With Love and Passion

Again, we had our wonderful breakfast at Pension Ohno. This time, we were served with Mackerel. After the meal, we headed for Hell Valley in Noboribetsu.

Like the day before, we took the scenic route to reach our destination. Along the way, we stopped by a few places to enjoy the scenes.

 After about 2hours of journey, we arrived at Noboribetsu Jigokudani. You may be given a map when you park your car at the designated car park.

From the Jigokudani, we drove further up to visit additional sulfur spots. The information will be given when you park your car at Hell Valley's car park.

We spent a few hours walking around taking photos. We also visited the small town where various restaurants can be found.

We couldn't stay longer as we had to drive to Sapporo to put a night there. The journey from Noboribetsu to Sapporo took us about 3.5 hours as we didn't use the highway. The traffic gets more and more congested when you are nearer to Sapporo. We returned our car at Nissan@Sapporo as it is not ideal to drive around Sapporo. You may have difficulties in finding car park and the car parks will be costly. But not to worry, the public transportation in Sapporo is very convenient.

Traveled in end of Oct 2013.

Day 1

We'd arrived into Hokkaido New Chitose Airport early in the morning via Skymark Airlines. We then obtained our rental car from Nissan which we booked through Tocoo website.The car was perfect with GPS on it. Do you know that Japan GPS recognizes phone numbers? You can simply key in the phone number and it will bring you to the location. Else, you may use Japan map code.

We'd dumped all the luggage into the car and headed out to Lake Toya. We chose the scenic route which took us longer time to reach our destination, but we saved on the highway. I was really in love with the autumn. After about 2.5 hours, we finally arrived at Lake Toya!

Cafe Jalibu

We had our lunch at Cafe Jalibu. It was recommended by Tripadvisor and pretty close to our B&B.

As the name tells, it is not a place for Japanese food. Anyway, do try their pumpkin cake. Delicious!

Lake Hill Farm (Map Code: 321 694 595)

A gelato shop near Lake Toya which offers a variety of ice creams. It has a section where you can make your own gelato. However, it was occupied by a group of tourist. So, we just went and enjoy the readily available gelato...yummy...

Pension Ohno (Map Code: 321 521 285)

Pension Ohno is situated right in front of Lake Toya. We spent 2 nights here. It is a wonderful B&B with a small hot spring. It serves great breakfast and dinner. We ordered dinner on the second night as most of the shops are closed in the evening.

Day 2

Since it is autumn, 8am sunlight is like 10am. We enjoyed the breakfast at Pension Ohno with great view of Lake Toya.

Mount Usu and Showa-shinzan

Mount Usu, which is 10 minutes drive away, is an active volcano. There is an Usuzan Ropeway that brings visitors to the summit. At the summit we can observe panoramic views of Lake Toya and Showa-shinzan.

そば蔵 (Map Code: 321 518 530)

We had our lunch at this soba restaurant. Big portion and yummy. The cook didn't look friendly but the aunty who served us was super friendly..haha...

Sobetsu Fruit Village (Map Code: 321 498 882)

Here, you get to pick the fresh fruits and eat all you can with an entrance fees about 850JPY. However, it depends on the seasons. Since it is autumn, we get to try red apples and grapes only. I would highly recommend the apples. So sweeeeeet!

Lake Toya

Lake Toya is a volcanic caldera lake. Directly in front of Pension Ohno, you can enjoy the scene.

Dinner @ Pension Ohno

The dinner was prepared by a lady who runs the B&B. It comes with sashimi, mushroom hotpot, stewed beef and etc. Thanks to members of Tripadvisor who recommended this. We really enjoyed the meal!