Not the best night sleep in that stormy weather but the morning view was well worth it. Wind weakened a bit and sun was peaking through the clouds, it’s gonna be a nice day.
Bright and early we started the day as the bathroom run couldn’t wait any longer and got me out of the bed shortly after half 5. After necessary morning coffee and lazing around for long enough to make the gates opening of Cape Kamui at 8am, we packed up and got going. Only half an hour later we were the very first visitors of the day.
— Cape Kamui
Gates to the park open at 8am, we were lucky enough to arrive at the same time as one of the grounds keepers and followed him straight in. This little morning hike must have been my favourite part of the trip. It was just us hiking up to the cape, up and down the little pathway with stunning views on each side. It took us about 25 minutes to get to the end of the path where the rock formations in the water revealed.
— Yokochichibu Onsen
After our refreshing hike we heading south around the coast to see the Yokochichibu Onsen which essentially turned out to be a smelly little lake. Imagine really bad eggy smell, that’s what sulfur is all about. The actual people friendly onsen was next to it where the filtered water with healthy amount of sulfur was accessible. Too early for us to have a bath? It’s not even midday yet, plus that smell is not bearable for more than 5 minutes.
We were going to check out another people friendly outdoor bath short drive from this smelly puddle. As we drove up the road and stopped by a bush where a pathway to the onsen was meant to be, we changed our mind. After reading few reviews online about bears hanging around in that area and the stats of bear attacks on people in Hokkaido, we evaluated it as unworthy the risk.
— Niseko / Mount Yōtei
It got to about midday and are stomachs started rumbling, quick Google directed us to Niseko as the most restaurant dense area within reasonable radius. We stopped at Niseko Takahashi Dairy Farm for a quick lunch.
This buffet restaurant with large windows overlooking Mount Yōtei was healthy enough option to get us through the day.
This area is supposed to be great for skiing. We’re a little out of season but even just the mountain views are very pretty and driving around on those curved roads with lots of greenery on each side is really good fun.
Just imagine having a motorbike instead of campervan, that would be even better!
After lunch and a quick stop in 7/11 to stock up on food for later, we drove around Mount Yōtei to enjoy the magnificent view with a short stop at Fukidashi Park. If you’re planning on stopping there, don’t even bother, it’s a man made park. We quickly run up a few sets of stairs just to stretch our legs a bit but we didn’t think this place worth stopping for let alone going out of your way for.
— Lake Toyako
As it was getting later in the day we started to look for a place to spend the night. This google map with free camping, hot springs and michi no eki (roadside parking) all around Japan was a great guide while searching for spots to park. Just to warn you they are not always the prettiest or the quietest and some days we spent ages driving around to find a good spot.
This evening after searching for while we settled in michi no eki next to the observation deck over lake Toyako. The idea was to wake up to the beautiful view, which was not exactly the case. As we got the car ready for the night (put covers over all windows) and snuggled in our sleeping bags it became very clear it will not be exactly quiet one.
Parking right next to the big road meant a lot of trucks going pass and stopping to take a break, slamming doors and walking pass. It wasn’t great, I would not recommend michi no eki and we tried to avoid them for the rest of our trip.
Check out our first day of camper van road trip around Hokkaido.
