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The reason we chose the La Visa hotel in Furano was because it is famous for its delicious breakfast. We had already tried the free ramen the night before, so we got up enthusiastically that morning to eat breakfast.

Breakfast was also buffet style, but the overall selection was a bit disappointing and not as good as the ones in Hakodate and Toya. Still, this breakfast had two highlights: first, the seafood rice bowl, where you could choose either plain rice or vinegared rice. There were four or five types of seafood to choose from, all very fresh, especially the sweet shrimp, which was exceptionally sweet. The other toppings were great too, and we could easily eat two bowls every morning.

The other highlight was the fruit. I’d stayed at Visa before, and knew that Hokkaido melons are very expensive, but this hotel actually offered unlimited all-you-can-eat melon. At almost every table, people grabbed a plate of melon before anything else. There was also watermelon; I’ve heard watermelon is also an expensive fruit in Hokkaido, and this hotel offered it unlimited as well. But the watermelon really wasn’t good—just eat the melon.

The rest of the selection didn’t offer many surprises and was pretty similar to breakfasts elsewhere.

We had come back late the night before, and the parking lot was already full. The hotel parking attendant simply had us park under the JR station overpass across from the hotel. I’m not sure whether they had some arrangement with the city, but it turned out to be unexpectedly convenient—just cross the street in the morning and drive off.

Our first stop was Farm Tomita. This was the most crowded attraction we visited in central Hokkaido these past few days. The farm is huge, with several parking lots on site. We followed Google Maps and parked at the lot in the lower right, while the lower left lot was packed with countless tour buses.

The image below is a route guide posted by a Furano Tourism Bureau Xiaohongshu account. Because we parked in a different spot, and because we were too tired, we couldn’t complete the full route.

There was also a constant line of people waiting to take photos in front of this sign.

We tried the area’s signature lavender + melon ice cream. It had a very unusual flavor, but it still wasn’t as good as the cheese factory’s from the day before.

There were workers tending the fields.

The temperature wasn’t high that day, with a high of about 27°C, but it was the muggiest day of our entire Hokkaido trip, almost like southern China. Just after finishing the souvenir shop and while lining up for melon bread, it suddenly started pouring. Luckily we had umbrellas, but not enough to go around, so we had to shelter under the awning.

They also sell lavender ramune here, and it tastes pretty much the same wherever you buy it.

The melon bread we waited in line so long for was really too sweet. The kids, though, loved it.

They can even market a potato like this—so good at marketing!

The rain stopped, but it was still overcast, so we kept wandering.

A view from the café up high.

This shop is so delicate and charming, like a little elf house.

Besides the house where the distillation process is on display, there are also several perfume sampling spots in the park. My kid and I tried them all, and every scent smelled great.

Besides the purple tractor, there was also a purple motorcycle.

We made our way around to the flower fields on the north side, which required crossing a big road. The flower fields over here are larger, but the walk is longer and there’s also a hill to climb.

There was also a patch of red flowers up on the hill, but I really couldn’t climb any farther, so we headed to the next stop—Hinode Park. After leaving the busy Tomita Farm, Hinode Park was almost empty.

Although we were already exhausted, we still climbed to the top of the hill, went up to the observation deck, and even bought a smoothie.

Everything was neatly arranged, which was really soothing to look at.

After going up and down the hill, we tried once again to check off Hokuseiyama Lavender Garden, but before we even got there, it started raining again. Not willing to give up, we still drove in to take a look, and sure enough, the ropeway was closed again. We really had terrible timing!

The sky was gloomy, but the roads were still lined with lush greenery. The temperature had also passed the most sweltering part of the day and was starting to turn cool. Walking along the country lanes felt especially refreshing.

Since we couldn’t go to Hokuseiyama, we went back to the Prince Hotel once more. There are several popular Instagram spots near the Prince Hotel, and the Fairy Terrace we visited the day before was one of them. That day, we planned to go to the Forest Clock Café and the Wind Garden.

The entrance to the Forest Clock Café is at the end of a small path next to Fairy Terrace. The forest after the rain had an especially secluded, winding-path-through-the-hills feel.

My child fell asleep in the car, so I got out first and went to the café to order curry rice and two desserts.

The café is tucked away in the forest, with a very peaceful atmosphere.

Right next door is the Wind Garden. By the time we arrived, it was almost closing, but the garden isn’t large and can be toured in about an hour. After buying tickets at the ticket booth, a shuttle bus takes visitors to the garden entrance; if you don’t take the shuttle, it’s about a 15-minute walk one way. When we got to the entrance, it was pouring, so we decisively chose the shuttle.

