchant street glass

Sakaimachi, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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Otaru-orgel-do,Musical box museum,小樽オルゴール堂6180194 — Photo: 松岡明芳 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

17 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Otaru Music Box Museum (小樽オルゴール堂)

The 1912 brick main hall at the foot of Sakaimachi, packed with thousands of music boxes — the Vancouver-gifted steam clock whistles out front. Free entry.

Look for music box museum steam clock

1-2-3 Irifune, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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stone bank building — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

18 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Bank of Japan Otaru Museum (日本銀行旧小樽支店金融資料館)

Tatsuno Kingo's 1912 branch of the Bank of Japan from the days Otaru was 'the Wall Street of the North' — now a free museum of money and the vault.

Look for bank museum architecture

1-11-16 Ironai, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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Otaru Tengu-yama ski resort View — Photo: wakimasa · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

19 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Mount Tengu, Otaru (天狗山)

Otaru's 532 m house mountain — a ropeway to a night view over the harbour and Ishikari Bay, and a ski hill in winter.

Look for night view ropeway

Mogamicho, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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Nishingoten Tomari — Photo: 皓月旗 · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

20 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Otaru Herring Mansion, Shukutsu (鰊御殿)

A late-19th-century herring fishermen's lodge on the Shukutsu headland — the boss's quarters and bunk lofts from the herring boom that built Otaru.

Look for herring mansion history

Shukutsu, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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21 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Kitaichi Glass Hall No. 3 (北一硝子三号館)

Kitaichi Glass's largest shop, on Sakaimachi — glassware arranged by theme, from tableware to animal figures with Hokkaido motifs, and a café.

Look for glass shop warehouse

Sakaimachi, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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Otaruaquarium 01 — Photo: NipponiaNippon · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

22 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Otaru Aquarium (おたる水族館)

Hokkaido's largest aquarium (about 250 species) on the Shukutsu headland — seals and sea lions in pens sectioned off from the open sea.

Look for aquarium seals

3-303 Shukutsu, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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23 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Otaru Sankaku Market (小樽三角市場)

The triangular fish market beside Otaru Station — crab, scallops and sea urchin over the counter, and fishmonger-run donburi canteens like Takinami Shokudō.

Beside JR Otaru Station, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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24 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan · Soba & udon

Chūka Shokudō Keien (中華食堂桂苑)

An arcade Chinese diner packed even on weekdays for the city's soul-food plate of fried noodles under thick ankake.

Inaho 2-chōme 16-14, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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25 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Michi-no-eki Space Apple Yoichi (道の駅スペース・アップルよいち)

Yoichi's roadside station in apple country — orchard juice, house-made ice cream and apple pie from local fruit.

Yoichi, Yoichi District, Hokkaido, Japan

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26 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan · Kissaten & coffee

Kitaichi Hall, Otaru (北一ホール)

The café in Kitaichi Glass's Meiji stone warehouse, lit by 167 oil lamps that staff light one by one after the 9am opening.

Kitaichi Glass No. 3 building, Sakaimachi 7-26, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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27 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan · Soba & udon

Soba-ya Yabuhan, Otaru (蕎麦屋籔半)

A 1954 Edo-style soba house near Otaru Station.

Inaho 2-19-14, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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28 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan · Kissaten & coffee

Ice Cream Parlor Misono, Otaru (アイスクリームパーラー美園)

Opened in 1919 as the first shop in Hokkaido to sell ice cream, and still uses its original method.

Inaho 2-12-15, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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29 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Uomasa, Otaru (魚真)

Local-catch sushi at fair prices, as popular with residents as with visitors.

Inaho 2-5-11, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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30 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan

Kita no Donburiya Takinami Shokudō, Sankaku Market (北のどんぶり屋滝波食堂)

The Takinami fish shop's diner in the Triangle Market — seafood from the tanks onto a pick-your-own bowl, with a queue every day.

Sankaku Market, Inaho 3-10-16, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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31 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan · Soba & udon

New Sankō, Otaru (ニュー三幸)

A 1954 all-round restaurant, now known for its ankake yakisoba on house egg noodles. Bunkacho has named the dish a '100-Year Food'.

Sun Mall 1-bangai, Inaho 1-3-6, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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32 Worth the detour within Otaru & Shakotan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Otaru Nihonbashi, Sushiya-dōri (小樽日本橋)

One of the five houses of the Sushiya-dōri Meitenkai (the street's founding sushi guild), three minutes from the canal: counter, private rooms and seasonal Otaru nigiri.

Inaho 1-1-4, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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33 Deep cut within Otaru & Shakotan

Otaru Denuki Kōji (小樽出抜小路)

A retro food alley opposite the canal recreating Otaru's Meiji–Taishō merchant streets, with over twenty small eateries serving Japanese, Western and Chinese dishes from local seafood.

Ironai 1-1, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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34 Deep cut within Otaru & Shakotan

Otaru Milk Plant (小樽ミルクプラント)

Otaru's oldest soft-serve stand, run by Hoshō Gyūnyū in its 1936 milk-plant office.

Hanazono 2-12-13, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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35 Deep cut within Otaru & Shakotan · Kissaten & coffee

Taishō Glass Kuboya, Sakaimachi (大正硝子くぼ家)

A kissaten in the historic former Sakaiya shop on Sakaimachi Street, kept going by Taishō Glass.

Sakaimachi 4-4, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

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Niseko & Yōtei 27 places · area 3 of 9

Niseko · Kutchan · Rusutsu · Makkari · Kyōgoku

Michinoeki Boyo Nakayama — Photo: Him56 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

1 Must see within Niseko & Yōtei

Michi-no-eki Bōyō Nakayama, Nakayama Pass (道の駅望羊中山)

The pass-top stop where Sapporo drivers first see Mt Yōtei — famous for battered, fried Danshaku potatoes from the Yōtei foothills, plus Nakayama chicken and Rusutsu-pork butadon.

Nakayama Pass (Route 230), Kimobetsu, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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2 Must see within Niseko & Yōtei

Mount Yōtei (羊蹄山)

'Ezo-Fuji' — a near-perfect 1,898 m stratovolcano towering over the Niseko ski fields; its snowmelt feeds the Fukidashi springs.

Look for volcano ezo fuji

Kutchan / Makkari / Kyōgoku / Niseko, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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3 Must see within Niseko & Yōtei

Niseko Annupuri (ニセコアンヌプリ)

The 1,308 m volcano whose flanks carry the Niseko United ski areas (Grand Hirafu, Hanazono, Niseko Village, Annupuri) — famed for deep, dry powder and backcountry gates.

Look for ski powder mountain

Niseko / Kutchan, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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4 Must see within Niseko & Yōtei

Niseko Takahashi Farm Milk Kobo (ニセコ高橋牧場ミルク工房)

The dairy farm's own sweets shop facing Mount Yōtei — soft-serve, rice-flour roll cake and drinking yogurt from the farm's milk, with a vegetable-buffet restaurant and cheese workshop alongside.

Niseko, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan (near Niseko Village ski resort)

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5 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei

Arishima Memorial Museum (有島記念館)

Literary museum opened in 1979 for Shirakaba-school writer Arishima Takeo on the farmland he owned — the setting of 'Cain's Descendants' — with a book café looking out on Mount Yōtei.

Look for literary museum

有島57, Niseko, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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6 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei

Michi-no-eki 230 Rusutsu (道の駅 230ルスツ)

Rusutsu growers' farm stand on Route 230 — asparagus, corn and tomatoes picked that morning in high season, and a pizza counter visitors detour for.

Route 230, Rusutsu, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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7 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei

Niseko Village Ski Resort (ニセコビレッジ)

The former Higashiyama area west of Hirafu — Hilton Niseko Village at the base and a forest course weaving through native woods; linked to Hirafu and Annupuri at the summit.

Higashiyama, Niseko, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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8 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei

Yōtei Nature Park & Yōtei Spring, Makkari (羊蹄山自然公園・羊蹄の湧水)

Park at the Makkari trailhead of Mt Yōtei; by the entrance the 'kamui wakka' spring pours water filtered for decades through the volcano — locals queue with bottles.

Makkari, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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神仙沼（Shenxian Marsh） - panoramio — Photo: pakku · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

9 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei

Shinsen-numa Pond (神仙沼)

The loveliest of the Niseko range's marsh ponds — a 20-minute boardwalk through alpine bog to still water ringed by Todo firs.

Look for marsh pond boardwalk

Maeda, Kyōwa, Iwanai District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Yotei spring water collection space2 — Photo: ブルーノ・プラス · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

10 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei

Fukidashi Park, Kyōgoku (ふきだし公園)

Mount Yōtei's snowmelt gushes out here after decades underground — one of Japan's biggest spring discharges; locals fill bottles at the source.

Look for spring water park

Kyōgoku, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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ニセコひらふ2 — Photo: Wakimasa · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

11 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei

Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu (ニセコ東急グラン・ヒラフ)

The biggest of the Niseko United resorts on Annupuri's east face — powder runs, backcountry gates and the Hirafu village of restaurants and bars.

Look for ski resort powder

Hirafu, Kutchan, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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12 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei

Niseko HANAZONO Resort (ニセコHANAZONOリゾート)

Grand Hirafu's satellite base on the north-east flank of Annupuri, reached by bus from Kutchan Station.

Look for ski resort

Kutchan, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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13 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei

Rusutsu Resort (ルスツリゾート)

One of Hokkaido's best ski areas across three mountains — long groomers, powder and trees in winter; an amusement park with seven roller coasters, pools and onsen in summer.

Look for ski resort amusement park

Rusutsu, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Goshiki spa town — Photo: Soica2001 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

14 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei

Niseko Goshiki Onsen (ニセコ五色温泉)

A 1930 mountain hot spring at 750 m, smelling of sulphur, whose free-flowing water shifts from clear to milky white — hence 'five colours'.

Look for mountain onsen

Between the Niseko Annupuri and Iwaonupuri trailheads, Niseko mountains, Hokkaido, Japan

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15 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei

Michi-no-eki Niseko View Plaza (道の駅ニセコビュープラザ)

Niseko's roadside farm market — local vegetables and fruit straight from the growers, handmade ham and ice cream, with Yōtei and Annupuri views.

Niseko, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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16 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei

Restaurant Makkarina, Makkari (レストランマッカリーナ)

Auberge restaurant in the Makkari woods at the foot of Yōtei, cooking French from the village's own fields and mountain spring water under chef Sugaya Shin'ichi's direction.

Midorioka 172-3, Makkari, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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17 Worth the detour within Niseko & Yōtei · Kissaten & coffee

Graubünden, Hirafu (おやつとサンドイッチのお店グラウビュンデン)

A sweets-and-sandwich café in Hirafu village known for its house sandwiches and seasonal-fruit cakes; listed in Kutchan's official town specialty catalogue.

Niseko Hirafu 5-jō 4-chōme 2-6, Kutchan, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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18 Deep cut within Niseko & Yōtei

Niseko Annupuri International Ski Area (ニセコアンヌプリ国際スキー場)

The quieter, gentler of Niseko's big three — wide beginner- and family-friendly runs, less crowded, on the All Mountain Pass.

Niseko, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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19 Deep cut within Niseko & Yōtei

Michi-no-eki Makkari Flower Center (道の駅真狩フラワーセンター)

Makkari grows about 60% of Japan's edible lily bulbs — the station sells them fresh and baked into monaka and castella, under Mt Yōtei.

Makkari, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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20 Deep cut within Niseko & Yōtei

Villa Lupicia Restaurant, Kabayama (ヴィラルピシアレストラン)

Tea house Lupicia's glass-walled restaurant in Hirafu-Kabayama, serving modern European cooking with a Japanese touch and its own Yōtei-foothills beer, poured at a summer beer garden too.

Kabayama 58-5, Kutchan, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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21 Deep cut within Niseko & Yōtei

Michi-no-eki Rankoshi Furusato-no-Oka (道の駅らんこし・ふるさとの丘)

Route 5 roadside station of Rankoshi, a town known for its rice, selling Shiribetsu-valley produce and house pickles with views of the Niseko range and Yōtei.

