Hokkaido Day 3 (Friday): Asahikawa to Biei

Read our earlier trip report too:

Day 1 (Wednesday): Hakodate

Day 2 (Thursday): Hakodate to Sapporo

Day three of our Hokkaido trip started early as we needed to catch the 6.56am train to Asahikawa.

Walking from our hotel, we stopped by Odori Park to take a few photos before reaching the train station and to catch our early morning train.

We took the early morning train as our plan for the day was to visit Biei and go for a hike from Shirogane Onsen.

We reached Asahikawa Station at 8.35am and transferred to the train bound for Biei and Furano and reached the quaint Biei Station at around 9.25am.

As preparation for the hike, we had earlier bought some onigiri for our lunch at a konbini in Asahikawa station just in case we couldn’t find anywhere to eat upon reaching our destination.

Alas, we missed the 9.26am local bus heading to Shirogane and had to wait for the next bus at 12.14pm.

Note: the bus stop for bus bound for Biei and Furano is located in front of Asahikawa Bank which is a few hundred metres away from the station.

We had a few hours to spare while we wait for the next bus to our destination so we took a stroll around the town area and even checked out the local post office.

We do love visiting post offices in Japan to look at special edition and commemorative stamps available and send postcards to ourselves.

The Biei post office not only sell postal items – postcards, stamps, etc; they even have vegetables on sale!

The town area is really nice and we saw a number of tourists renting out bicycles to cycle around the area.

Another interesting sight to see in Biei town is the municipal building's "Tower of Four Seasons".

The highlights for most tourists to Biei would be the Patchwork Road but we were there during off season and the rolling farms were barren, for replanting I guess.

Oh yeah, when we got out from the train station, there was a group of elementary school students out for their English assignment. They waited for tourists arriving to Biei and were tasked to interview us, accompanied by their teachers. It was so cute and we obliged them. But I do have to admit, I got a tad annoyed at being presumed a Chinese and being greeted with "Ni Hao". Huhu

Finally, we got on the bus bound to Shirogane and our trip took about 30 minutes. Most foreign tourists alighted at the Blue Pond bus stop (and hike for about 3km to get to the beautiful Blue Pond) but we alighted at Shirogane Onsen.

Shirogane Onsen is a popular hot spring resort in Biei town and the base of the Western Part of the Daizetsuzan National Park which was our intended destination for the day.

Because we had missed the morning bus from Biei to Shirogane, we planned to just take a short hike to the camp site located about 2.5km from the trailhead.

But after reaching the camp site, I was feeling unaccomplished so Hubby asked whether I wanted to proceed ahead and head to Bogakudai (Tokachidake Observatory). I agreed not fully realising that it was a rather steep uphill climb for 4km from the camp site to the Observatory.

But first, a short break for an onigiri lunch. It tasted so delicious, eating them outdoors.

Afterwards, guess what? About 1km away from the Observatory, and after what I felt was an endless uphill climb, I got annoyed at Hubby for getting me into this. And told him so. LOL

He asked whether I wanted to turn around but I told him that we’d gotten this far so might as well continue but I reminded him to slow down and not speed ahead with his fast walking while I struggle to keep up. I didn’t want to over-exert myself and had no intention to be too tired during our hike because I had a race to run on Sunday. But I kept reminding myself, this trip was also his trip and not only mine so I have to let him enjoy himself too and not think of myself. Yada yada, all drama until we reached Bogakudai.

But everything was forgiven as I soak in the panoramic view ahead of me after we reached Bogakudai.

The vast expanse of the fields of Biei on one side and the Tokachidake mountain range on the other side. We got there before autumn foliage got at its peak but the view was still breath-taking nonetheless.

We spent some time here admiring the view and took a LOT of photos before making our descent.

The total of 6km hike up to Bogakudai took us about 3 hours (with onigiri lunch stop in between) but of course it was a much faster trip for the descent. A total of almost 12km hike for the day.

It started raining as we were heading down but luckily, we came prepared. We donned our ponchos and continued our walk. We took some photos while using the bridge that link up the gorges in between the area. The sheer drop that could be seen under the bridge was enough to give me a serious case of vertigo.

We reached Shirogane Onsen before it got dark at around 4.30pm and after checking out the time for the last bus out back to Biei town, we headed to Yumoto Shirogane Onsen Hotel for a soak in their onsen.

The hotel’s onsen facility is open to public from 11.00am to 8.00pm and we had about an hour to spend there before taking the last bus out at around 6.30pm.

The fee is 840yen per adult and it is a fully equipped onsen facility (but you gotta buy or have your own towel. Of course we have our own ready!).

Notable mention: Yumoto Shirogane Onsen Hotel is the oldest onsen facility in Shirogane Onsen.

We were able to enjoy all the 2 indoor baths, 1 cold bath, the outdoor bath and sauna in leisure and we certainly took our time to soak in the onsen. It was lovely!

There used to be a mixed rotenburo (open air onsen) there too but it was closed now.

After our leisurely soak, we rested at the lobby and had a chat with the staff manning the reception counter.

Finally it was time to board our bus, catch the next train to Biei and head to our hotel. We enjoyed a fried shrimp donburi dinner at a restaurant located near the station while we wait for our train and it was delicious.

We had some time to spend walking around the Aeon mall located adjacent to the Asahikawa Station afterwards and bought some drinks and snacks for our long train trip the next day.

For the night, we stayed at Smile Hotel Asahikawa, a short walk from Asahikawa Station. A simple, no frills business hotel but it was a good stay nonetheless.

On to Day 4 (Saturday): Asahikawa to Abashiri