Hi! The sunflower season is coming back again! It’s getting really hot in Japan with the average temp is 30ish (and some day it might reach 40 degree). The good news is… there’re plenty activities you can enjoy under the sun. Maybe going to the beach or see fireworks? For me… I cannot stand the heat and the crowd, so last year I opted to fly to Hokkaido and enjoy the sunflower field at Furano. Let’s gooo!
北竜町ひまわりの里 Hokuryuu Sunflower Village
The sunflower field I went to last year was Hokuryuu Sunflower Village in Furano, Hokkaido. The field is really big (23.1 hectare of field) and it has around 1.500.000 Sunflowers.
Not only sunflowers, the fields also has a really big tent for you to rest, eat, and get some souvenirs. The field has a spacious free parking lot and no entrance fee as well. However, if you really like the field and you want to help the government taking care the field, you can also donate some money to them. They have a donation box at the field gate.
Access
I went there by car. If you cannot drive in Japan, you still can go there by public transport. Here’s the way:
- By bus
- Go from Sapporo Terminal to Hokuryuucho or Hokuryuuyakushomae bus stop. It’s an express highway bus and the entire journey takes around 120 minutes, 1850￥ one way)
- By train from Sapporo
- Take JR from Sapporo Station to JR Ryuukawa Station (50 minutes, 2770¥) and from Ryuukawa, take a local bus to Hokuryuucho (40 minutes, 720¥)
- By train from Asahikawa
- Take JR from Asahikawa station to JR Fukakawa station (20 minutes, 1260¥) and from there, take a local bus to Hokuryuucho (35minutes, 520¥)
However, when travelling to place like Hokkaido, I’d suggest you to drive instead because the public transport is not that frequent.
You can check their website and facebook page for more info.
Sunflower season
The field is really big and it’s impossible for you to explore the field by walking in an hour. Therefore, the park has a bike for you to rent (I think it’s for free for the 1st one hour), or you can also take a small electric train which will go around the field.
The park might be crowded during the holiday season, but not as crowded as the one in Tokyo and Yamanashi. You still can take the photos freely without bumping to another visitors. However, I’d suggest you to go to a little bit deeper in the field as the area near the field gate is extremely crowded.
I can tell that they’re really taking a good care of the flowers as the flowers grow really tall (you can see at my photos, I’m 158cm by the way).
I also rent the bike for an hour to go around the field. It was really fun because Hokkaido is generally cooler than Tokyo, so eventho it was in the middle of the summer, the heat was bearable and it’s so windy as well.
Tomita Farm
From the sunflower field, I drove to Tomita Farm in Furano. This place is really famous for its Lavender field and so many tourists visits this park. I think if you go by train to JR Furano station, there are guide or anything that can guide you to reach the farm, so I won’t write much about the access to the farm here.
I came on August and it was a little bit too late for Lavender. If you want to see Lavender field, I’d suggest to come on July. August is Sunflower season lol. But, don’t be disappointed yet, Tomita Farm has a lot of colorful flowers on its field and it’s pretty as well.
The park has a free parking lot as well.
If you’re lucky, you can still see the remains of Lavender and get a taste of Lavender ice cream.
Next to the Tomita Farm, there’s a Melon Park(?) which sells a lot of Melon and its product. As you might know, Furano melon is really sweet and tasty (a little bit expensive, but it worth the money).
That slice of melon I bought was around 500¥ per slice. And not only the fruits, they also serve ice cream on top of the melon (they cut a whole melon to half, and use it as a cup), melon jelly, melon ice cream and many more.
You can also buy the whole Melon – which I was really tempted to do it, but I don’t know how to fly back to Tokyo with bunch of Melon on my luggages lol. Oh!! some tips if you want to buy raw products at Hokkaido, don’t be afraid to ask the seller if they ship to Tokyo. Most of the souvenirs shop ships local product to Tokyo (with extra cost).
tl;dr
Just… go to Hokkaido. Seriously Hokkaido is one of my favourite prefecture in Japan (because of the food, scenery, and food – oh.. I did mention food).
First, it’s a good place if you’re sick of the heat and want to go somewhere cooler. It has a good food and a lot of places to see in the summer. At the next post, I’ll take you to the Patchwork road in Biei which is also pretty and instagram-able 🙂
The cons? Maybe just an extra plane ticket, but there’re plenty LCC airlines that can take you to Hokkaido from Tokyo. Oh.. and that the public transport is not that convenience at these small villages 😀
And that’s all for this week, I’ll see you again next week.