Aioi 969, Rankoshi, Isoya District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Niseko Yumoto Ooyunuma 2007 — Photo: Soica2001 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

22 Deep cut within Niseko & Yōtei

Niseko Yumoto Onsen & Ōyunuma (ニセコ湯本温泉・大湯沼)

At the foot of Chisenupuri — a bubbling mud-sulphur pond where you watch the hot spring welling up, with onsen lodges around it.

Look for onsen & sulphur pond

Foot of Mt Chisenupuri, Niseko mountains, Hokkaido, Japan

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Niseko Konbu spa Koikawa roten — Photo: Soica2001 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

23 Deep cut within Niseko & Yōtei

Niseko Konbu Onsen (ニセコ昆布温泉)

A designated national health-resort onsen at the south-west foot of Annupuri — several inns, each with its own spring (bicarbonate to chloride).

Look for onsen

Niseko-Konbu Onsen, Rankoshi, Isoya District, Hokkaido, Japan

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ニセコモイワ3 — Photo: Wakimasa · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

24 Deep cut within Niseko & Yōtei

Niseko Moiwa Ski Resort (ニセコモイワスキーリゾート)

A small independent fourth resort west of Annupuri — off the All Mountain Pass, so uncrowded and loved by powder purists and beginners.

Niseko, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Makkari spa 2011 — Photo: Soica2001 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

25 Deep cut within Niseko & Yōtei

Makkari Onsen (まっかり温泉)

The village-run day spa of Makkari: a rock-built rotenburo with Mt Yōtei filling the view.

Makkari, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Mt IWAO 2 — Photo: Highten31 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

26 Deep cut within Niseko & Yōtei

Iwaonupuri (イワオヌプリ)

'Sulphur mountain' in Ainu — the youngest volcano of the Niseko range, its bare slopes crusted with sulphur crystals; a short hike from Goshiki Onsen with views to Yōtei.

Niseko / Kutchan, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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27 Deep cut within Niseko & Yōtei

Michi-no-eki Akaigawa (道の駅あかいがわ)

A newer roadside station on the Maple Kaidō between Kiroro and Niseko — bread baked on site from local ingredients, Akaigawa milk, and gelato made with the village's rice.

Maple Kaidō, Akaigawa, Yoichi District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Hakodate & Dōnan 67 places · area 4 of 9

Morning Market · Goryōkaku · Mt Hakodate · Motomachi · Ōnuma · Matsumae

1 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan

Goryōkaku (五稜郭)

Japan's first Western-style fortress, the 1866 star fort where the Republic of Ezo made its last stand — a thousand cherry trees fill the moats in spring.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram (2024 film, set in Hakodate) — the star fort is the key to the film's riddle; ranked No.1 pilgrimage spot in post-release surveys · star fort cherry blossom

Goryōkaku-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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2 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan

Mount Hakodate (函館山)

334 m peak at the tip of the peninsula: a three-minute ropeway to one of Japan's great night views, the city lights pinched between two bays.

Your guide’s note ★ Anime & pop culture — Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram (2024 film, set in Hakodate) — the summit observatory is where Heiji tries to confess to Kazuha · Love Live! Sunshine!! S2 eps 8–9 night-view scene · night view ropeway

Hakodateyama, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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3 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan

Ōnuma Quasi-National Park (大沼国定公園)

Island-dotted Ōnuma and Konuma ponds under the volcano Hokkaidō-Komagatake — 126 islets linked by bridges, boating and cycling 30 minutes from Hakodate.

Look for lake islands volcano

Ōnuma-chō, Nanae, Kameda District, Hokkaido, Japan

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4 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate Jōmon Culture Center (函館市縄文文化交流センター)

Home of a National Treasure, the 3,500-year-old hollow clay dogū (41.5 cm) found by chance in 1975 — beside the UNESCO Kakinoshima site.

Look for national treasure dogu jomon

551-1 Usujiri-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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5 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan · Ramen & tsukemen

Ajisai Honten, Hakodate (函館麺厨房あじさい本店)

Founded 1930, the name in Hakodate shio ramen: a clear broth of southern-Dōnan kelp with pork and chicken bone and rock salt. Tabelog Ramen Hokkaido 100.

Goryōkaku area, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Gotoken honten kyukan — Photo: Iso10970 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

6 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan

Gotōken Honten — Restaurant Sekkatei (五島軒本店レストラン雪河亭)

Hakodate's grand Western restaurant since 1879 — Russian dishes from its founding days, classic French, and the curry that made its name.

4-5 Suehiro-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido 040-0053, Japan (Gotōken head office / honten)

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7 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan · Ramen & tsukemen

Jiyōken (滋養軒)

A 1947 shio-ramen counter still cutting noodles daily on its original machine from flour, kansui, salt and egg — closes when the soup runs out.

Matsukaze-chō 7-12, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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8 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan

Michi-no-eki Shikabe Kanketsusen Kōen (道の駅しかべ間歇泉公園)

A roadside station built around a geyser that blows about 15 m every 10–15 minutes — buy seafood and vegetables and steam them yourself in the hot-spring steam, then Shikabe cod roe at the Hama no Kaa-san canteen.

Shikabe, Kayabe District, Hokkaido, Japan

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9 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan

Motomachi (元町)

The slope-side former foreign settlement — churches, the Old British Consulate, the Chinese Memorial Hall and the Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward on stepped streets down to the harbour.

Look for foreign settlement churches slopes

Motomachi, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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10 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Kikuyo Shokudō Honten, Hakodate Morning Market (きくよ食堂本店)

The morning-market donburi counter since 1956 — choose three of uni, ikura, scallop, salmon, botan shrimp and snow crab over rice cooked on charcoal. Opens 05:00 in season.

Hakodate Morning Market, Wakamatsu-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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11 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate Hikari no Yatai Daimon Yokochō (函館ひかりの屋台大門横丁)

Twenty-six tiny bars and kitchens on 800 m² in the Daimon nightlife quarter by Hakodate Station — the city's hashigo-zake circuit.

Daimon district near JR Hakodate Station, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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12 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan · Kissaten & coffee

California Baby, Hakodate (カリフォルニアベイビー)

A diner in a converted Taishō-era post office that nearly every Hakodate local has eaten at — the Cisco rice was the owner's riff on chili beans from his time in America.

Bay area below Mt Hakodate (Motomachi side), Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Numa-no-Ie — Photo: 掬茶 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

13 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan

Numa no Ya, Ōnuma (沼の家)

Founded in 1905: unskewered dumplings laid in a box to echo the lakes and their ~126 islets, in bean paste and soy.

Ōnuma, Nanae, Kameda District, Hokkaido, Japan

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14 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Hakodate Asaichi Ekini Ichiba (函館朝市えきに市場)

The Morning Market hall with the squid-fishing tank — hook a live squid and the stallholder slices it into translucent sashimi with ginger soy at the table.

Hakodate Morning Market, by JR Hakodate Station, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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15 Must see within Hakodate & Dōnan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Sushi-dokoro Kihara, Yunokawa (鮨処木はら)

A Yunokawa sushi counter whose chef grew up in a fishing family and buys the day's best catch — serious sushi without ceremony.

Yunokawa Onsen area, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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五稜郭タワー - panoramio — Photo: Tomokazu Kitjaima · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

16 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Goryōkaku Tower (五稜郭タワー)

The observation tower beside the fort — the only way to see Goryōkaku's five-pointed star from above.

Your guide’s note ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy (2026 Hakodate collab: announcements by Hijikata's voice actor Nakata Jōji) · Love Live! Sunshine!! S2 ep 8 glass-floor scene · observation tower star fort

Goryōkaku-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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17 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hachimanzaka Slope (八幡坂)

The straight, stone-curbed slope that runs from Motomachi straight down to the harbour — Hakodate's most photographed view, lit up in winter.

Your guide’s note ★ Anime & pop culture — Love Live! Sunshine!! — Aqours walk Hachimanzaka in S2 eps 8–9 (Hakodate arc) · slope harbour view

Motomachi, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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18 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Lucky Pierrot Bay Area Honten (ラッキーピエロベイエリア本店)

The 1987 original of Hakodate's own burger chain (17 shops in the city), done up as a merry-go-round in a forest — the No. 1 Chinese Chicken Burger, sweet-spicy karaage with house mayo, never made ahead.

Your guide’s note ★ Anime & pop culture — Love Live! Sunshine!! — appears in the S2 Hakodate arc; a point on the official Aqours × Saint Snow AR digital stamp rally (11 Hakodate spots)

Bay Area waterfront, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse Hakodate Hokkaido pref Japan04n — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

19 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses (金森赤レンガ倉庫)

1909 harbour warehouses (founded 1887) turned shops, beer hall and event space in 1988 — Hakodate's waterfront landmark.

Your guide’s note ★ Anime & pop culture — Love Live! Sunshine!! — Hakodate pilgrimage stop from the S2 Hakodate arc · red brick warehouse bay

Suehiro-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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20 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate Magistrate's Office (箱館奉行所)

Built by the Edo shogunate in the late Edo period inside Goryōkaku to oversee northern defence and foreign affairs; restored on its original site.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — Hijikata Toshizō photo panel and two character goshuin-style castle stamps in the 2026 'Golden Kamuy — Hakodate Dyed in Gold' collaboration · magistrate office reconstruction

Goryōkaku Park, Goryōkaku-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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21 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate Morning Market (函館朝市)

250-odd stalls across the street from Hakodate Station — squid you fish yourself, crab, uni and ikura donburi for breakfast.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram (2024 film, set in Hakodate) — No.4 in the film's pilgrimage-spot ranking · morning market seafood

Wakamatsu-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Ōfune Site 02 — Photo: Indiana jo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

22 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Ōfune Site — Jōmon (大船遺跡)

A Middle Jōmon village above the Pacific — more than 100 pit-dwelling hollows, some 2 m deep, part of the 2021 UNESCO Jōmon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.

Look for jomon site

Ōfune-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Kakinoshima Site (distant view) 02 — Photo: Indiana jo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

23 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Kakinoshima Site — Jōmon (垣ノ島遺跡)

A settlement where living and burial grounds were separated for millennia, with a 190 m U-shaped earthen mound; the Hakodate Jōmon Culture Center (with Hokkaido's only National Treasure, a hollow clay dogū) is beside it. UNESCO.

Look for jomon site

Usujiri-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward Japan01s3 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

24 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward (旧函館区公会堂)

The blue-grey and yellow 1910 colonial-style assembly hall looking over the port from the top of Motoizaka — an Important Cultural Property.

Look for meiji hall view

Motomachi, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan (top of Motoizaka slope)

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25 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Cape Tachimachi (立待岬)

A 30 m cliff on the south side of Mount Hakodate jutting into the Tsugaru Strait — on clear days the Shimokita and Tsugaru peninsulas of Aomori across the water.

Look for cape strait view

South side of Mount Hakodate, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Mount E, Hokkaido, Japan 27-Aug-2016 p2 — Photo: 皓月旗 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

26 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Mount Esan (恵山)

A still-steaming 618 m active volcano at the eastern tip of the Kameda Peninsula — trails from the 300 m crater-floor car park, and some 600,000 wild Ezo azaleas around Esan Tsutsuji Park.

Look for active volcano azaleas

Esan area, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Hokkaido-Mt.Koma Mori-town — Photo: MaedaAkihiko · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

27 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hokkaido-Komagatake (北海道駒ヶ岳)

The 1,131 m active volcano that symbolises southern Hokkaido — once a Fuji-like cone, its summit collapsed in the 1640 eruption, leaving jagged peaks such as Kengamine; climbable June–October.

Look for volcano hike

Mori, Kayabe District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Mashu-maru zenkei — Photo: Saigen Jiro · CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons

28 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Seikan Ferry Memorial Ship Mashū-maru (函館市青函連絡船記念館摩周丸)

A Seikan rail ferry retired in 1988 and moored as a museum 5 minutes from Hakodate Station — bridge and radio room kept as they sailed.

