Furano Lavender Field

Tours to Hokkaido are generally divided into 2: summer to see flowers, winter to play in the snow. So make sure you come in the right season, otherwise you will get mediocre ones.

This time Javamilk discusses summer, our family wants to see the Lavender flower garden. The most famous place in Japan is the area called Furano.

Itinerary

Because my time was short, I planned the tour to Furano as a daytrip from Sapporo where I was staying. So leave early and come home late at night.

You can design several alternatives, then see if they are possible and within your budget (the point is that they are quite expensive). Basically, if you have a lot of days, you can follow the suggested itinerary made by the JR Hokkaido website. Basically you have to follow the existing train schedule to be able to enjoy this tour.

My own itinerary is from Sapporo, take the Lavender Express train to Furano, then go to the tourist attraction using the Kururu Bus while going up, and finally take the train back from Lavender Station to Asahikawa and then return to Sapporo. In one day the places I visited (Explanation of each place is below):

Furano Cheese Factory

Furano Marche

Farm Tomita

Nakafurano Flower Park

Rental cars are actually the most convenient, but the rates are quite expensive to rent for a day using a driver. You cannot rent a car without a driver here because Indonesian driving licenses (and international ones issued by RI) are not accepted in Japan.

Research, Research, Research

Summer is the peak season in Furano because this is the main destination in Hokkaido, especially the Lavender and Sunflower season. Your main task is research and research if you want to come here. While this article (might) help you, there's a lot more to think about, which I probably forgot to mention here.

First, the website that you should read several times is Furano Tourism. Here we can get the routes and schedules for the Kururu bus, Twinkle Bus, as well as other special buses that run specifically in the summer.

Also, check the train schedule on the JR Hokkaido website. There are some special trains that only operate in summer or winter, they may not appear if you try research on the Jorudan website. For example, the special Lavender Express train from Sapporo-Takikawa-Furano that I took, uses the same train as the Asahikawa Zoo Train.

What needs to be researched? You need to research what time the train arrives in Furano, what you want to do, and how to get home. The constraint is the Norokko Train schedule, there are only a few departures a day, also adjust if you want to take a tour bus such as the Twinkle Bus Biei.

Furano

The town of Furano where the train stops can be said to be a very small town. The roads are quiet, transportation can be said to be minimal. So it's only busy in summer for tourists.

If you want to explore the surrounding area, there are several bus options. Kururu Bus, Day Tour Bus Furano, and Twinkle Bus Biei.

The one I used was Kururu Bus (¥1200 1 day, ¥1500 2 days). It's a kind of hop-on hop-off bus. After I use it, I don't recommend using Kururu Bus if you only use it for 1 day, it doesn't seem like you'll get a return on investment if you use it for 4 people. The reason is that in 1 day there are only 4 trip loops, so a lot of time is wasted.

Kururu Bus can take us to Furano Marche (this can also be walked from Furano Station), Furano Winery, as far as Tomita Farm. In the opposite direction, you can go to Furano Cheese Factory. See the brown line on the map above for the Furano Kururu Bus stop.

Another bus is the Furano Biei Day Trip Bus (¥2500), this is a tour bus so we will continue on the same bus. 10.30 start from JR Furano visiting: Goto Sumio Museum, Flower Land Kamifurano, Roller Coaster Road, and ending at JR Biei Station (12:50). There is the opposite direction (another ¥2500), leaving at 14:50 and arriving at JR Furano at 17:10.

Twinkle Bus Biei (¥1500) serves routes from and ending at JR Biei Station has several routes: Panorama Morning Course (10:50-12:30), Patchwork Course (13:20-14:40), and Panorama Afternoon Course.

Furano Marche

Furano Marche is a place that sells typical Furano goods, and is also a restaurant. If you're hungry during the day, this is the place to find something to eat (because there aren't many restaurants in Furano). There are several shops that we can choose from.

Furano Cheese Factory

My first stop on the Kururu Bus was the Cheese Factory. As the name suggests, we can try the processed cheese here and of course buy it if you are interested.

Tomita Farm

The last stop of the Kururu Bus is Farm Tomita. The great thing is that you don't have to pay to enter Tomita Farm, it's free! Depending on what month you come, from June to September you are guaranteed to be full of flowers that bloom that month. June poppies, July Lavender flowers, cosmos and sunflowers from August to September.

Nakafurano Flower Park

About 15 minutes walk from Tomita Farm, this place is relatively quiet so taking photos is actually better. Actually, if you want to come here, there is a shared paid taxi (¥200/person) from Tomita Farm. Due to lack of information, my family and I walked from Tomita Farm in the hot afternoon sun huhuhu.

But by the time we get here, the tiredness of walking has paid off... the view of Nakafurano is even better.

There is a ski-chair lift that we can climb to the top of the hill, so the view of the flower gardens is even more fantastic.

If it's hot like this, don't forget to try the Lavender Ice Cream (¥500) here. Sweet and fragrant.

Return to Sapporo

From Farm Tomita, we walk about 8 minutes to Lavender Farm Station. From the temporary Furano Lavender Farm train station (Furano Batake Station), use an old school train and natural air conditioning, called the Norokko Train (this is a special road in the flower season, make sure you have a reserved seat for this train.), hot summer air, half asleep We follow flower gardens and rural areas through Biei until we finally arrive at Asahikawa.

Some Norokko Train seats face the front, some face the side. Everything has a number, so remember you need to reserve a seat.

In fact, if you have more time, Asahikawa is also a recommended place to visit. At least to the famous Asahikawa Zoo. But because of limited days, I only had dinner in Asahikawa, then continued by train to Sapporo.