Autumn in Hokkaido & Tokyo 2018 – Day 3 (Furano & Biei)

Day 3 (15 Oct 2018) – Furano & Biei

We had an early start this morning as we expected this to be a long day. We ate the donuts and cheesecake we bought from Dr Donut and Le Tao the day before for breakfast. We checked out of our hotel and set off at around 8am in the morning.

Sandantaki Park

The drive to Farm Tomita in Furano was about 2 hours. We took a slightly longer route going up north towards Asahikawa and exit at Iwashima and drive thru the mountains. The mountain drive was beautiful as the higher altitude here meant that the autumn foliage here was at its peak. The advantage of taking this route was that we could make a photo stop at Sandantaki Park. Sandan taki (waterfall), is viewable from the park which was just off the road in the Ashibetsu area. The park was absolutely beautiful in its peak autumn colours! So glad we came by this way.

Farm Tomita, Furano

We visited Farm Tomita on our last trip to Hokkaido about 10 years ago. It was in May and flowers were beautiful although not in full bloom yet as summer comes late in Hokkaido. I was not sure what to expect of this visit as it is already autumn. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Farm Tomita to find that the flowers in the farm were still in bloom.

Farm Tomita in October was even more beautiful than what I remembered in May. Another advantage of this Oct visit was that it was less busy, thus we could take photos without loads of people in the background. 👍so glad that we came again!

There were no lavender in the farm at this time of the year (you need to come in July to see lavender), but they were still selling lavender ice-cream (¥300 for a cone and ¥250 for a cup). The kids had to have it and said that it was good. I found the taste strange 🤷‍♀️.

Lunch @ Farm Restaurant Chiyoda, Biei

We headed to Farm Restaurant Chiyoda for an early lunch after our Farm Tomita visit. The restaurant was about 30 mins drive from Farm Tomita and we arrived around 11.30am. We were all hungry given that we had very simple breakfast that morning.

We picked this restaurant because it serves Biei wagyu which is suppose to be very good and we wanted to try. We are a family of Wagyu fans. The restaurant serves a special cut wagyu that has limited servings each day. Another reason for coming early was so we get to have this special cut of wagyu. They don’t take reservations so coming early also meant it was easier to get a table.

The special wagyu cut was excellent. It was so unassuming when it was served. You should have seen how DS’s face lit up in surprise at the first bite of his steak. “Oh my God!”, he exclaimed! The steak was so juicy and tender. Juice just oozes out of the steak (maybe I should say fats! 😆😆😆😆). It literally melts in your mouth! It cost ¥5,180 with either rice or bread. We chose bread and it was so good too……so very soft. So good with butter! 😘😘😘. DD had the wagyu stew with bread (¥1,980). It was very tender too. I tasted her stew and it was the most tender beef stew I have ever had. We also ordered a seasonal salad (¥480) which came with a carrot sauce which I liked too.

DS rated this meal as the best meal of the trip because of the special cut wagyu steak. I agree with him. Difficult to find another wagyu steak better than this at this price. It was not a cheap steak, but was cheap for a wagyu steak of that quality.

There was a Farm next to the restaurant so if you have young kids it should be interesting to visit too. Unfortunately my kids were pass the farm animal age so we gave that a miss.

Shikisai-no-Oka, Biei

Shikisai-no-Oka was a flower garden on a hill carpeted with flowers. This feast for the eye features tulips, lupine, lavender, salvia, sunflowers, dahlia and Japanese anemone. The beauty of this flower garden lies in the vast amount of flowers in neat strips across the hill. From afar, it looked like a colourful carpet. Very impressive. Entry to this flower garden is free but they do suggest a ¥200 donation per person for upkeep of the flowers.

One can choose to walk along the pathways or take a tractor trolley ride (¥500 per person) around the hills. Lazy us chose the tractor trolley ride 😜.

This is a must visit farm when in Furano-Biei region. You can see flower farms in many places, but probably not to the extend in terms size and expanse as Shikisai-no-Oka. DH says that this is his favourite flower farm of the 3 we visited that day.

