For something new, I went to Lake Toya for a brief weekend trip on November 18-19th as a birthday gift to myself! I’ll list all my recommendations on things to do in the area.
At first I thought about making it a Sapporo weekend stay, but I figured I go to Sapporo enough that I should find something else more unique to do for the special occasion. I remembered my friend telling me that Lake Toya is pretty cool, and I looked up the location relative to where I live. It’s definitely a bit of a complicated trek, but not nearly as far as anywhere else (Hokkaido is Dekkaido), and I don’t believe I plan on going back frequently, so making my way out there once can’t hurt. It kind of sucks I don’t have a car, so I have to make a few public transportation transfers, but I made it work. Even though there is transport options available, I think overall Lake Toya is one of those places that it really helps to have a car.
November 18th: Our bus run would last from 9:30 to 12:30, with our first leg stopping at Kutchan at 10:20. There, it would be an hour until the next bus, so I took the opportunity to get a breakfast: my favorite local cream puff, and trying a new cafe. I actually passed by Mountain Kiosk Cafe the last time I was in Kutchan and was interested in their drinks, but I already had quite a lot that day so didn’t get anything. It seems they changed their seasonals, and at least on the outside menu, one of them is a lavender hojicha latte. Now, according to the outside, their regular menu has a lavender hojicha tea, but when you actually go in to order, I guess that doesn’t exist on the normal menu inside? Plus, the seasonal latte only came in hot, so I was debating if I really wanted it or not, but I ended up getting it because it is quite chilly outside, and it is seasonal anyway…My boyfriend also got a pudding parfait while we were at Fujii, and a salty caramel latte from Mountain Kiosk.
The cream puff was just as good as it was last time, crispy outer layer and thick vanilla cream fresly piped. As for the latte, I originally was interested in it because I had this really good lavender milk tea drink once back at home, so I figured this would be good too. At first, the lavender flavor was a little off putting, but over time drinking it, it really grew on me, while the hojicha’s roasty flavor took a bit more of a backseat. Unfortunately, the cup was small…
Our next bus was 11:05 to 11:55, where we stopped at Rusutsu for 15 minutes. Now, neither Google Maps nor Navitime (my two transportation resources during the research process), told me that the bus that runs from Sapporo to Lake Toya was reservation only. It was only when we saw the sign at Rusutsu that we realized, I hastily made a call about it, and luckily they had spots and let us on the bus. Kind of weird, but thank goodness…Lesson learned, if you’re taking any bus from Sapporo to Lake Toya with the Donan Line, be sure to call in advance to reserve your spot!
Now, we could have taken this bus straight to the area around our hotel, but there was this famous ice cream place that I wanted to check out that happened to be on the way down to the main area, and also fit perfectly within the bus schedule (the busses in this area run at weird times). Around 12:40, we arrived at Lake Hill Farm. The A building houses a cafe with sweets and savory items, whereas their ice cream is in the B building. First, we got lunch at their cafe. I got the seasonal potato and bacon pizza, and my boyfriend got the “village best” curry. After lunch, we headed next door for the famous ice cream! There were a ton of flavors available, including some more normal ones, but also some interesting ones, like Blue Salt, Red Shiso Leaf Sorbet, and Kidney Bean. I went with Milk Tea and the apple sorbet double scoop.
The pizza had handmade mozzarella, potatoes from around Lake Toya, Tadokoro bacon from a butcher in Toya, onions, and rosemary. I quite liked it, aside from the onions, and having potatoes on pizza was an interesting experience. As for the ice cream, I wish there was an equal amount of each flavor (more apple), but overall, I loved both! The texture was soft yet scoopable, and both were just the right amount of sweetness. The milk tea tasted like a pretty standard Japanese milk tea drink, but just on the herabl-y side. The sorbet was really good, and very apple-y!