12 Wakamatsu-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Kyu-Soumatei — Photo: Iso10970 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

29 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Former Sōma Residence (旧相馬家住宅)

Merchant Sōma Teppei's 1908 Japanese-Western house beside the Old Public Hall he paid for — an Important Cultural Property with a kura gallery of Esashi screens.

Look for merchant mansion (ICP)

Motomachi, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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30 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Michi-no-eki YOU・Yū・Mori (道の駅 YOU・遊・もり)

Route 5 roadside station of Mori, home of ikameshi — the squid-rice ekiben sold here in many forms, with Komagatake and Uchiura Bay from the roof lounge.

Kamidai-chō 326-18, Mori, Kayabe District, Hokkaido, Japan

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31 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Michi-no-eki Kitamaebune Matsumae (道の駅北前船松前)

Clifftop roadside station on the Tsugaru Strait serving bowls of wild bluefin from the same waters as Ōma tuna, and Matsumae-zuke, the clan-era pickle of herring roe, kelp and squid.

Matsumae, Matsumae District, Hokkaido, Japan

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32 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Goshōteya Honpo, Esashi (五勝手屋本舗)

Esashi's 1870 confectioner, whose cylindrical azuki yōkan — sliced with the string on the tube — was presented to the Shōwa Emperor in 1936.

Honchō 38, Esashi, Hiyama District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Exterior of Hakodate Orthodox Church — Photo: y.ganden · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

33 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate Orthodox Church (Holy Resurrection, ハリストス正教会)

Japan's first Orthodox parish (consecrated 1860); the 1916 white church with green copper domes is an Important Cultural Property.

Look for orthodox church

Motomachi, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Matsumae Castle keep — Photo: Kazu777 hokkaido · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

34 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Matsumae Castle (松前城)

Japan's northernmost castle, seat of the only Edo-period domain on Hokkaido — its park is one of the island's great cherry-blossom spots, thousands of trees in 250 varieties.

Look for castle cherry blossom

Matsushiro, Matsumae, Matsumae District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Washinoki site FullSizeRender — Photo: Kiirosan · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

35 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Washinoki Stone Circle (鷲ノ木遺跡)

Hokkaido's largest stone circle (Late Jōmon), a double ring of stones on a hill above Uchiura Bay — an associated site of the Jōmon World Heritage nomination.

Look for stone circle jomon

Washinoki-chō, Mori, Kayabe District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Former British Consulate in Hakodate Hokkaido Japan01s3 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

36 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Former British Consulate of Hakodate (函館市旧イギリス領事館)

The British consulate building of Hakodate's treaty-port era in Motomachi, now a city-run museum of the port's opening.

Look for consulate museum garden

Motomachi, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Yunokawa Onsen Hakodate Hokkaido Japan01s3 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

37 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Yunokawa Onsen, Hakodate (湯の川温泉)

Hakodate's seaside hot-spring quarter, one of Hokkaido's three great onsen areas, with a history going back to 1653.

Look for onsen town sea

Yunokawa-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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カトリック元町教会 - panoramio — Photo: くろふね · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

38 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Catholic Motomachi Church (カトリック元町教会)

Founded 1859 by the French missionary Mermet-Cachon and rebuilt in Gothic style in 1924 — its altar is the only one in Japan given by a Pope.

Look for gothic church

15-30 Motomachi, Hakodate, Hokkaido 040-0054, Japan

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Hakodate City Museum of Northern Peoples01n — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

39 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate City Museum of Northern Peoples (函館市北方民族資料館)

Ainu and Okhotsk-coast peoples' clothing, tools and ritual objects — try Ainu paper-cutting or make and play traditional instruments.

Look for ainu northern peoples museum

21-7 Suehiro-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido 040-0053, Japan

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TOBETSU TRAPPIST MONASTERY 北斗市・当別トラピスト修道院 - panoramio — Photo: helloalive · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

40 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Trappist Monastery, Hokuto (トラピスト修道院)

Japan's first men's monastery (1896).

Look for monastery avenue

Mitsuishi (Oshima-Tōbetsu), Hokuto, Hokkaido, Japan

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41 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Kaiyō Maru replica & Kamome Island, Esashi (開陽丸・鴎島)

A full-size replica of the shogunate's Dutch-built flagship that sank off Esashi in a storm in 1868, moored at the entrance to Kamome Island in the herring-trade port.

Look for warship replica island

Esashi, Hiyama District, Hokkaido, Japan

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42 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate Tropical Botanical Garden (函館市熱帯植物園)

A pyramid greenhouse of tropical plants at Yunokawa — famous for the Japanese macaques soaking in their own hot-spring pool from December to May.

Look for monkeys onsen greenhouse

3-1-15 Yunokawa-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido 042-0932, Japan

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Trappistine Convent 202405 — Photo: 掬茶 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

43 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Trappistine Convent (天使の聖母トラピスチヌ修道院)

Japan's first women's monastery — a 1927 Gothic-Romanesque brick church on the hills above Yunokawa, 35 minutes by bus from Hakodate Station.

346 Kamiyunokawa-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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44 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Uni Murakami Hakodate Honten (うにむらかみ函館本店)

Restaurant of a sea-urchin wholesaler that long supplied Tsukiji and top sushi counters — sweet, additive-free raw uni in bowls and set meals.

Morning-market streets, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan (5 min walk from Hakodate Station)

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45 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan · Ramen & tsukemen

Hōran (鳳蘭)

A Daimon-district veteran whose pale, clear shio broth is nine parts pork bone to one part chicken.

Matsukaze-chō 5-13, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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46 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Asaichi no Ajidokoro Chamu (朝市の味処茶夢)

A Donburi Yokochō counter piling sea urchin, salmon roe and scallop over rice from 7am.

Donburi Yokochō Ichiba, Wakamatsu-chō 9-15, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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47 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Ikkatei Tabiji (一花亭たびじ)

The early opener of Donburi Yokochō — seafood bowls from 6am, open every day.

Donburi Yokochō Ichiba, Wakamatsu-chō 9-15, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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48 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Asaichi Akebono Shokudō (朝市あけぼの食堂)

A Donburi Yokochō shokudō of seafood bowls and grilled fish for the market's breakfast crowd.

Donburi Yokochō Ichiba, Wakamatsu-chō 9-15, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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49 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate Beer (はこだてビール)

The city's brewery restaurant on Kaikō-dōri — six regular beers on tap and a menu running from seafood to meat.

Kaikō-dōri, Ōte-machi 5-22, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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50 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate Beer Hall, Kanemori (函館ビヤホール)

A retro beer hall inside the Kanemori red-brick warehouses — two local beers, long sausage pie and potato-cheese bakes.

Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse — Hakodate History Plaza, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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51 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Michi-no-eki Nanairo Nanae (道の駅なないろ・ななえ)

Nanae's food-and-history station, in the birthplace of Western-style farming in Japan — guaraná soft-serve from the local soda maker and croquettes of Yamakawa ranch beef.

Nanae, Kameda District, Hokkaido, Japan

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52 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Michi-no-eki Misogi no Sato Kikonai (道の駅みそぎの郷きこない)

The roadside station at the first Hokkaido Shinkansen stop — sweets and bread built on the salt of Kikonai's midwinter Kanchū Misogi festival, and the town's own sake.

At JR Kikonai Station (Hokkaido Shinkansen), Kikonai, Kamiiso District, Hokkaido, Japan

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53 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate Wine Budōkan Honten (はこだてわいん葡萄館本店)

One of Hokkaido's pioneer wineries (1973): about 80 wines on the shelves, a dozen to taste free, and a wine soft-serve sold only here.

Kamifujishiro 11, Nanae, Kameda District, Hokkaido, Japan

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54 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Kasshō Ryōri Ikasei Honten (活魚料理いか清本店)

Goryōkaku-side live-seafood house built around Hakodate's squid: the tank-fresh ma-ika is cut to order as glassy ikasōmen-style sashimi.

Honchō 2-14, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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55 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Sukiyaki Asari Honten, Hakodate (阿佐利本店)

A 1901 beef shop turned sukiyaki specialist in an early-Shōwa building — black wagyu at fair prices, a limited weekday lunch, and croquettes from the ground-floor butcher.

Hōrai-chō 10-11, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan (on Asari-zaka)

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56 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan · Ramen & tsukemen

Hakodate Men'ya Ichimonji, Yunokawa (函館麺や一文字)

Yunokawa's shio-ramen specialist — a double soup of whole chicken and Minami-kayabe kombu, clam and shijimi essence in the salt tare, and its own thin straight noodles.

Yunokawa-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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57 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan · Kissaten & coffee

Tearoom Victorian Rose, Former British Consulate (ティールームヴィクトリアンローズ)

The English tearoom inside the 1913 Former British Consulate — antiques shipped from Britain, scones and a full afternoon-tea stand in Motomachi.

33-14 Motomachi, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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58 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Indo Curry Koike Honten, Hakodate (印度カレー小いけ本店)

Founded 1948, Hakodate's old-school curry house — a sharply spiced, nostalgic roux that locals rank beside Gotōken's.

22-5 Hōrai-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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59 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate Jiyū Ichiba (はこだて自由市場)

The locals' and chefs' market rather than the tourists' — sushi chefs buy here; fish stalls will slice what you pick, plus a shokudō and food court.

1-2 Shinkawa-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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60 Worth the detour within Hakodate & Dōnan

Donburi Yokochō Ichiba, Hakodate Morning Market (どんぶり横丁市場)

The Morning Market's canteen arcade — a covered lane of donburi shokudō open from dawn into lunch, the place for kaisendon by Hakodate Station.

Wakamatsu-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan (inside Hakodate Morning Market)

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61 Deep cut within Hakodate & Dōnan

Michi-no-eki Kaminokuni Monju (道の駅上ノ国もんじゅ)

Sea-of-Japan roadside station whose restaurant window looks over the water; the signature is a tendon of local flounder.

Kaminokuni, Hiyama District, Hokkaido, Japan

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62 Deep cut within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate Arena (函館アリーナ)

Hakodate's arena by Yunokawa Onsen — the Love Live! regional-preliminary venue in Sunshine!! S2 and the real home of the 2018 Saint Snow-hosted Hakodate Unit Carnival.

Your guide’s note ★ Anime & pop culture — Love Live! Sunshine!! — the Hakodate venue of the S2 regional preliminaries (Saint Snow's home city) · arena · anime pilgrimage

Yunokawa-chō 1-32-2, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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63 Deep cut within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hokkaido Hakodate Museum of Art (北海道立函館美術館)

Southern Hokkaido's prefectural art museum next to Goryōkaku Park — a collection of over 2,500 works built on three themes: Dōnan art, calligraphy and contemporary art.

Look for art museum

Beside Goryōkaku Park, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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64 Deep cut within Hakodate & Dōnan

Iai Gakuin Former Missionaries' Residence (遺愛学院旧宣教師館)

On the campus of the first girls' school north of Tokyo (1882) — the clapboard missionary house and main hall are Important Cultural Properties, opened on set days.

Look for Meiji mission school (ICP)

Suginami-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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65 Deep cut within Hakodate & Dōnan

Hakodate Park (函館公園)

A Meiji-era 4.8 ha park with an Ishikawa Takuboku poem stone, the city museum and Hokkaido's first stone bridge (about 10 m).

Look for meiji park

Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Shiryoukaku004 — Photo: Satoshin · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

66 Deep cut within Hakodate & Dōnan

Shiryōkaku Fort (四稜郭)

A four-pointed earthwork fort thrown up in days by ~300 Republic of Ezo soldiers and locals in 1869 to shield Goryōkaku — a national historic site park 3 km north.

Look for Boshin War fort

Kamiyama-chō, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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67 Deep cut within Hakodate & Dōnan · Sushi & kaisen-don

Hakodate Kaisen Ichiba Honten (はこだて海鮮市場本店)

A big Bay-area seafood market of crab, squid and roe for tasting and shipping home.

