On the morning of Day 4 of our Hokkaido self-drive trip, after finishing breakfast at the Nord Otaru Hotel, we drove to Noboribetsu’s Oyunuma and Jigokudani. Our first stop was the Oyunuma River Natural Footbath, where we planned not only to enjoy the scenery but also to soak our feet. It takes about two hours … Read more
On the third day of our Hokkaido self-driving trip, our family drove from Shiroi Koibito Park to Otaru. We had reserved tickets for the Otaru Canal Cruise, and in the evening we stayed at Hotel Nord Otaru. From afternoon shopping and the canal cruise to dinner at night, all our activities were around the Otaru … Read more
In the evening, after taking the Otaru Canal cruise and enjoying a relaxing tour around the canal and harbor, it was already dark and time for dinner. As we walked across to the opposite side of the canal, we saw Otaru Masazushi Zenan. There was a line at the entrance on the second floor, so … Read more
While we were still in Taiwan, we made an online reservation for the boarding time of the Otaru Canal cruise. After spending the afternoon strolling along Sakaimachi Street in Otaru, we headed to the boarding area. We arrived about 25 minutes early. Inside the ticket center, in addition to ticket sales, there were also many … Read more
After visiting the Shiroi Koibito Park to tour the chocolate cookie factory and watch the Karakuri Carnival Clock Tower, our family drove to Otaru. We stayed at Hotel Nord Otaru that night. Since we had reserved an Otaru Canal cruise for the evening, we first drove to the hotel to drop off our luggage and … Read more
We’ve eaten Shiroi Koibito chocolate cookies many times, and at home we even have several vintage cookie tins from different years. However, we had never actually visited Shiroi Koibito Park before. In June 2025, we finally came here for the first time — and it just happened to be the park’s 30th anniversary. What a … Read more
On Day 3 of our Hokkaido self-driving trip, our first stop was the Sapporo Beer Museum. In the past, when we traveled with tour groups, we never had the chance to visit this place. This time, since we were driving ourselves, we decided to finally come and take a look. What we didn’t expect was … Read more
On the morning of Day 3 of our Hokkaido self-drive trip, we didn’t have breakfast at Hotel New Otani Sapporo because our original room booking did not include breakfast. After waking up, our family walked to a nearby café, Tully’s Coffee Sapporo STV Kita 2-jo branch, to have breakfast. There are three Tully’s Coffee locations … Read more
After driving about 2.5 hours from Biei to Sapporo, we stayed overnight in a triple room at Hotel New Otani Inn Sapporo. Since our family usually travels as a group of three, a triple room suits us perfectly. In the evening, we took a short walk to visit some of Sapporo’s famous landmarks, including the … Read more
After passing by the Sapporo Clock Tower and Odori Park, we stopped to take a look at one of Sapporo’s most famous landmarks—the Sapporo TV Tower. Tonight, our family’s dinner plan was to enjoy charcoal-grilled lamb at Genghis Khan Daruma Main Branch. Since it would take quite a while to walk there, we decided to … Read more