We got on the next bus to the central Lake Toya Onsen area. Since check-in wouldn’t be until 3, we hung out in the area and walked along the lake, seeing whatever was also there. First, we came across the 100th anniversary monument, kind of shaped like a postage stamp, and in front of it, was the Lake Toya Pokemon Manhole. There was also a sign detailing the 8 views of Lake Toya (pictured), and a ferry that would take you around the lake and to the island in the center that departed every hour.
There was also a famous foot bath in this vicinity, the Toron Foot Spa. We decided to try it out to sit and rest for a bit, and it was pretty nice to soak even just our feet in the warm water. If you don’t have a towel, you can buy one right next to the foot bath for 200 yen. I brought one though.
After chilling for a bit, we headed to the central area to check out some souvenir stores. The first one we went to was closed, but the main bigger one was open. Apparently “Lake Toya” is engraved in Gintama from Gintama’s sword, so there were a ton of those (of which my boyfriend got one,ha!). The Lake Toya snacks didn’t seem too unique, other than a vague sweets cookies and chocolate theme. We did buy some, but I somehow lost them…
After checking in to our room when 3 rolled around, we rested a bit before heading out around 5:20 to see the Lake Toya Illumination Tunnel. In summer, there’s a fireworks show that goes off every evening, but that goes away in winter. However, there’s the Illumination Tunnel in winter, so since it was an attraction right across from our hotel, I wanted to go check it out. It was cute, small, but charming in it’s own way.
With a bit of time before our dinner entrance time, we checked out the hotel souvenir shop. It had pretty normal Hokkaido souvenirs, as well as some of the Lake Toya ones we saw at the other shop outside, and some hotel exclusives. They included their housemade manju, a steamed red bean snack that they were also giving out for tasting, and their original konbu dashi used in their chawanmushi, and was available for free tasting out of a kettle. The hot dashi was really comforting, and had a pretty complex flavor for a konbu broth. The manju was pretty good, soft and just a bit cakey on the outside, with thick red bean paste on the inside. Our hotel room also came with snacks (and a complimentary 2L water bottle)!
Our dinner ticket entrance time was for 5:45, so we went straight to the restaurant. Japan loves to focus on seasonal food, and it’s November, meaning we got the fall stuff. There was a lot of salmon, braised dishes, mushrooms, and potatoes, and a variety of Japanese food, Chinese-style, Western, and other miscellaneous items. I picked the stuff I was interested in, but there was definitely a ton of other selection than what I got. Overall though, very yum, and I ate a lot. I don’t remember the names of everything (though I did read everything at the time), but my among my top picks are probably the salmon pasta, the braised ribs, the smoked tofu, and grilled scallop.
After dinner, we wanted to walk off our full stomachs, so we went to see the other facilities the hotel had to offer. This included a cafe library, which had a pretty wide selection of books (albeit in Japanese), and an aesthetic affinity for kayaks, as well as a Christmas tree already put up for the holidays. I saw a sign for a “Fitness” center and a pool, and got excited about the prospect of actually seeing a gym and pool in a Japanese hotel. Turns out, after walking down a slightly dimly lit and abandoned hallway, the fitness center was just a room with two ping pong tables (which I suppose is an onsen staple), but there weren’t any ping pong tools around. The pool also ended up being closed, which I suppose makes sense during this season.
After chilling in our room to fully digest dinner, we headed out to soak in the onsen for the night! Our hotel has two onsens: during the afternoon/evening, the eighth floor one is for women, and the basement floor one is for men. From 2 to 3:30 they’re closed for cleaning, and then they switch. So I went to the eigth floor, bringing my towels, room key, phone, and coin purse with me (I heard one of the onsens has a milk vending machine!). This was my first actual time in a public onsen, aside from the one time I went to a Korean spa back home.
When you first walk in, you’re supposed to put your shoes in the shoe rack, and you’re greeted with this shampoo bar, with what I believe to be higher end shampoo and conditioner sets you can pump into test cups to use when you shower (the shower area has its own set with body and face soap too). Then there’s the changing room, which connects to the main onsen area, the vanity area for post-bath, and a connected room with two free massage chairs, the foot bath with a sky view, and an ice cream machine (which means the other one has the milk vending machine).