Bay area, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

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Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi 31 places · area 5 of 9

Noboribetsu Jigokudani · Lake Tōya · Upopoy · Shiraoi · Tomakomai

1 Must see within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Upopoy — National Ainu Museum & Park (ウポポイ)

Japan's national centre for Ainu culture on Lake Poroto — the museum, a kotan of chise houses, dance, music and Ainu cooking.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — partner of the official 'Golden Kamuy × Hokkaido' campaign; the National Ainu Museum held a Golden Kamuy special exhibition · ainu museum

Wakakusa-chō, Shiraoi, Shiraoi District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Noboribetsu Hell Valley volcanic landscape — Photo: Calistemon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

2 Must see within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Noboribetsu Jigokudani (登別地獄谷)

'Hell Valley' above Hokkaido's most famous onsen town — a steaming crater of sulphur vents feeding nine kinds of spring water, boardwalk to Oyunuma.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — Noboribetsu Onsen is the 7th Division's convalescent spa in the story; 2024 Hell Festival collaboration · hell valley onsen

Noboribetsu Onsen-chō, Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan

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北寄飯 (47025944714) — Photo: bryan... · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

3 Must see within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi · Sushi & kaisen-don

Marutoma Shokudō, Tomakomai (マルトマ食堂)

A fishermen's diner facing Tomakomai harbour, open from 5am — Japan's top surf-clam port served as a heaped hokki curry and seafood bowls.

Shiomi-machi 1-1-13, Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Japan

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4 Must see within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Lake Tōya (洞爺湖)

Round caldera lake with an island at its heart and Mount Usu steaming on its shore — onsen town, summer fireworks every night.

Look for caldera lake

Tōyako Onsen, Tōyako, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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5 Must see within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi · Ramen & tsukemen

Aji no Daiō Noboribetsu Onsen (味の大王登別温泉店)

Noboribetsu's own bowl: 'hell ramen' whose heat climbs by 'chōme' levels from 0 — the record stands at 62. Lunch 11:30–15:00.

29-9 Noboribetsu Onsen-chō, Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan

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6 Must see within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Wakasaimo Honpo Tōyako Honten (わかさいも本舗洞爺湖本店)

The lakeside flagship of Tōya's signature sweet, with the Sendō-an Japanese restaurant upstairs looking over the lake.

Tōyako Onsen 144, Tōyako, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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7 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum, Biratori (平取町立二風谷アイヌ文化博物館)

Town museum in Nibutani, the Saru River heartland of Ainu culture — nationally designated Ainu tools, robes and boats, plus recordings of yukar epics.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — Nibutani hosted the official TV-anime × Biratori riddle tour (Oct–Nov 2025); Biratori is a 'Golden Kamuy × Hokkaido' campaign area · Ainu culture museum

Nibutani, Biratori-chō, Saru-gun, Hokkaido, Japan

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のぼりべつクマ牧場1 — Photo: Kinden K さん https://www.flickr.com/photos/kinden/ · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

8 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Noboribetsu Bear Park (のぼりべつクマ牧場)

A 7-minute ropeway up Mt Shihorei to ~100 Ezo brown bears — with the 'human cage' where people, not bears, are behind the bars.

Look for bear park & ropeway

Noboribetsu Onsen-chō (ropeway from the onsen town), Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan

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9 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Michi-no-eki Salmon Park Chitose (道の駅サーモンパーク千歳)

Chitose's salmon-river roadside station beside the Chitose Aquarium and its Indian water-wheel — a six-stall food court built around salmon.

2-4-2 Hanazono, Chitose, Hokkaido, Japan

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北黄金貝塚 04 — Photo: Indiana jo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

10 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Kitakogane Shell Mound — Jōmon (北黄金貝塚)

A Jōmon settlement with large shell middens facing Uchiura Bay and a 'water site' where tools were ritually sent back — UNESCO Jōmon Prehistoric Sites.

Look for jomon site

Kitakogane-chō, Date, Hokkaido, Japan

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入江貝塚 04 — Photo: Indiana jo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

11 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Irie & Takasago Shell Mounds — Jōmon (入江・高砂貝塚)

Two Jōmon sites a few hundred metres apart above Uchiura Bay — the Irie village shell mound and the Takasago burial ground. UNESCO Jōmon Prehistoric Sites.

Look for jomon site

Takasago-chō, Tōyako, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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キウス周堤墓群 01 — Photo: Indiana jo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

12 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles — Jōmon (キウス周堤墓群)

Ring-shaped earthen burial enclosures up to 75 m across in a Chitose forest — among the largest Jōmon communal cemeteries. UNESCO Jōmon Prehistoric Sites.

Look for jomon site

Chitose, Hokkaido, Japan

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Mt. Tarumae in spring／樽前山・春 - panoramio — Photo: T DMY · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

13 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Mount Tarumae (樽前山)

A 1,041 m active volcano crowned by the lava dome of its 1909 eruption — about an hour from the 7th-station car park to the crater rim's 360° walk (the crater itself is off-limits).

Look for volcano hike

Southeast of Lake Shikotsu, Tomakomai / Chitose, Hokkaido, Japan

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14 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Nakajima Island, Lake Tōya (中島)

The four forested islands at the heart of the caldera lake — the Espoir cruise lands you at the Nakajima Lake Forest Museum and its Ezo-deer trails.

Look for lake island & forest museum

Lake Tōya (by Tōyako Kisen cruise from Tōyako Onsen), Tōyako, Hokkaido, Japan

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130922 Mount Usu Sobetsu Hokkaido Japan09bs5 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

15 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Mount Usu (有珠山)

Active volcano that last erupted in 2000 — the Usuzan Ropeway rises to crater rims and views over Lake Tōya and Shōwa-shinzan.

Look for volcano ropeway

Tōyako, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Lake Shikotsu17n4272 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

16 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Lake Shikotsu (支笏湖)

Japan's northernmost ice-free lake and one of its deepest and clearest — a caldera ringed by volcanoes an hour from Sapporo.

Look for caldera lake clear

Shikotsuko Onsen, Chitose, Hokkaido, Japan

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130922 Showa-shinzan Sobetsu Hokkaido Japan01s3 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

17 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Shōwa-shinzan (昭和新山)

One of the world's youngest mountains: a lava dome that rose out of a wheat field in 1943–45 to 398 m and still steams — beside the Usuzan Ropeway base.

Look for new volcano lava dome

Sōbetsu Onsen, Sōbetsu, Usu District, Hokkaido, Japan

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18 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Lake Kuttara (倶多楽湖)

A near-perfectly round caldera lake above Noboribetsu Onsen with no inflowing river — rated among Japan's clearest.

Look for caldera lake clear

Noboribetsu Onsen-chō, Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan

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Hakucho Bridge 9086532 2 — Photo: Hiroshi Nakai · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

19 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Hakuchō Ōhashi Bridge, Muroran (白鳥大橋)

Eastern Japan's longest suspension bridge, spanning Muroran harbour — lit at night above the city's famous factory-night views.

Look for suspension bridge night view

Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan (Route 37 across Muroran Port)

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cape with lighthouse — Photo: Highten31 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

20 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Cape Chikyū, Muroran (地球岬)

100 m cliffs at the tip of the Etomo Peninsula with a white octagonal lighthouse and a sweep of the Pacific.

Look for cape cliffs lighthouse

Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan

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21 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Lake Utonai (ウトナイ湖)

Japan's first bird sanctuary (1981) on the edge of Tomakomai — whooper swans and white-fronted geese stop over from autumn to spring.

Look for bird sanctuary lake swans

Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Japan

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22 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Noboribetsu Date Jidaimura (登別伊達時代村)

An immersive Edo-period theme park near Noboribetsu Onsen.

Look for edo theme park ninja

53-1 Naka-Noboribetsu-chō, Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan

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23 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Ōyunuma River Natural Footbath, Noboribetsu (大湯沼川天然足湯)

A free footbath in a steaming river fed by a ~130°C crater lake, through primeval forest about 30 minutes' walk from the park service centre.

Look for natural footbath

Noboribetsu Onsen, Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan

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24 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Usu Zenkō-ji Temple (有珠善光寺)

Said founded in 826 and named one of the shogunate's three official Ezo temples (1804) — a national historic site, Hokkaido Heritage, and a cherry 'flower temple' with its rock-splitting sakura.

Look for historic temple & cherries

Usu-chō, Date, Hokkaido, Japan

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25 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Michi-no-eki Mukawa Shiki no Yakata (道の駅むかわ四季の館)

The roadside station of Japan's shishamo town — its Tanpopo dining room serves the local smelt in season.

Mukawa, Yūfutsu District, Hokkaido, Japan

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26 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi · Ramen & tsukemen

Michi-no-eki Utonai-ko (道の駅ウトナイ湖)

Beside Lake Utonai — a farm-and-fish shop and restaurant serving Tomakomai's hokki curry and the city's half-century-old miso-curry ramen.

Beside Lake Utonai, Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Japan

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27 Worth the detour within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Umi no Eki Platto Minato Ichiba, Tomakomai (海の駅ぷらっとみなと市場)

Tomakomai port's market hall — Japan's top hokki-clam catch sold fresh, eaten in hokki-don and hokki curry at the stalls, with a small hokki museum.

2-2-5 Minatomachi, Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Japan

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仙台藩白老元陣屋追手門 — Photo: AITNIM · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

28 Deep cut within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Sendai-han Shiraoi Moto-Jin'ya Site & Museum (仙台藩白老元陣屋跡・資料館)

1856 coastal-defence camp of the Sendai domain — a national historic site with earthworks in a 66,000 m² park and a museum of ~300 objects.

Look for samurai-era fort site

Jin'ya-chō, Shiraoi, Shiraoi District, Hokkaido, Japan

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29 Deep cut within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Michi-no-eki Date Rekishi no Mori (道の駅だて歴史の杜)

Date's roadside station in its history park — Hansamu Shokudō, the scallop takikomi-gohan 'Date-musha' bento and Makiya's Date-milk pudding.

Date, Hokkaido, Japan

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30 Deep cut within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi · Kissaten & coffee

Michi-no-eki Tōya-ko (道の駅とうや湖)

Hill-top roadside station above Lake Tōya with Mt Yōtei views; its shokudō and takeaway counter work the farm produce of the caldera rim.

Tōyako, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Mt. Sokuryozan — Photo: 欅 (Keyaki) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

31 Deep cut within Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi

Mt Sokuryō Observatory, Muroran (測量山展望台)

A 200 m hill named for the Meiji surveyors who planned the Sapporo road — 360° views over the port, Hakuchō Bridge and the steelworks; a Japan Night View Heritage site.

Look for factory & port night view

Shimizu-chō, Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan

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Dōhoku 49 places · area 6 of 9

Central Hokkaido · Asahikawa · Biei · Furano · Daisetsuzan · Sōunkyō

1 Must see within Dōhoku · Ramen & tsukemen

Asahikawa Ramen Village (あさひかわラーメン村)

Eight of Asahikawa's best-known shops under one roof — the city's shōyu style: pork-bone and seafood double broth sealed under a film of lard, thin, firm, wavy noodles.

Nagayama, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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2 Must see within Dōhoku · Ramen & tsukemen

Ramen no Hachiya Gojō Sōgyōten (ラーメンの蜂屋五条創業店)

Since 1947: a pork-bone and dried-horse-mackerel double broth under burnt lard, with house noodles — the shop credited with Asahikawa's low-hydration noodle.

Gojō-dōri, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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3 Must see within Dōhoku · Ramen & tsukemen

Asahikawa Rāmen Aoba Honten (旭川らぅめん青葉本店)

A 1947 original kept by its third-generation master — the Asahikawa double soup of sea and land stocks in a lard-sealed shōyu bowl.

Nijō Bldg Meitengai 1F, Nijō-dōri 8-chōme, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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4 Must see within Dōhoku

Asahiyama Zoo (旭山動物園)

The zoo that reinvented Japanese zoos with behavioural exhibits — penguin parade in the snow, polar bears and seals in see-through tubes.

Look for zoo penguin walk

Higashi-Asahikawa-chō Kuranuma, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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5 Must see within Dōhoku

Blue Pond, Biei (青い池)

An accidental pond behind a volcanic-mudflow dam whose aluminium-rich water turns an unreal cobalt around drowned larches.