The sign at the entrance lists all the flowers currently in bloom.

The idea behind this garden design is that something will be in bloom in every season, but when we visited at this time of year, the flowers felt a little too busy.

After leaving the garden, it was dinner time again. After looking through a bunch of Furano restaurants, we ended up going back to kumagera. I think this was the first time I’d ever gone to the same restaurant two days in a row.

We got there early that day, so there was basically no wait. I had wanted to order everything we hadn’t tried the day before, but several of the dishes I wanted were already sold out.

We ordered this cheese tofu, which reminded me a bit of milk tofu from Inner Mongolia. It was pretty good.

Corn — pretty sweet, but not especially memorable. Potatoes — pretty good, but not especially memorable. I forgot what this soup was called; it looked interesting on the menu, but it didn’t seem all that special when I drank it. Steak — tasted a bit like the steak you’d get at a Western-style restaurant in China, with decent meat quality.

Fried shrimp rice bowl. The fried shrimp was quite good, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside — soft and crunchy.

I ordered the raw beef rice bowl again, and as expected, it was reliably delicious. Basically every table in the restaurant seemed to get one.

When we were paying, someone had been blocked by me on the way, and he waved at me to move aside. It was actually pretty rude, but with his vibe, plus the way he waved, he strangely reminded me a bit of Hattori Heiji.

Now let me talk about how our kid almost got lost:

The hotel has two laundry rooms: one is shared by men and women, and the other is for women only and requires a password to enter. The laundry room and the hot spring are both on the 9th floor, which is very convenient. Washing is free, but drying requires coins. Every night, the laundry room is packed, and people have to wait in line. We always timed things carefully so we could wash, then hurry to dry, and then collect everything right away, so the people behind us wouldn’t have to wait as long.

After we got back to the hotel, we went to soak in the hot spring as usual. After that, I returned to the room, while my teammate and the kid were happily hanging out outside. Just as I sat down, my teammate said the kid had almost gone missing. I was shocked. My teammate explained that after we finished soaking on the 9th floor, the two of them were happily eating ice cream in the lounge. Later, my teammate went to the laundry room to dry some clothes, but after inserting the coins nothing happened, and there weren’t any spare coins on hand, so he decided to hurry back to our room on the 3rd floor to get another coin. At that point, the kid was still slowly eating his ice cream, and my teammate told him to wait in the lounge and said he’d be right back. But when my teammate returned to the 9th floor with the coin, the kid was already gone! So my teammate started searching all over the place, shuttling between the 9th floor, 3rd floor, 1st floor, 3rd floor, 9th floor, and 1st floor. On the second trip to the 1st floor, he saw the kid standing at the front desk, asking the staff for a room key card. As soon as the kid saw my teammate, he burst into tears.

The kid is very prideful, so when we asked him what happened, he kept dodging the question. Only after repeated questioning, plus a bit of pressure and sweet-talking, did he finally admit it: after Dad left, he was worried Dad had gotten lost, so he ran to the room on the 3rd floor to look for him, but Dad wasn’t there. Then he went to the lobby on the 1st floor to see if Dad was exchanging money, but Dad wasn’t there either. Next, he wanted to go back to the 9th floor to find Dad, but going up from the 1st floor required swiping a room key card. He saw someone else swipe their card, then quickly pressed the 9th floor button first, which forced that person to swipe again. But when he got to the 9th floor, Dad still wasn’t there. So he went back to the 1st floor and asked the front desk for a room key card. Since he didn’t know how to say “room key card” in English, communication with the front desk was a bit difficult, but thankfully the staff understood what he meant and gave him a key card. However, while he was anxiously waiting, the ice cream melted and got stuck all over the card, so the card wouldn’t work in the elevator. The kid got anxious and ran back to the lobby, where he happened to run into his dad.

Fortunately, the hotel was still a pretty safe place, and in the end father and son reunited without any real danger. But after that, the kid had to have either me or his dad right beside him whenever we were out, and it did leave a bit of a shadow on him.

Speaking of ice cream, the free ice cream provided after soaking at this place was also really good. Every morning they also gave out free Yakult. As for the food, the hotel’s overall standard was truly high. Even so, aside from the food, parking and service still had a few things to complain about. Unfortunately, in Furano, it really is hard to find many decent hotels.

2023 Japan Travel Series

This series covers the author’s travels in Japan after a trip back home and before returning to the United States.

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