Kanno Farm, Furano

This was the smallest of the 3 flower farms that we visited that day. It was another of the farms that have blooms all the way to October.

It even had flowers grown into a heart shape. Very sweet.

It is a nice stop if you are along the way like us. But as it is very small, it is not likely to be a destination on its own like Farm Tomita or Shikisai-no-Oka.

Melon Ice Cream @ Popura Farm

We made a detour back to Popura Farm which is nearer Farm Tomita after we left Kanno Farm. We cannot forget the wonderful melon iced cream we had there 10 years ago, and had to go back for it that afternoon.

You have a choice of a quarter or half melon, vanilla or melon ice cream. We decided to give ourselves a treat and ordered half a melon each and all with melon ice cream. It was as good as we remembered. The Yubari melon was so sweet and the melon ice cream so very refreshing. It made a good mid afternoon snack. It cost ¥1500 for half a melon with ice cream and ¥800 for a quarter melon with ice cream.

Blue Pond, Biei

After our ice cream, we headed northwards again towards the Blue Pond. We had intentionally timed the visit of Blue Bond in the later afternoon as we wanted to catch the soft evening light, just before sunset. We were not disappointed. The sight that welcomed us was amazing!

Blue Pond is a man-made pond feature which resulted from works on the Biei River carried out after the 1988 eruption of Mount Tokachi, to protect the town of Biei from volcanic mudflows. The blue colour is thought to result from the presence of aluminum in the water. Sulphur and lime brought down by the nearby waterfall also caused bleaching and whitening of the rocks at the base of the pond, thus accentuating the blue colour of the pond.

Another aspect that add to the beauty of this pond must be the withered tree branches rising from the pond. The once-living Japanese larch and silver birch trees in the area became submerged when the pond was created. In combination with the mysterious blue, the dead trees are now a part of the scenery that is so beautiful but some what sad in some aspects.

Stay @ Mori-no-Ryotei, Biei

Most of the accommodations in Biei are Pensions (western style homestay). We wanted a proper ryokan and it seems the best option was Mori-no-Ryotei, so we went for it. But it was on the pricy side especially since we wanted in-room private onsen. The private onsen rooms in Mori-no-Ryotei can accommodate max 3 pax only. So we booked 2 rooms with private onsen.

Upon arrival we were served cookie and tea at the lobby. The lounge area was cosy and decorated with little wood carved artifacts. In fact we found out later that these wooden knick knacks that can be found all over the ryokan are for sale as well.

Mori-no-Ryotei is probably the best accommodation that you can get in Biei. Many well known Japanese personalities from anime artist to baseball players have stayed here and have left their autograph.

Our was a typical ryokan room with a sleeping area and a sitting area. Simple and minimalist. The only difference was that it has proper mattresses rather than uses futon. That was why it was described as a western style Japanese room. I suppose it just makes it easier for the chamber maids who then don’t have to lay out and keep the futons daily. If there are 3 to the room, the third bed will be a futon. The mini fridge was filled with 2 cans of calpis drinks and 2 grape jelly which was free. The yukatas were in the cupboards as expected too.

Our room came with private outdoor onsen. The bath and dressing area was a mini version of what you will find in large onsen. I couldn’t wait to use it. DD and I used the private onsen only while DH and DS also used the public onsen during our stay. The advantage of a private onsen was that one can go for a quick soak in the morning before breakfast without the hassle of leaving the room! Onsen are very addictive and are a must for us whenever we visit Japan these days.

Dinner that night was served in the dining room. We had a sumptuous 10 course dinner consisting of:

1. Salmon roe, small fish, salmon sushi, sweet rice, seaweed
2. Tofu baked with sea urchin
3. Clear scallop soup
4. Assorted aashimi consisting of tuna, red snapper, flounder
5. Steam pork with taro
6. Snow crab with fried potato in vinegrette
7. Shabu Shabu of Biei wagyu dip in sesame sauce
8. Assorted tempura which came with an unusual item – rice tempura! It was like pop corn.
9. Rice with black soy bean with miso soup and pickles
10. Dessert was pudding

It was a wonderful dinner. Very satisfying!