Chitose

This day trip is quite fulfilling, allowing you to easily explore Noboribetsu and Lake Toya without driving. Our guide, Ms. Onodera, was friendly and funny, providing thorough introductions to the history of each attraction, as well as Hokkaido's unique food, entertainment, and recommendations. The meeting point was clear, the weather was great, and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. There was plenty of time at each stop to take pictures. Lunch was a simple meal purchased at a convenience store, which we enjoyed while sitting by Lake Toya and taking in the scenery. At Cape Earth, the clear weather allowed us to see Hakodate in the distance, giving us the feeling that the Earth is round. If you didn't purchase a bear park ticket in advance, you can buy one from the guide upon arrival or take a walk around Showa Shinzan outside the park. Along the mountain roads, we were pleasantly surprised to occasionally see wild deer by the roadside. At the Lake Toya observation deck's gift shop, you can buy yogurt drinks, balloon pudding, birch sap, and lavender-related products. You can also purchase medicinal horse oil at the bear park. I think this tour offers excellent value for the money.

Amazing day tour! We saw and experienced so much in one day. The guide was fantastic — friendly, funny, and explained everything perfectly in English, Japanese, and Chinese. He created a personal and friendly atmosphere with every traveler. Thanks for such a fun and memorable trip! 🌟

The aquarium is within a 15-minute drive from Chitose Airport. Although the aquarium is not big, it has a lot of content. It takes about 1 to 1.5 hours to visit and experience it. It is quite suitable for planning the last attraction before taking the flight. After actually visiting with my family, I would even recommend that you can arrange a special visit. What seems to be very impressive is: 1. The underwater observation area where you can directly watch the appearance of the bottom of the Chitose River outdoors in the museum. Through the glass window, you can see the salmon returning for spawning. 2. The doctor fish (fish doctor) in the experience area will help you remove the dead skin on your hands (very gentle but itchy), and there is also a sturgeon touch pool. 3. The display shows the ecology of freshwater fish from all over the world, which is quite rich and special (different from the content of the ocean park and aquarium) There is a large free parking space on the side

We arrived at 1:30 PM after having lunch at the New Chitose Airport domestic terminal since our arrival was at 12 PM. I thought it would be a group tour, but since it was off-season, only 2 people from our team had applied. Usually, they could cancel it if a team isn't formed, but they fulfilled their responsibility and responded very kindly. Especially, two staff members saw us off for just the two of us, and the driver was so kind. He even gave us an umbrella because it might rain when we arrived, haha. The schedule was a reasonable amount of time to see Otaru, and they got us to Sapporo on time. I think booking a tour from the airport was a great idea rather than making plans again in Sapporo. I highly recommend it. Thank you.

Although we have multilingual headsets which provide us with narration and description of attractions coming up, when there's no narration and the lady guide will start to say some things about whatever she's relating to, it's only in Japanese, so there are occasions that we have no idea what every Japanese tourist is laughing or clapping about. I feel like I could have done this through a VR headset at home instead. Nothing relatable and personal about the tour.

Rail pass is easy to use. For reserved seat it easy to book/change timing thru ticketing machine or thru ticketing counter during operating hours. You may obtain the JR timetable from the JR counter.

Since it's the off-season, flights from China arrive at the New Chitose Airport domestic terminal. Be aware that a section in between requires you to exit the building. Thankfully, I asked at the information window on the 1st floor (the staff member there spoke Chinese). You need to exit and then find counter #2; a staff member will be there (the blacked-out area in the official website's picture indicates where you can't walk through). For the return trip, there weren't any staff at the hotel, so I asked the hotel staff. They said to just wait for the bus at the entrance. Overall, it was good. Both drivers on the outbound and return trips drove very safely, and there was even a rest stop once.

This pass allows you to travel quickly to tourist spots in southern Hokkaido such as Sapporo, Hakodate, and other important places, as well as to the northern part of Honshu such as Aomori, Morioka, Akita, and Sendai to see all the stations. It's really great!

We took a customized itinerary day trip from Lake Toya to Otaru including Uzusan Hellvarly on the way and it was perfect. Driver is very punctual, friendly and helpful in every way. It was a really great experience with my family taking this trip.