This beautiful day trip kicked off from the scenic train ride. Check this view from the train… (20min ride from Hakodate)
Onuma Quasi national Park, Nanae – 大沼公園, 七飯町 I loved this park. It was HUGE and plenty of paths to get lost in the woods. The lake was the central feature, even a wanderer like me couldn’t get completely lost.
The stroll was mild enough to wear just flip flops. Love that. It felt like a ‘cheat hike’. As you can see from photos, this place screamed PEACE and CALM. It felt soooo right.
There’s a restaurant in the park that offers ‘float and dine experience. Not a cruise, but a floating platform (it was tided to a rope).
There were stamp rally at the park as well. I only spotted 3 stamps. Maybe you can find more? Yes, I am a psycho, I travel everywhere with my travel journal. I travel slowly and have lots of time to do this type of thing 😛
The boat ride…
For all those romantic advert out there, stop it right now! This was like a spinning class in the middle a lake, anything but romantic. We only lasted 30min and were super glad to return the boat early.
I finally met an unfriendly Japanese person (CRAZY, right?). It was the cashier lady for the boat. She was rude and abrupt.
I was totally spiteful, so I decided to give the 2 strangers after me my unused vouchers. Since I didn’t get my discount, I might as well give it to other people.
The park had a mini-fishing pool to entertain kids / help parents to impress their children. Pretty hilarious to watch. Some of the ‘fishes’ were totally tadpole or semi-frogs with legs. So the kids freaked out when their ‘fish’ jumps off.
Did I find any special food?
Nope. Not really. Since it was Hokkaido, the region was famed for their milk products. So the natural choice was…
We had the kumquat and the wine flavoured ice cream. Very creamy. Yummy stuff. Unique flavours I must say. I hadn’t come across that many kumquat flavours before.
and…
Tip:
tropical strength mosquitoe repellent needed alert
You maybe extremely tempted to rent some bicycles near the train station, but I’d say DON’T do it. There’re LOTS of paths inside the park that does not allow bikes. It will be quite annoying if your goal is to enjoy the park. If you’re there for just the lake, there’s a 10km biking route around the lake.
How to get here?
Onuma Quasi national Park, Hokkaido Nanae – 大沼公園, 七飯町
Onumakoen JR train station is probably the easiest.
20min train ride from Hakodate to Onumakoen bia super hokuto (included in JR pass)
The going back trains had very AWKWARD time schedule. Either catch 17:54 or the last train of the day 20:33 NO MORE train back to Hakodate after that. Make sure you check your schedule before doing this day trip.
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20 Comments
Great tips! Hokkaido is definitely on my list when I go back to Japan 😀
Thank you, Maria ???? Me too ????
Great article 🙂 Love those photos but I like the most those ice-cream! Yummy! Kisses dear! :*
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Thank you for the feedback, Alexa ???? haha that ice cream was food coma inducing
If only I have all the money now, I’d totally pack my things and fly to Japan. This is really interesting, lovely photos too! 🙂
Thank you for commenting, Lou 😀 Glad that you find it interesting. There are many budget ways to explore Japan xox
I will surely visit Japan! Huhu Once I graduate, I’d get a job and hopefully travel. It’s one of the places in my list, tbh 🙂
Back at it again with the beautiful pictures~♡
Thank you, Luen 😀 I wish I had the weather that you had in MA.
The place you’re at is so beautiful too~ how long will you be in Japan?
Thank you, Luen 🙂 I am in London now~~
Ohhh I can’t wait till I see your photos from London!
An unfriendly customer service person in Japan? WOW, that’s unheard of! I guess the odds are you will run into one of those special unicorns one day.
How long ago did you visit this park? It looks lovely – too bad we won’t make it off the main island.
Yes, she was THE unicorn lol. This was Aug 2015. O, well, there’s always next time, right? 😉
Beautiful photos. The lake and boats reminded me of some places in the UK. That ice cream stall looks so cutely decorated! X
Thank you for reading, Danni. 😀
Hokkaido looks awesome. I am hoping to visit for 1 or 2 weeks sometime in the next couple of years.
🙂 Thank you for reading, Kabeiser. You have a really unique blog!!!
Great photos and story Joyce. I’ve never been to Hokkaido, this activity sounded interesting except for the cashier. My Japanese friends would suggest she was Korean, thats their reason, (a bit racist) for any anti social or rude behaviour encountered in Japan.
Wahaha, that is such a classic, Denis. Actually some of my Japanese friends made the same remark lol.