Look for blue pond

Shirogane, Biei, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan

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6 Must see within Dōhoku

Farm Tomita (ファーム富田)

The farm that kept Furano's lavender alive and made it famous — July's purple slopes and the striped 'Irodori' flower field under the Tokachi range. Free entry.

Look for lavender fields

Kisen-kita, Nakafurano, Sorachi District, Hokkaido, Japan

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7 Must see within Dōhoku · Ramen & tsukemen

Ramen Santouka Honten, Asahikawa (らーめん山頭火本店)

Hitoshi Hatanaka's nine-seat 1988 shop that took Hokkaido ramen worldwide — a mild, low-salt white broth; the tokusei toroniku (pork-cheek) bowl.

Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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8 Must see within Dōhoku

Yuiga Dokuson, Furano (唯我独尊)

Furano's curry institution — 100% Hokkaido-egg omu-curry over a spicy roux of onions and carrots cooked down for three days with Furano vegetables.

Near Furano Station, Furano, Hokkaido, Japan

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9 Must see within Dōhoku

Yakitori Senmon Ginneko (焼鳥専門ぎんねこ)

The keeper of Asahikawa's soul food: a 1925 yakitori house in the Fura-Ri-To alley grilling a whole half chicken over charcoal in its never-emptied tare.

Fura-Ri-To, 5-jō-dōri 7-chōme, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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10 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Taisetsu Ji-Beer-kan (大雪地ビール館)

A red-brick warehouse brewpub five minutes from Asahikawa Station pouring the local Taisetsu beers alongside fresh-lamb jingisukan.

Miyashita-dōri 11-chōme 1604-1, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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四季彩の丘-01 — Photo: Captain76 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

11 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Shikisai-no-Oka (四季彩の丘)

Biei's biggest flower hill — around 30 kinds of flowers in stripes over the rolling fields, with the Tokachi range behind.

Look for flower hill

Shinsei Daisan, Biei, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan

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上野ファーム（UENO FARM） - panoramio (1) — Photo: t-konno · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

12 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Ueno Farm, Asahikawa (上野ファーム)

Gardener Ueno Sayuki's 'Hokkaido garden' — English planting blended with Furano-region wild nature; a mecca for Japanese gardeners on the Hokkaido Garden Path.

Look for english garden

Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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Hokuchin Museum — Photo: 下記参照 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

13 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Hokuchin Memorial Museum, Asahikawa (北鎮記念館)

Free JGSDF museum at Camp Asahikawa on the Imperial Army's 7th Division and Meiji-era Asahikawa — uniforms and bayonets that Golden Kamuy fans come to see.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — the real 7th Division's museum; Noda Satoru's uniform references, a core fan pilgrimage · military history museum

Shunkō-chō, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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14 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Asahikawa City Museum (旭川市博物館)

The museum of the Kamikawa basin's Ainu culture and pioneer history, in the Taisetsu Crystal Hall by the Chūbetsu River — a full-scale chise house, ritual tools and the settlers' story.

Kagura 3-jō 7-chōme, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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Wiki-kenmerry1 — Photo: TOKUMI · Copyrighted free use · Wikimedia Commons

15 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Ken & Mary Tree, Biei (ケンとメリーの木)

The lone poplar on a Biei hill made famous by Nissan's 1972 'Ken & Mary' Skyline commercial — the tree that turned Biei's farm hills into a destination; 5 minutes by car from Biei Station, with a car park. Stay off the fields (private farmland).

Biei, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan

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麓郷の森黒板五郎の丸太小屋 Akiyoshi's RoomP6220389 — Photo: Akiyoshi's Room · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

16 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Rokugō no Mori — 'Kita no Kuni kara' location (麓郷の森)

Conifer forest in Furano's Rokugō valley where the Kuroita family's log cabin and Gorō's windmill 'third house' from Kita no Kuni kara still stand as the drama left them.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Kita no Kuni kara (北の国から) — pop culture: Kuramoto Sō's 1981–2002 Fuji TV drama, Japan's best-loved TV saga, filmed in Rokugō — the Kuroita log cabin and Gorō's windmill house are preserved here · TV-drama location

Higashi-Rokugō 1-1, Furano, Hokkaido, Japan

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17 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Gorō's Stone House — 'Kita no Kuni kara' (五郎の石の家・最初の家)

The stone house Kuroita Gorō builds from field stones in Kita no Kuni kara '89 Kikyō, beside the family's very first house — the drama's emotional centre.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Kita no Kuni kara (北の国から) — pop culture: Kuramoto Sō's 1981–2002 Fuji TV drama, Japan's best-loved TV saga, filmed in Rokugō — Gorō's stone house from '89 Kikyō · TV-drama location

Rokugō, Furano, Hokkaido, Japan

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18 Worth the detour within Dōhoku · Ramen & tsukemen

Baikōken Honten, Asahikawa (梅光軒本店)

Founded 1969 — pork, chicken and seafood double broth, rich yet clean; first winner of the citizens' Asahikawa Ramen Grand Prize.

Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan (city centre)

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19 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Otokoyama Sake Park, Asahikawa (男山 OTOKOYAMA SAKE PARK)

The 350-year-old 'Otokoyama' label's Asahikawa brewery and museum, reopened in 2024 as a sake park — Edo-era records, winter brewing on view, free tastings.

Nagayama 2-jō 7-1-33, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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20 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Takasago Shuzō, Asahikawa (高砂酒造)

Asahikawa's flagship brewery since 1899, maker of 'Kokushi Musō' — a direct shop with free tastings and a small museum; winter tours by reservation.

Miyashita-dōri 17-chōme, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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21 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Michi-no-eki Biei Shirogane Birke (道の駅びえい「白金ビルケ」)

A birch-wood station at the Blue Pond gateway — burgers on Biei-wheat buns with premium patties, a bakery and Blue-Pond-themed treats.

Shirogane, Biei, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan

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22 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Michi-no-eki Mochigome no Sato ☆ Nayoro (道の駅もち米の里☆なよろ)

Nayoro's rice-country station — its own fluffy 'soft daifuku', made from local mochi rice in some eighteen flavours.

Fūren-chō Nishimachi 334-1, Nayoro, Hokkaido, Japan

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23 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Furano Marché (フラノマルシェ)

Four buildings round a plaza near Furano Station: JA Furano's farm shop, a sweets bakery, ~2,000 local products and takeout stands cooking local ingredients.

Saiwai-chō 13-1, Furano, Hokkaido, Japan

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24 Worth the detour within Dōhoku · Ramen & tsukemen

Shōga Rāmen Mizuno, Asahikawa (生姜ラーメンみづの)

Asahikawa's ginger-ramen original, invented by the founder in 1972 — a shōyu bowl sharpened with grated ginger.

Tokiwa-dōri 2-chōme, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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秋函（Autumn in valley） - panoramio — Photo: pakku · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

25 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Sōunkyō Gorge (層雲峡)

Onsen town in a 100 m-cliffed gorge of the Ishikari River — Ginga and Ryūsei falls, and the Kurodake ropeway into Daisetsuzan.

Look for gorge onsen waterfalls

Sōunkyō, Kamikawa, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan

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140724 Asahi-dake and Sugatami-no-ike Hokkaido Japan01bs3 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

26 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Mount Asahidake (旭岳)

Hokkaido's highest peak (2,291 m) in Daisetsuzan National Park — a ropeway to steaming fumaroles and alpine tundra, Japan's first autumn colour.

Look for highest peak ropeway

Asahidake Onsen, Higashikawa, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Shirahige Falls, Biei River, Hokkaido, Japan — Photo: OKJaguar · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

27 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Shirahige Waterfall (白ひげの滝)

Groundwater spilling from a cliff into the blue Biei River at Shirogane Onsen — the 'white beard' that tints the Blue Pond downstream.

Look for waterfall blue river

Shirogane Onsen, Biei, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan

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28 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Patchwork Road, Biei (パッチワークの路)

The quilt of wheat, potato and buckwheat fields made famous by TV ads — the Ken & Mary Tree, Seven Stars Tree and Hokusei Hill lookout.

Look for farm fields scenic road

Biei (northwest of the town centre), Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan

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29 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Ginga Falls, Sōunkyō (銀河の滝)

'Milky Way Falls', the slender twin of Ryūsei ('Shooting Star') Falls, ribboning down the 100 m basalt walls of the gorge.

Look for waterfall gorge

Sōunkyō, Kamikawa, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Kurodake seen from the SW — Photo: Alpsdake · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

30 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Mount Kurodake & Kurodake Ropeway (黒岳)

Ropeway and chairlift from Sōunkyō to within an hour of the 1,984 m summit — the quickest way into Daisetsuzan's alpine plateau.

Look for ropeway alpine

Sōunkyō, Kamikawa, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan

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31 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Ningle Terrace, Furano (ニングルテラス)

About fifteen log-cabin craft shops linked by boardwalks in the Furano forest — silver snowflake charms, woodcarving, leather; lantern-lit after dark.

Look for craft village log cabins

Nakagoryō, Furano, Hokkaido, Japan (New Furano Prince Hotel grounds)

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Takushin-kan 美瑛－拓真館 P6300055 — Photo: 松岡明芳 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

32 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Takushinkan Gallery, Biei (拓真館)

Landscape photographer Shinzō Maeda's gallery of the Biei hills he made famous, in a converted primary school among birch groves.

Look for photo gallery

Biei, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan (former primary school)

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33 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Kawamura Kaneto Ainu Memorial Museum (川村カ子トアイヌ記念館)

Founded 1916 — Japan's oldest Ainu cultural museum, run by an Ainu family in the old Chikabumi kotan, with a reconstructed bamboo-grass cise house.

Look for ainu museum

Hokumon-chō 11-chōme, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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34 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Kaze no Garden, Furano (風のガーデン)

A 2,000 m² English garden of 20,000 flowers grown over two years as the set of Kuramoto Sō's TV drama 'Kaze no Garden'.

Look for drama garden flowers

New Furano Prince Hotel grounds, Furano, Hokkaido, Japan

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35 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Unkai Terrace, Hoshino Resorts Tomamu (雲海テラス)

A gondola-top deck at 1,088 m above the Tomamu valleys — on calm mornings from May to October a white sea of clouds fills the Hidaka foothills.

Look for sea of clouds terrace

Tomamu, Shimukappu, Yūfutsu District, Hokkaido, Japan

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36 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Tokachidake Bōgakudai Observatory (十勝岳望岳台)

A lookout over Mount Tokachi's rugged volcanic terrain with views out toward Asahikawa and Furano, and a 1.1 km trail through volcanic rock and alpine flora.

Look for volcano lookout

Mount Tokachi slopes, Daisetsuzan, Hokkaido, Japan

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Kamuikotan Asahikawa 18-05-22 — Photo: Totti · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

37 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Kamui Kotan (神居古潭)

'Dwelling place of the gods' in Ainu — a gorge of the Ishikari River between green-schist cliffs carved over 100 million years; one of Asahikawa's Eight Scenic Views.

Look for gorge ainu

Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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Asahibashi arch bridge with the Daisetsuzan range behind — Photo: Masal64 · CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons

38 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Asahibashi Bridge, Asahikawa (旭橋)

The 1932 steel arch (224.82 m) over the Ishikari — one of Hokkaido's Three Great Bridges and the only one still in its original form; a Hokkaido Heritage site.

Look for historic bridge

Over the Ishikari River, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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39 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Fukiage Onsen open-air bath, Kamifurano (吹上温泉吹上露天の湯)

A free, wild open-air hot spring about 1,000 m up the flank of Mt Tokachi, kept up for anyone to soak in.

Look for wild onsen

Slopes of Mt Tokachi, Kamifurano, Sorachi District, Hokkaido, Japan

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40 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Hagoromo Falls, Tenninkyō (羽衣の滝)

A 270 m multi-step fall, one of Japan's celebrated waterfalls — a 15–20 minute trail from the end of the Tenninkyō Onsen road in Daisetsuzan.