After cleaning my body in the shower area, I proceeded to explore what I could, as without my glasses, I’m practically blind. The room with the shower area is connected to a sauna room (of which I do not particularly enjoy breathing condensation), an indoor onsen pool, a cold water bath, as well as this kind of seating area where you can just soak your feet in lukewarm water (this one turned out to be my favorite, basking in the warm air while also getting some water action). There is a door that led outside, which had two small, deep onsen tubs, as well as an outdoor onsen pool. I liked the outdoor onsens, as there is a balance of cool air while also bathing in hot water. In both of the larger onsen pools, about a third of it was dedicated to smaller sectioned, slightly raised booths with head rests that kind of acted like a built in chair. Apart from being blind, the night view didn’t do much for me, as it was literaly pitch black. Might be a better view when the fireworks show is happening in the summer, but there wasn’t much to see in the evening. My boyfriend (who went in the morning), said he got a pretty good view though.
After bathing, I took advantage of the free massage chair, and the default course was 10 minutes. Very nice, and then I went back to the room to get some sleep to wake up early the next morning to try the other one.
November 19th: We woke up around 6 so we could have time to soak in the other onsen before breakfast, which our entry time for was 7:30. This time, I went to the basement one, which had all the same amenities (obviously), with just a different layout. This onsen had one indoor onsen pool along with the shower area, the sauna room in the path connecting the indoor and outdoor onsens, and two outdoor onsen pools. There was a rock garden-esque decoration, but anything but pitch black was a nice change for me. The cold water bath was also outside.
As is an onsen thing, I didn’t want to consume anything before breakfast, but I had to experience the post-onsen milk, so I bought one from the vending machine for 160 yen (there was also coffee milk). Very refreshing, but it wasn’t even Hokkaido milk?! There was one massage chair, but it was taken, and it was almost time for breakfast anyway. I dropped my excess stuff off at the room, and it was buffet part 2! Again much yum, and my favorite here include the chazuke, grilled salmon, sausages, freshly handmade onigiri, apple rol cake, and zhongzi.
We didn’t do much until check out at 10 (the front desk was no use for our lost souvenirs…), where they charged us an addiitonal 600 yen onsen use tax (why was this not included in the original price we pre-paid?), and then made our way to the Wakasaimo main store. Wakasaimo is another big sweets brand in Hokkaido (if you’re ever shopping for souvenirs you’ll definitely see it), and their main branch is in Lake Toya. I was really here for the restaurant on the second floor (Sendouan that opens at 11) for the scallop meal set, and the frieshly fried imoten snack (a white bean paste treat) exclusive to the main store. Honestly, neither of us were super hungry, but I could eat, and I wanted to eat the scallop dish. Both of us opted for the simplest Funka Scallop set, with scallop miso soup, a vermicelli salad, and pickled daikon. After we ate, I bought a fresh imoten, which was battered and fried right in front of me.
Everything was so good! The noodle salad was refreshing, the pickles were just right, the soup had actual 3 full scallops, and the rice was very yummy! There were some things mixed in like konjac and vegetables, and the rice was kind of a sticky kind. The imoten came out hot after being freshly fried, and had that classic tempura flavor in the batter and crunch. The inside was nice and smoot, not too sweet white bean paste.
Our bus (which I reserved the day before!) left at 12:10, and we made a pit stop at Kimobetsu’s Sato no Eki (a roadside station that is not a roadside station), and man, they had a store selling produce by local farmers and they were so cheap and huge compared to my local grocery store. I really wanted a cabbage but it seemed huge to lug home…after two more busses, we finally arrived home!
I think I’ll start including the names of the places I stay: this time, I stayed at Manseikaku Lake Terrace Hotel in a mountain view room in the East building. I’d overall recommend the place, the facilities were nice and the food was great. A bit run-down in some places, but nothing really of note and everything was efficient.
Japan Excursions 
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