Day 2: Noboribetsu - Date - Hakodate
Day 3: Hakodate
Day 4: Lake Toya
Day 5: Furano
Day 6: Biei - Asahikawa
Day 7: Asahikawa
Day 8: Sapporo
Day 9: Otaru - Sapporo
Day 10: Sapporo
Day 11: Chitose
Breakfast - Morimoto
Located just diagonally opposite our hotel, there is this nice cafe. It has an abundant of breads for breakfast, and they are apparently famous for their local produce. For the purchase of breads, they come with a few sizes of box, whereas you pay for the price of the box, and then you get to pack whatever bread you wanted, from the counter. With whatever you bought, you can top up for a cup of coffee, where you can make the coffee from the coffee maker at the cafe counter. Definitely, then there is also cafe style seats in the shop, where you can enjoy your purchase.
Personally, the place is great, as you can also pack some stuff for your impending road trips.
もりもと 本店
+81 123-23-4181
8AM–7:30PM
*He met his first japanese gf here!
Nice cooling weather of Hokkaido
Jigokudani (Hell Valley) 登別地獄谷
The speed limit in hokkaido for most of the expressway is 70-80kmph. We heard from the local is that as long as you don't exceed 20kmph above the stated limit of the road you are at, you are fine. However, you can actually see many cars driving faster than that. So what PapaTan did, was to follow the fast car, and use their pace. We did well for the whole journey without any summon. We did it that way also because if TPs were to catch, they definitely will catch the first car right. So we should be safe!
Driving in Hokkaido, you will have to take note that you should always keep off the rightest most lane as it is for over-taking only. Once you drive more in Hokkaido, you will get used to getting back on the left lane.
So in Jigokudani, there is a visitor carpark at the entrance of the hell valley. You will need to pay 500yen for the carparking. The attendance will tell you there are two carparks. And if you are wondering what it means, he is just telling you that the 500yen can enable you to park in the visitor carpark at the hell valley, and also it will enable you to park at the Oyunuma Pond. Once you reached the carpark of Oyunuma Pond, the attendance will verify your ticket and then tear away the bottom portion. So do make sure that you keep the parking ticket that you receive at the hell valley's car park.
〒059-0551 北海道登別市登別温泉町無番地
+81 143-84-3311
A nice walk in general, and i guess you need to be able to withstand the stench of the valley from the hot spring heat/ water. We took about 30mins over here taking photos, and then we proceeded back to our car and up to Oyunuma Pond!
Oyunuma Pond 大湯沼
The pond is more scenic than the hell valley IMHO. We were lucky to spot a deer running at the pond, and its quite delightful to see such a natural scene. We stopped by the roadside to take a photo, and then drove about 600m down towards the carpark. 1. Talk about the drive up-slope, to discourage non-drivers of the long walk
The area is small without much walking, but i must say that the pond is magnificent, so it's really worth to visit the area. To note, there is also toilet at the carpark area, if you are looking for one!
〒059-0551 北海道登別市登別温泉町
Lunch - Bikkuri Donkey びっくりドンキー 伊達店
Out of the numerous restaurants in Date, we picked the Bikkuri Donkey which has the highest reviews, and also the most straightforward to reach from the expressway. In front of the restaurant, there is a big carpark, which i think is designed for the restaurant goers, as well as for visitors to the river-side park that is located just beside the restaurant.
The food that we had was great, we ordered (1) a kid meal with beef patty, (2) a beef patty with grilled beef, and (3) another beef patty rice (different flavour). Don't ask us for the exact dish that we ordered, we can't remember but we can only say that all the three dishes were great! The patty tasted good, and the grilled beef is tender and juicy. The kids meal came with a strawberry milk, which comes in actual strawberry mixed with hokkaido milk. The drink was great, but do note that the drink might be chargeable. We saw another entry of 200+ yen in the receipt, which we suspect was the milk. Nonetheless, the meal was great! Great stop over!
After the meal, we took a stroll at the park, and probably took us about 5 minutes???? Haha. We didn't walk alot cuz the park was not part of our itinerary, and we just wanted to burn off some of the calories before we embark on the 100+ km road trip to Onuma!
〒052-0022 北海道伊達市梅本町57-1
+81 142-21-4060
11AM–2AM
Challenge Beef Kurobeko Yakiniku (有)チャレンジビーフ大沼黒ベコ
We went for the Challenge Grilled Beef in Onuma area, which has the highest review in Onuma area. We rushed here primarily also because the shop is closing soon, at 7:30pm. We reached around 6pm and while expecting to see customers over here, there was no one in the shop. We weren't sure why, alluding towards the fact that now is hokkaido non-peak period.
Nonetheless, there is an attached carpark for the restaurant, and plenty of tables for diners. We only ordered the normal beef and premium beef for dinner. There is still the highest grade beef which we did not order, as it was abit expensive (bout 5000yen per share). Between the normal beef and premium beef, we greatly preferred the premium much better, and we do recommend for you to go for the premium instead of normal as the price difference was not huge. So save your stomach for the better one. In total, we ordered three shares of raw beef, and a cooked beef for babyTan which is also good.
If you sit near the window at the end of the restaurant, the view is over a farm, and you could catch the sunset in moment. So, do note of this.
〒041-1353 北海道亀田郡亀田郡七飯町上軍川436-1
+81 138-67-3653
11AM–7PM daily less closed on Tuesday (According to Google)
Random Roadside beside a Farm!~
Stay for Hakodate - Hakodate Onuma Prince Hotel 函館大沼プリンスホテル
For carparking, there isn't much issue for this hotel. The parking area is huge, but probably located 50-100m away from the lobby. So you will need to walk abit.
With a huge window that oversight the vegetation, you can sit by it and use your computer, or just simply enjoy your cup of coffee or so. Note: the vegetation might look abit eerie at night, so you might just want to close your curtain at night.
The hotel room is big, and it comes with a complimentary coffee machine, and you are given two capsules for free and if you want more, you can purchase at the convenient store located at level 1 of the hotel. For wifi password, you have to turn on your TV, and change it to english, and there is an option for wifi. In that screen, it will give you your password for the wifi. The reception for our portable router was bad here, and hence, you might also want to rely on the wifi more than your dongle.
The convenient store located at level 1 sells alot of amenities and food and water supplies. But do note that the prices are slightly higher. However, you will have no choice but to buy from there, unless you bought some back from Hakodate. While we were in Onuma, we could not spot any 7-11.
Without much hesitation, we changed out and went to the onsen. Common to all other onsen hotel, there are the female and male naked onsen. The specialty of this hotel onsen is that there is the outdoor portion that oversees a pond. So it's kinda scenic. Somehow the water in the onsen is kinda clear, which made us pondered whether the onsen is man-made or natural. Nonetheless, we still enjoy the onsen to the fullest! To note: For kids, you will have to request for the dress at the counter when you checked in. The dresses that they will put in the room are for adults only. So do remember.
〒041-1355 北海道亀田郡七飯町西大沼温泉
+81 138-67-1111