Tenninkyō, Higashikawa, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan

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41 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Kunimare Shuzō, Mashike (國稀酒造)

Japan's northernmost sake brewery, 140+ years in the herring port of Mashike — tour the stone kura, then taste three brewery-only sakes free.

Inaba-chō 1-17, Mashike, Mashike District, Hokkaido 077-0204, Japan

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42 Worth the detour within Dōhoku · Ramen & tsukemen

Miso Rāmen no Yoshino Honten (みそラーメンのよし乃本店)

The trailblazer of Asahikawa miso ramen, miso-only since the day it opened.

Toyooka 1-jō 1-1-8, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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43 Worth the detour within Dōhoku

Kashi Kōbō Furano Delice (菓子工房フラノデリス)

A hillside patisserie using Furano milk and eggs — the bottled Furano milk pudding has sold out since day one; twenty-plus cakes daily.

Shimogoryō 2156-1, Furano, Hokkaido, Japan

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44 Worth the detour within Dōhoku · Soba & udon

Michi-no-eki Biei 'Oka no Kura' — Kōbaku Shokudō (道の駅びえい「丘のくら」香麦食堂)

Stone-warehouse roadside station in central Biei whose dining room serves the town's curry udon both baked and as a dip, heaped with local vegetables.

Biei, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, Japan

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45 Worth the detour within Dōhoku · Kissaten & coffee

Tsuboya Kibana no Mori, Asahikawa (壺屋き花の杜)

Asahikawa's century-old confectioner Tsuboya in a brick-and-timber shop set in a 1,000-tsubo garden: its standards and shop-only sweets, a viewable kibana production line, and the Café Bunran tea room.

Minami 6-jō-dōri 19-chōme, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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46 Worth the detour within Dōhoku · Kissaten & coffee

Campana Rokkatei, Furano (カンパーナ六花亭)

Rokkatei's Furano store on Shimizuyama: a glass hall in 24,000 tsubo of vines with the Furano basin and Daisetsu range beyond; the tea room serves the shop-exclusive Furano mochi.

Shimizuyama, Furano, Hokkaido, Japan

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AyakoMiuraMemorial — Photo: Shoyuramen · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

47 Deep cut within Dōhoku

Miura Ayako Memorial Literature Museum (三浦綾子記念文学館)

In the 15-ha Foreign Tree Species forest where her novel Hyōten (Freezing Point) is set — with the restored study where the ailing Miura dictated her books.

Kagura 7-jō 8-chōme 2-15, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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Snow Crystals Museum-20160725-1 — Photo: Araisyohei · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

48 Deep cut within Dōhoku

Snow Crystal Museum, Asahikawa (雪の美術館)

A Byzantine-style hilltop museum in the Hokkaido Traditional Arts & Crafts Village devoted to snow and ice — snow-crystal photographs, an ice corridor and a 200-seat music hall.

Minamigaoka 3-chōme 1-1, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

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49 Deep cut within Dōhoku

Tomita Melon House, Nakafurano (とみたメロンハウス)

A melon grower's shop and deck café facing the Tokachi range, near the lavender farms — cut Furano melon, melon soft-serve and melon-only sweets. Summer season only (Jun–Sep).

Miya-machi 3-32, Nakafurano, Sorachi District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Tokachi 31 places · area 7 of 9

Obihiro · Tokachi Plain · Nakasatsunai · Ikeda

1 Must see within Tokachi

Banei Tokachi — Obihiro Racecourse (ばんえい十勝・帯広競馬場)

Home of ban'ei racing — heavy draft-horse racing, Tokachi's signature spectacle.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Silver Spoon (Gin no Saji) — Arakawa Hiromu's Tokachi farm-school manga features ban'ei racing; 'Silver Spoon Day' race collabs · Uma Musume collab 2022 · draft-horse racing

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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2 Must see within Tokachi

Taushubetsu River Bridge (タウシュベツ川橋梁)

The 1937 concrete arch viaduct of the abandoned Shihoro Line in Lake Nukabira — the 'phantom bridge' that surfaces and sinks with the reservoir; Japan Heritage.

Look for phantom bridge abandoned railway

Nukabira, Kamishihoro, Katō District, Hokkaido, Japan

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3 Must see within Tokachi

Lake Shikaribetsu (然別湖)

Hokkaido's highest lake (810 m) and the only natural lake in Daisetsuzan National Park — canoeing in summer, an ice village with lake-ice onsen in winter.

Look for mountain lake ice village

Shikaribetsu-kohan, Shikaoi, Katō District, Hokkaido, Japan

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4 Must see within Tokachi

Ganso Butadon no Panchō, Obihiro (元祖豚丼のぱんちょう)

The 1933 Obihiro shop credited with inventing butadon — sweet-soy charcoal-grilled pork on rice, the Tokachi soul food. The name is from the Chinese 'fan ting'.

In front of Obihiro Station, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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5 Must see within Tokachi

Rokkatei Art Village Nakasatsunai (六花亭中札内美術村)

Rokkatei's oak-forest art village — four small museums, the sweets maker's restaurant and paths on old railway sleepers; free, late April–early November.

Look for art village forest museums

Sakae-Higashi, Nakasatsunai, Kasai District, Hokkaido, Japan

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6 Must see within Tokachi

Obihiro Hageten Honten (帯広はげ天本店)

Tempura and local-food house founded 1934, whose first chef Yano Shōroku helped devise the butadon sauce — marbled loin seared fast at high heat, a restrained sweet glaze.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan (city centre)

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7 Must see within Tokachi · Kissaten & coffee

Rokkatei Obihiro Main Store (六花亭帯広本店)

The 1933 Tokachi confectioner's home store — the Marusei Butter Sandwich, crisp pies and assortments, with a second-floor kissa café.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan (city centre)

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Kitanoyatai - Obihiro - 2022 Aug 12 2022 08-20PM — Photo: Nesnad · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

8 Must see within Tokachi

Kita no Yatai, Obihiro (北の屋台)

The 50 m alley of twenty tiny stalls that started Japan's yatai-village revival — Tokachi beef, vegetables and cheese, elbow to elbow.

North-exit district of JR Obihiro Station, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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9 Must see within Tokachi

Cranberry Honten, Obihiro (クランベリー本店)

Obihiro's handmade-cake house, famous for its sweet-potato cake and for letting each ingredient's own flavour lead.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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10 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Lake Nukabira (糠平湖)

A forest-ringed lake made in 1955 by damming the Otofuke River — the felled stumps on its bed raise 100+ 'mushroom ice' formations around February, and the Taushubetsu bridge surfaces from it.

Look for lake mushroom ice

Nukabira Gensenkyō, Kamishihoro, Katō District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Koufuku station Happy-Bell — Photo: Rsa · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

11 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Kōfuku Station (旧国鉄広尾線幸福駅)

The closed Hiroo Line halt whose name means 'happiness' — the 'Ai-koku → Kōfuku' (from Love Country to Happiness) ticket made it a pilgrimage; old railcars and ticket-covered walls remain.

Look for happiness station

Kōfuku-chō Higashi 1-sen, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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12 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Michi-no-eki Otofuke Natsuzora no Furusato (道の駅おとふけなつぞらのふる里)

Rebuilt and reopened in April 2022 as one of Hokkaido's biggest roadside stations, with a 'Natsuzora' (NHK drama) zone and a food court of Tokachi soul food — butadon, local-wheat bakeries and dairy.

Otofuke, Katō District, Hokkaido, Japan

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13 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Manabe Garden (真鍋庭園)

Japan's first conifer garden — 83,000 m² of Japanese, Western and landscape gardens with thousands of trees from Northern Europe and Canada; on the Hokkaido Garden Path.

Look for conifer garden

Inada-chō Higashi 2-sen, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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14 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Tokachi Millennium Forest (十勝千年の森)

A forest planned to last a thousand years, with Dan Pearson's Earth, Meadow, Forest and Farm gardens — horse trekking and Segway tours; Hokkaido Garden Path.

Look for garden forest

Haobi, Shimizu, Kamikawa District (Tokachi), Hokkaido, Japan

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131013 Rokka-no-Mori Nakasatsunai Hokkaido Japan01bs5 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

15 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Rokka no Mori (六花の森)

Rokkatei's 100,000 m² meadow of the 'Tokachi six flowers' painted on its wrapping paper, with small galleries of botanical art; Hokkaido Garden Path.

Look for flower meadow gallery

Nishi 3-sen, Nakasatsunai, Kasai District, Hokkaido, Japan

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131012 Tokachigawa Onsen Otofuke Hokkaido Japan01s3 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

16 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Tokachigawa Onsen (十勝川温泉)

A rare 'moor' hot spring of plant-derived organic water, prized as a skin-softening bath, on the Tokachi River just outside Obihiro.

Look for moor onsen

Otofuke, Katō District, Hokkaido, Japan

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17 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Naitai Highland Ranch & Naitai Terrace (ナイタイ高原牧場)

Japan's largest public ranch (est. 1972) rolling over Mount Naitai at the north-west edge of the Tokachi Plain — the terrace café looks out across the plain.

Look for ranch view

Naitai, Kamishihoro, Katō District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Erimo misaki 01 — Photo: Captain76 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

18 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Cape Erimo (襟裳岬)

Where the Hidaka mountains run into the Pacific as a chain of reefs — a wind-blasted cape at the southern tip of the Hidaka range.

Look for cape reefs seals

Erimo, Horoizumi District, Hokkaido, Japan (Hidaka coast, south of Tokachi)

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Wine castle of Ikeda-Town — Photo: Chatama · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

19 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Ikeda Wine Castle (池田ワイン城)

The town-run winery in a European-style castle — underground cellars of oak barrels, a brandy still, Tokachi wines and a top-floor restaurant over the Tokachi Plain.

Look for winery castle

Ikeda, Nakagawa District (Tokachi), Hokkaido, Japan

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20 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Tokachi Hills (十勝ヒルズ)

Hilltop gardens over Tokachi built on 'flowers, food and farming' — seven theme gardens including 800 rose bushes, herbs, fruit trees and edible flowers.

Look for rose garden hill

Tokachi, Hokkaido, Japan

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21 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Mikuni Pass Observatory (三国峠)

Hokkaido's highest national-road pass at 1,139 m — a lookout over an endless sea of forest and the Matsumi Ōhashi bridge in Daisetsuzan National Park.

Look for mountain pass lookout

Daisetsuzan National Park (Ishikari–Tokachi–Kitami border), Hokkaido, Japan

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22 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Tokachi Butadon Ippin Honten (十勝豚丼いっぴん本店)

A butadon house the locals rate with the founders — thick pork loin grilled and glazed in a sweet-soy tare over Tokachi rice.

Nishi 21-jō Minami 3-5, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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23 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Ryūgetsu Sweetpia Garden, Otofuke (柳月スイートピア・ガーデン)

Tokachi confectioner Ryūgetsu's factory park — watch the production line, then the cake shop and café.

Natsuzora 1-1, Otofuke, Katō District, Hokkaido, Japan

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24 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Masuya Shōten Honten, Obihiro (満寿屋商店本店)

'Masuya-san' — the 100%-Tokachi-wheat bakery with seven shops in the region; the main store keeps the sweet, soft breads first baked as farmhands' snacks.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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25 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Michi-no-eki Pia 21 Shihoro (道の駅ピア21しほろ)

The barn-roofed food hub of a beef-and-potato town — the Nijiiro Shokudō serves Shihoro beef steak with the town's vegetables.

Shihoro, Katō District, Hokkaido, Japan

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26 Worth the detour within Tokachi · Kissaten & coffee

Hanabatake Bokujō, Nakasatsunai (花畑牧場)

Tanaka Yoshitaka's showcase ranch, birthplace of the nama-caramel boom — the café serves its own-cheese dishes and sweets.

