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2025 Summer Lavender & Northern Hokkaido Tour Photos

Our 2025 Summer Lavender & Northern Hokkaido Tour was a flower-filled adventure across Japan’s northernmost island. From the lavender fields of Furano and the colorful hills of Biei to exploring Rishiri and Rebun Islands with their stunning coastal views, every stop was full of beauty. We enjoyed fresh seafood (including live king crabs), the sweetest melons in Yubari, delicious sake tastings, and relaxing onsens along the way. Tour members also had time to shop in Sapporo and stroll the streets of Otaru before heading home with plenty of memories (and omiyage) to bring back!

Tour Manager: Laureen Chu

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A delicious Japan Airlines bento box to start the trip!

First stop, Rishiri!

We took a short ride to Kamui Kaigan Park where we cleaned and ate fresh uni (sea urchin).

Cleaning the uni.

Ready to eat.

Oishii!

Everyone totally enjoyed this experience!

Right after, we went to make and cut konbu to take home as souvenirs.

Konbu souvenirs

Sanpoushi Misaki Park to see some seals.

Overcast weather at Otatomari Pond, so we weren't able to see the mountains in the background.

Map of Rishiri Island

Day 4: Traveling to Rebun Island by ferry.

Visiting Sukuton Cape in the Rishiri Rebun Sarobetsu National Park

Mount Rishiri in the background.

Such beautiful weather, perfect for a group shot.

Day 5: Exploring Himenuma Pond

What a beautiful pond with mirror like reflections of Mount Rishiri.

The decked walkways made it easy to walk around the whole pond abs enjoy the scenery.

We took a ferry to Wakkanai and upon arrival shopped at a local dried seafood marketplace.

Always time for ice cream!

After shopping, we visited Soya Cape, the Northern most point in Japan.

Also saw some wild deers there.

Topped off the day with a kaiseki dinner at Surfeel Hotel Wakkanai in Hokkaido.

Day 6, first stop was Sarobetsu Marshland, a National Wetland Park.

Very comfortable weather.

We followed that up with grilled fish lunch at a local restaurant.

Before dinner, we stopped by the Ningle Terrace Shops, with roughly 15 shops to peruse.

Our stay at the Shin Furano Prince Hotel included dinner and this delicious melon flavored shave ice, which was a hit.

Day 7: we stopped at the Furano Cheese Factory to learn how to make ice cream.

Everyone had so much fun making the ice cream and their waffle cup.

We didn’t have to work so hard as the machine did the mixing for us.

After eating our ice cream treat, we visited Tomita Farm to enjoy the lavender fields.

Lavender usually starts blooming in late June and reaches its peak around mid-July to early August.

We took a short bus ride to lunch at Flowerland Kami Furano.

In the afternoon we visited the Blue Pond in Biei.

The Blue Pond is famous for its vivid turquoise color created by natural minerals in the water.

Scenery was beautiful and we managed to get a group pic!

Shirahige Waterfall, which means “white beard waterfall” from the vision created by the curtains of water cascading through the gaps in the cliff side.

Started day 8 at the Yubari Melon Dome where the popular character “melon bear” was born.

Here the orange-fleshed Yubari Melon (Japan’s Cadillac of melons) is showcased!

We enjoyed enjoy an “all you can eat” melon session!

Aloha from Otaru!

Day 9: We headed to the new ROYCE’ Cacao and Chocolate Town in Sapporo.

Everyone enjoyed the tour and a few tour members made their own chocolate.

After Royce we went to lunch at Kitano Gourmet Tei for our delicious lunch with king crab.

Picking our live king crabs!

We also had a kaisen don lunch with our crab.

Itadakimasu!

The haul from shopping at Tanuki Koji Shopping Arcade.

Day 10: Leisure day in Sapporo. Our local guide Masami led a group around Sapporo station.

Others decided to catch the subway to Cocono Susukino shopping mall. Here is the ramen alley next to the mall.

Ramen alley, Sapporo. Tomorrow the group heads back to Honolulu after some shopping at Aeon Mall. Mahalo for following along!

Find more Japan Summer tours like this one on our Japan Summer Land Tours or Hokkaido Land Tours page.

Explore more adventures in our photo and video galleries below!

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2025 Summer Lavender & Northern Hokkaido Tour Photos

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Explore more adventures in our photo and video galleries below!