A Summer Honeymoon Travel Guide to Japan Part 2: Hokkaido

We spent only 2 days in Hokkaido to see the Lavender Fields & Blue Pond. Summer is the season for lavender and you can almost escape the summer humidity in the mountains. This travel guide is a lot shorter than the Tokyo and Kyoto ones, but for general ‘summer in Japan’ travel tips, check out the trip intro.

 

Sites
Stateside I think Hokkaido is best known for its lavender fields. We were going to miss cherry blossom season but would be in Japan at the height of lavender season! We booked this half-day trip through Viator as it was the only one that provided direct transportation from Sapporo station and covered Farm Tomita (most famous lavender farm) and the Blue Pond. It definitely wasn’t a traditional tour with a guide explaining things along the way, but that was fine by us as we wanted to run around the fields and hop in every snack line.

Farm Tomita | Do yourself a favor and get the lavender ice cream and fresh cantaloupe. Hike to the top of the farm for the best view.

Blue Pond | A naturally occurring, bright blue pond. The pond really is as blue in real life as the pictures, but the best time to go is the end of May-June. Another summertime must-see.

Moerenuma Park | A bit of a journey, but it is the most amazing, sprawling architectural park. It is filled with colorful playgrounds and would recommend renting bikes to see it all.

Historic Village of Hokkaido | The village shows what life was like in the Meiji and Taisho Periods (1868-1926). It’s an interactive museum that reminds me a lot of St. Augustine, FL.

      

Food
Hokkaido is known for their dairy, corn, melons, and seafood. A lot of our meals were to go from Sapporo station as we ran to catch trains/buses or little food stands at tourist sites. Every single thing was amazing- just be sure to try a new flavor of ice cream, grilled corn, cheese tarts (specifically North + Harvest which you can find in the station) & milk pie!

Suage Soup & Curry | One of my favorite meals in Japan. Intensely flavorful and comforting.

Sapporo Beer Garden | We ended up here a little to close to closing to get anything other than beer, but the meat smelled so good. It’s definitely a place you’ll want to plan a lot of time at for the museum and figuring out ordering instead of thinking it will be a quick bite & drink.

Shopping
Get the melon pocky! Melon & corn are the flavors of summer so seasonal candies will be in every shop. I don’t know how they do it, but the melon pocky tastes like the purest melon.

Also great souvenirs: lavender butter candy, dried lavender sprigs, and lavender bubble bath ☺