Moto-Satsunai Higashi 4-sen 311-6, Nakasatsunai, Kasai District, Hokkaido, Japan

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27 Worth the detour within Tokachi

Butadon no Tonta, Obihiro (ぶた丼のとん田)

Among Obihiro's most popular butadon counters; Michelin Bib Gourmand in the Hokkaido 2017 special edition.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

Aikoku Station-20110824 — Photo: Rsa · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

28 Deep cut within Tokachi

Former Aikoku Station, Obihiro (旧国鉄広尾線愛国駅)

The 'From Aikoku (Land of Love) to Kōfuku (Happiness)' ticket station of the closed Hiroo Line — now a small railway museum with an SL.

Look for railway-romance station

Aikoku-chō, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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131013 Michinoeki Nakasatsunai Nakasatsunai Hokkaido Japan01s3 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

29 Deep cut within Tokachi

Michi-no-eki Nakasatsunai & Bean Museum (道の駅なかさつない)

Flower-filled roadside station under the Hidaka range with seven eateries, a bean museum and a pioneer memorial hall — the gateway to the Nakasatsunai art village.

Look for roadside station & bean museum

Nakasatsunai, Kasai District, Hokkaido, Japan

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131012 Obihiro Centennial City Museum01s3 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

30 Deep cut within Tokachi

Obihiro Centennial City Museum (帯広百年記念館)

Obihiro's centennial museum of Tokachi's history.

Look for museum

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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31 Deep cut within Tokachi

Tokachi Shinmura Bokujō, Kamishihoro (十勝しんむら牧場)

A grazing dairy north of Obihiro famous across Japan for its milk jam; the farm's tea room serves it on waffles and soft-serve. Open Apr–Dec.

Kamishihoro, Katō District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Dōtō 47 places · area 8 of 9

Eastern Hokkaido · Kushiro · Akan · Mashū · Shiretoko · Abashiri · Nemuro

1 Must see within Dōtō

Kushiro Fisherman's Wharf MOO & Ganpeki Robata (釧路フィッシャーマンズワーフMOO・岸壁炉ばた)

Kushiro's harbour hall by Nusamai Bridge — a fish market downstairs, the retro 'Minato no Yatai' upstairs, and in summer the open-air quayside robata where you grill your own catch.

At the foot of Nusamai Bridge, Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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Michinoeki Ryuhyo-kaido Abashiri02n — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

2 Must see within Dōtō

Michi-no-eki Ryūhyō Kaidō Abashiri (道の駅流氷街道網走)

Abashiri's roadside station — the Kinema-kan food court does local-only dishes like the pink-salmon-and-yam Abashiri burger.

Abashiri, Hokkaido, Japan

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3 Must see within Dōtō

Shiretoko Five Lakes (知床五湖)

Five forest lakes under the Shiretoko range inside the UNESCO World Natural Heritage site — an 800 m bear-proof elevated boardwalk plus guided ground trails.

Look for five lakes boardwalk world heritage

Onnebetsu, Shari, Shari District, Hokkaido, Japan

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4 Must see within Dōtō

Lake Mashū (摩周湖)

The Ainu 'Lake of the Gods': a 212 m-deep caldera with no inlet or outlet, famous for 'Mashū blue' clarity — and its fogs.

Look for caldera lake mashu blue

Teshikaga, Kawakami District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Kyokaido (prison chapel hall) building at the Abashiri Prison Museum — Photo: 京浜にけ · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

5 Must see within Dōtō

Abashiri Prison Museum (博物館網走監獄)

The Meiji prison that built Hokkaido's roads, rebuilt as an open-air museum — the five-winged radial cell block, court, bathhouse and punishment cells.

Look for ★ Anime & pop culture — Golden Kamuy — Abashiri Prison is a central setting of the manga/anime, drawing a wave of younger visitors · prison museum

Yobito, Abashiri, Hokkaido, Japan

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6 Must see within Dōtō

Kushiro Marsh — Kushiro-shitsugen National Park (釧路湿原)

Japan's largest wetland and first Ramsar site (1980) — the stronghold of the red-crowned crane, seen from the Hosooka and marsh observatories.

Look for marsh crane wetland

Hosooka Observatory (細岡展望台), Kushiro-chō, Kushiro District, Hokkaido, Japan

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7 Must see within Dōtō

Lake Akan Ainu Kotan (阿寒湖アイヌコタン)

Hokkaido's largest Ainu settlement (about 120 residents) on Lake Akan — craft shops, the Ikor theatre's UNESCO-listed traditional dances and Ainu restaurants.

Look for ainu village dance

Akanko Onsen, Akan-chō, Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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8 Must see within Dōtō · Sushi & kaisen-don

Kushiro Washō Market (釧路和商市場)

Kushiro's 1954 indoor fish market of ~60 stalls, home of the katte-don — buy a bowl of rice, then walk the stalls choosing each topping.

Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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9 Must see within Dōtō

New Montblanc, Nemuro (ニューモンブラン)

The original escalope shop: the dish was born around 1963 at Nemuro's 'Montblanc' and carried on here by a former cook — butter rice under a pork cutlet and demi-glace.

Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japan (city centre)

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10 Must see within Dōtō

Lake Akan (阿寒湖)

Crater lake under Me-Akan and O-Akan, home of the spherical marimo algae, with the Akankohan onsen town on its shore.

Look for marimo lake

Akanko Onsen, Akan-chō, Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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11 Must see within Dōtō

Torimatsu, Kushiro (鳥松)

Said to be the birthplace of zangi (1960) — chicken marinated in about ten seasonings, fried and eaten with a spiced sauce.

Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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12 Must see within Dōtō

Restaurant Izumiya Sōhonten, Kushiro (レストラン泉屋総本店)

Kushiro's yōshoku house since 1954 and home of the spakatsu — its meat sauce is the taste of the dish, now even sold retort-packed.

Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan (sōhonten)

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13 Must see within Dōtō

Mingei Kissa Poronno, Akan Ainu Kotan (民芸喫茶ポロンノ)

Ainu cooking inside Hokkaido's largest Ainu village — pocche-imo and the yuk (venison) set, with gyōja-ninniku, fiddleheads and mushrooms gathered by the staff and deer from local hunters.

4-7-8 Akanko Onsen, Akan-chō, Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan (inside the Ainu Kotan)

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14 Must see within Dōtō · Ramen & tsukemen

Kushiro Rāmen Kawamura (釧路ラーメン河むら)

The mainstream of Kushiro ramen: a crystal-clear, bonito-led shōyu soup and fine curly noodles, served into the Suehiro nightlife hours.

Suehiro-chō 5-3, Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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15 Must see within Dōtō · Sushi & kaisen-don

Akkeshi Mikaku Terminal Conchiglie — Michi-no-eki Akkeshi Gourmet Park (厚岸味覚ターミナルコンキリエ)

The roadside station of Japan's year-round oyster town — oyster restaurants, a grill-it-yourself seafood shop and oyster sweets above Akkeshi Bay.

Akkeshi, Akkeshi District, Hokkaido, Japan

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16 Must see within Dōtō · Soba & udon

Chikurōen Azumaya Sōhonten, Kushiro (竹老園東家総本店)

Meiji-founded soba house in a 1927 building with a Japanese garden — the origin of Kushiro's green-tinged soba, served as ranchiri, kashiwa-nuki and soba-zushi.

3-19 Kashiwagi-chō, Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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Kushirositsugen Hosooka Tenboudai — Photo: 欅 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

17 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Hosooka Observatory, Kushiro Marsh (細岡展望台)

The 'Taikanbō' — the classic view of the marsh with the Kushiro River's S-bends to the horizon and the Akan peaks behind; famed at sunset.

Look for marsh viewpoint

Tōro, Kushiro-chō, Kushiro District, Hokkaido, Japan

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18 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Michi-no-eki Shiretoko-Rausu (道の駅知床・らうす)

The roadside station closest to Kunashir — its Shiretoko Shokudō is the local name for Rausu-landed hokke and kinki teishoku.

Hon-chō, Rausu, Menashi District, Hokkaido, Japan

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19 Worth the detour within Dōtō · Ramen & tsukemen

Michi-no-eki Swan 44 Nemuro (道の駅スワン44ねむろ)

On Lake Fūren's swan shore — the Bird Pal dining room looks over the lagoon and is known for Nemuro's hanasaki-crab ramen.

Route 44, Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japan

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20 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Nusamai Bridge, Kushiro (幣舞橋)

One of Hokkaido's three famous bridges (1889, rebuilt 1976) with bronze statues of the four seasons — the stage for Kushiro's famous sunsets.

Look for bridge & sunset

Over the Kushiro River from JR Kushiro Station, Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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130713 Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples Abashiri Hokkaido Japan02s3 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

21 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples, Abashiri (北海道立北方民族博物館)

Japan's only museum of the circumpolar peoples — Ainu, Okhotsk culture, Inuit, Sámi — on Mt Tento near the drift-ice museum.

Look for Ainu & northern-peoples museum

Mt Tento, Shiomi, Abashiri, Hokkaido, Japan

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Kitami mint memorial museum001 — Photo: Vanquish0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

22 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Kitami Hakka Memorial Museum & Mint Distillery (北見ハッカ記念館・薄荷蒸溜館)

The 1934 Western-style office of the Hokuren mint plant from when Kitami grew ~70% of the world's mint — with a working steam-distillation house next door.

Look for mint-industry museum

Kitami, Hokkaido, Japan

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Oronko Rock Utoro01s3 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

23 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Oronko Rock, Utoro (オロンコ岩)

A 60 m sea stack by Utoro port, one of the 'Shiretoko Eight Views' — 200-odd steps to a flat top over the Okhotsk and the Shiretoko range (summit access closed for works in 2022; check).

Look for sea stack viewpoint

Utoro, Shari, Shari District, Hokkaido, Japan

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24 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Ten ni Tsuzuku Michi — Road to Heaven, Shari (天に続く道)

A 28.1 km dead-straight stretch of road rolling over the Shari hills toward the sky — twice a year the sun sets exactly at its end.

Look for straight-road viewpoint

Minehama, Shari, Shari District, Hokkaido, Japan

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25 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Furepe Waterfall (フレペの滝)

'The Maiden's Tears' — groundwater seeping straight out of a sea cliff into the Sea of Okhotsk, twenty minutes' walk from the Shiretoko Nature Center.

Look for waterfall sea cliff

Iwaobetsu, Shari, Shari District, Hokkaido, Japan

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26 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Oshinkoshin Falls (オシンコシンの滝)

Twin-stream roadside falls on the way to Utoro, one of Japan's 100 best waterfalls, with a stair up to the mid-fall viewpoint.

Look for waterfall

Chashikotsu, Shari, Shari District, Hokkaido, Japan

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27 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Shiretoko Pass (知床峠)

The 738 m road pass across the peninsula, facing Mount Rausu and, across the strait, Kunashiri Island; open roughly May to early November.

Look for mountain pass view

Shiretoko-tōge, between Utoro (Shari) and Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan

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130713 Lake Kussharo Teshikaga Hokkaido Japan01s5 — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

28 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Lake Kussharo (屈斜路湖)

Japan's largest caldera lake — hot sand you dig into at Sunayu, open-air shore baths and winter swans.

Look for caldera lake sand bath

Teshikaga, Kawakami District, Hokkaido, Japan

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29 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Mount Iō — Iōzan (硫黄山 / Atosanupuri)

The Ainu 'naked mountain': a bare, yellow-crusted active volcano hissing sulphur steam beside Kawayu Onsen.

Look for sulphur volcano

Kawayu Onsen, Teshikaga, Kawakami District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Onneto, -September 2010 a — Photo: alf from Japan. · CC BY 2.1 JP · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

30 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Lake Onneto (オンネトー)

One of Hokkaido's 'three mystical lakes' at the western edge of Akan-Mashū — its colour shifts with the light under the volcano Me-Akan, whose lava dammed it.

Look for mystical lake colour

Akan-chō, Ashoro, Ashoro District, Hokkaido, Japan

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31 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Bihoro Pass (美幌峠)

A 525 m pass on Route 243 with the widest view over Lake Kussharo, Japan's largest caldera lake — sea of clouds at dawn.

Look for mountain pass caldera view

Route 243, Bihoro / Teshikaga border, Hokkaido, Japan

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Kaminoko ike — Photo: 100yen · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

32 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Kaminoko Pond (神の子池)

'Child of the Gods' pond, fed underground from Lake Mashū — 12,000 tonnes a day of cobalt spring water that never freezes, sunken logs visible 5 m down.

Look for blue spring pond

Kiyosato, Shari District, Hokkaido, Japan (forest NE of Lake Mashū)

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Tentozan02 — Photo: 221.20 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

33 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Okhotsk Drift Ice Museum & Mt Tento Observatory (オホーツク流氷館)

Real drift ice in a sub-zero room and a 360° rooftop view over the Sea of Okhotsk from the top of Mt Tento.

Look for drift ice museum view

Mt Tento summit, Abashiri, Hokkaido, Japan

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34 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Cape Nosappu (納沙布岬)

The easternmost point of Hokkaido's mainland at the tip of the Nemuro Peninsula — Japan's earliest sunrise, looking out toward the Habomai islets.

Look for easternmost cape sunrise

Nosappu, Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japan

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Notsuke peninsulas — Photo: 100yen · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

35 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Notsuke Peninsula (野付半島)

A long, hooked sand spit curling into the Nemuro Strait — ghostly salt-killed forests, seals and wildflowers.

Look for sand spit dead forest

Notsuke, Betsukai / Shibetsu, Hokkaido, Japan

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Japanse kraanvogels in Akan International Crane Centre, -24 februari 2012 a — Photo: cyberfox from Japan · CC BY 2.1 JP · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

36 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Akan International Crane Center 'GRUS' (阿寒国際ツルセンター)

Winter feeding ground and research centre where red-crowned cranes dance on the snowfields at close range.

Look for red-crowned cranes

23-40 Kamiakan, Akan-chō, Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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37 Worth the detour within Dōtō · Sushi & kaisen-don

Utoro Fishermen's Wives' Canteen (ウトロ漁協婦人部食堂)

A 20-seat counter by the harbour run by local fishermen's wives — salmon landed at Utoro the same morning; queues out the door at lunch. Late April–late October.

117 Utoro-higashi, Shari, Shari District, Hokkaido, Japan (by Utoro fishing port)

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38 Worth the detour within Dōtō · Sushi & kaisen-don

Michi-no-eki Utoro Shiretoku restaurant (道の駅うとろ・シリエトク)

The Utoro roadside station's local-catch restaurant: spring tokishirazu, summer pink salmon, autumn-winter prime chum — Shiretoko seafood at fair prices.

Utoro, Shari, Shari District, Hokkaido, Japan

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39 Worth the detour within Dōtō · Ramen & tsukemen

Kushiro Rāmen Maruhira (釧路ラーメンまるひら)

A 60-plus-year Kushiro counter with a two-item menu, shōyu or shio, open mornings to early afternoon — No. 66 in Ramen Adventures' Hokkaido top 100.

Urami 8-1-13, Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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40 Worth the detour within Dōtō

Okhotsk Beer Factory, Kitami (オホーツクビアファクトリー)

The brewpub that started Hokkaido's craft-beer boom — all-malt pilsner and ales brewed on site in Kitami, with a restaurant.

2-2-2 Yamashita-chō, Kitami, Hokkaido, Japan

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Notoro misaki light house — Photo: 切干大根 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

41 Deep cut within Dōtō

Cape Notoro, Abashiri (能取岬)

40–50 m sea cliffs jutting into the Okhotsk with a lone lighthouse — a drift-ice lookout from late January to early March.

Look for drift-ice cape

Bihoro, Abashiri, Hokkaido, Japan

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42 Deep cut within Dōtō

Michi-no-eki Akan Tanchō no Sato (道の駅阿寒丹頂の里)

Akan's crane-country roadside station (with an onsen) — Restaurant Tsuru grills local Ezo-shika venison.

Kamiakan, Akan-chō, Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

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Moyoro Shell Midden — Photo: Ozizo · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

43 Deep cut within Dōtō

Moyoro Shell Mound & Site Museum, Abashiri (モヨロ貝塚・モヨロ貝塚館)

National historic site of the seafaring Okhotsk culture (5th–9th c.) at the Abashiri river mouth, with burials, shell middens and a site museum.

Look for Okhotsk-culture site

Mouth of the Abashiri River, Kitamachi, Abashiri, Hokkaido, Japan

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44 Deep cut within Dōtō

Cape Kiritappu (霧多布岬 / 湯沸岬)

Sheer cliffs on the Pacific where sea otters and seals are watched from the headland — Hamanaka's signature viewpoint.

Look for sea-otter cliffs

Tōbutsu, Hamanaka, Akkeshi District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Meiji Park Silo — Photo: Animataru · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

45 Deep cut within Dōtō

Meiji Park & Brick Silos, Nemuro (明治公園)

Site of Hokkaido's second state ranch (1875); its three 15 m red-brick silos are among Japan's largest — registered cultural property and modernization heritage.

Look for heritage silos

Meiji-chō, Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japan

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Sunset at Shunkunitai — Photo: NEXT-EXIT · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

46 Deep cut within Dōtō

Shunkunitai Sandspit, Nemuro (春国岱)

An 8 km sandspit with a rare pure forest of Sakhalin spruce on dunes, 3 km of rugosa roses and some of Hokkaido's best birding.

Look for birding sandspit

Between Lake Fūren and Nemuro Bay, Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japan

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47 Deep cut within Dōtō

Michi-no-eki Mashū Onsen (道の駅摩周温泉)

The Teshikaga stop for Lake Mashū — Ezo-deer burgers and local dairy ice cream alongside the area's produce.

Teshikaga, Kawakami District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Far North 15 places · area 9 of 9

Wakkanai · Cape Sōya · Rishiri · Rebun

Elevated view over the tip of Cape Soya — Photo: SElefant · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

1 Must see within Far North

Cape Sōya (宗谷岬)

The northernmost point you can stand on in Japan — the triangular monument, Sakhalin on the horizon on a clear day.

Look for northernmost point

Sōyamisaki, Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan

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Rishiri Island landscape — Photo: Suicasmo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

2 Must see within Far North

Rishiri Island & Mount Rishiri (利尻島・利尻山)

A dormant 1,721 m volcano rising straight from the sea — 'Rishiri-Fuji' — ringed by a cycling road and kelp-drying beaches; ferry from Wakkanai.

Look for island volcano

Rishiri / Rishirifuji, Rishiri District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Cape Gorota coastline on Rebun Island — Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

3 Must see within Far North

Rebun Island (礼文島)

The 'floating island of flowers' — alpine flowers found nowhere else bloom at sea level June–August along the Momoiwa and Cape Sukoton trails.

Look for island alpine flowers

Rebun, Rebun District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Wakkanai North Breakwater (dome) — Photo: Toji0078 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

4 Must see within Far North

Wakkanai Port North Breakwater Dome (稚内港北防波堤ドーム)

A 14 m-high arcade of columns built over five years to shelter travellers walking between the harbour and the railway station from waves and northern winds — a Hokkaido Heritage.

Look for breakwater arches heritage

Kaiun, Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan

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5 Must see within Far North · Ramen & tsukemen

Rishiri Ramen Miraku (利尻らーめん味楽)

Island ramen that made the magazines and TV — scorched-soy broth built on generous Rishiri kelp; the Rishiri main shop was a Michelin Bib Gourmand in the Hokkaido special edition. Lunch 11:30–14:00.

67 Kutsugata-honmachi, Rishiri, Rishiri District, Hokkaido, Japan

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NoshappuCape — Photo: Ippukucho · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

6 Worth the detour within Far North

Cape Noshappu (ノシャップ岬)

Wakkanai's westernmost point, jutting into the Sōya Strait — Ainu for 'where the cape juts out like a jaw', with views of Rishiri and Rebun and famous sunsets.

Look for cape sunset

Noshappu, Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan

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7 Worth the detour within Far North

Michi-no-eki Sarufutsu Kōen (道の駅さるふつ公園)

On the Okhotsk coast of Japan's scallop capital — scallop curry in the restaurant and the station's own scallop-rice bento.

Sarufutsu, Sōya District, Hokkaido, Japan

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Soya Hills in autumn — Photo: Yasu · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

8 Worth the detour within Far North

Sōya Hills & the White Road (宗谷丘陵)

Hills shaped in the last Ice Age behind Cape Sōya, rich in wild birds and alpine plants — the 'White Road' is paved with crushed scallop shells.

Look for hills white road

Sōya, Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan

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9 Worth the detour within Far North

Cape Sukoton, Rebun (スコトン岬)

Rebun's northernmost point and trailhead of the island's 4- and 8-hour coastal hikes.

Look for cape trailhead

Funadomari, Rebun, Rebun District, Hokkaido, Japan

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10 Worth the detour within Far North

Robata Chidori, Rebun (炉ばたちどり)

A Rebun robata where the local catch is miso-grilled at the hearth — the island's hokke chanchan-yaki is the order.

Rebun, Rebun District, Hokkaido, Japan

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11 Worth the detour within Far North · Sushi & kaisen-don

Satō Shokudō, Rishiri (さとう食堂)

The long-running ferry-front canteen for Rishiri sea urchin over rice, grilled hokke sets and kelp ramen — open with the ferry season.

In front of the ferry terminal, Rishiri Island, Rishiri District, Hokkaido, Japan

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12 Worth the detour within Far North · Sushi & kaisen-don

Isoyakitei, Rishiri (磯焼亭)

Opposite Oshidomari ferry terminal — Rishiri's raw bafun-uni bowls (Apr-Oct) and kombu-broth Rishiri ramen.

Oshidomari, Rishirifuji, Rishiri District, Hokkaido, Japan

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13 Worth the detour within Far North · Sushi & kaisen-don

Karafuto Shokudō, Wakkanai (樺太食堂)

Seasonal fishermen-direct uni-don shack by Cape Noshappu, made famous by touring riders.

2-2-6 Noshappu, Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan

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Wakkanai municipal youth science museum and NOSHAPPU Kan-ryu aquarium — Photo: 100yen 05:57, 6 October 2007 (UTC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

14 Deep cut within Far North

Noshappu Cold Current Aquarium (ノシャップ寒流水族館)

Japan's northernmost aquarium at Cape Noshappu — about 100 cold-water species incl. the 'phantom fish' itō in a 90-tonne circular tank; joint ticket with the adjacent Wakkanai Youth Science Museum.

Look for aquarium

Cape Noshappu, Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan

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15 Deep cut within Far North

Wakkanai Fukukō Market (稚内副港市場)

Harbourside complex of seafood market, Hatoba Yokochō food stalls, the Minato no Yu onsen with sea views and a Karafuto history exhibit.

Look for market & onsen complex

1-6-28 Minato, Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan

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How we choose

Named sources recommend every place; review sites never do. Each is pinned to its door and status-checked. Closed places stay, marked closed.

Must see: The places to plan a visit around, graded within each area.
Worth the detour: Strong picks, worth going out of your way for.
Deep cut: For the curious: smaller, odder, more local.

Within each area: by tier, then by named sources, never by popularity. We don’t add ratings, prices or opening hours of our own.

Follow changes — an RSS feed of every closure and status check in this guide.

About this guide

412 places in 9 areas, each recommended by at least two independent sources (63 in all) or one institution such as Michelin.

Every place was checked open and pinned between 3 Oct and 3 Oct 2026. Closed places stay, marked closed.

Photos for 176 places; the rest show a designed cover.

How we choose → Insights →

228 sights and 184 places to eat across Hokkaido — from Sapporo's Clock Tower and Moiwa night view to the onsen, lakes and coasts beyond — every one traceable to its source.

Sapporo 110 places · area 1 of 9

Otaru & Shakotan 35 places · area 2 of 9

Niseko & Yōtei 27 places · area 3 of 9

Hakodate & Dōnan 67 places · area 4 of 9

Shikotsu-Tōya & Iburi 31 places · area 5 of 9

Dōhoku 49 places · area 6 of 9

Tokachi 31 places · area 7 of 9

Dōtō 47 places · area 8 of 9

Far North 15 places · area 9 of 9

How we choose

Keep Hokkaido offline

How this guide was made

How the cuisine filters were policed

Web-searched in Japanese and English, fact-checked