Furano Cheese Factory and the Flower Fields Around It

• Top choice Colored Hokkaido: Furano from US$48 Ratingrated 4.56 from 122 reviews^[3]Duration1 day^[3]Guide languagesEnglish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean^[3]Main stopsFarm Tomita, Blue Pond, Shikisai No OkaCancellationcancel up to 24 hours in advance^[3] Check availability
• Hokkaido Highlights Day Trip from US$56 Ratingrated 4.55 from 87 reviews^[5]Duration10 hours^[5]Guide languagesChinese, English, Japanese^[5]Main stopsCape Kamui, Otaru Canal, Shiroikoibito ParkCancellationcancel up to 24 hours in advance^[5] See this tour
• Biei Furano Flower Sea from US$43 Ratingrated 4.76 from 51 reviews^[6]Duration10 hours^[6]Guide languagesChinese, English, Japanese^[6]Main stopsBiei, Furano, Shikisai No Oka, Farm TomitaCancellationcancel up to 24 hours in advance^[6] See this tour

Furano Cheese Factory in Hokkaido's Dairy Country

Furano is dairy country, and the Furano Cheese Factory sits right in the middle of it: a cheese factory Furano families have grown up with, where milk from nearby farms is turned into wheels of cheese. Visitors usually wander past the viewing windows, watch the vats, and finish in the shop, where you can taste before you buy. It is an easy, cheerful stop, especially with children, and it pairs naturally with the flower fields, the lavender farms and the drive out to Biei.

The town itself is small enough to cross in an afternoon. Furano's population is approximately 26,000 including the incorporated communities in the outskirts, while the population of the main municipal area is said to be about 16,000.^[7] That scale shapes the visit: you are never far from a farm gate, a bakery, a small restaurant or an open field, and the pace stays gentle and unhurried. Allow time to simply sit and eat.

Treat the cheese factory as a relaxed stop rather than a whole outing, and build the rest of your day around the countryside. Buy a cool bag if you plan to carry cheese home, and check your own country's rules on bringing dairy products back before you load up. Otherwise the day belongs to lavender, rolling hills and the blue water at Biei, with a coffee stop somewhere in between.

Getting to Furano from Sapporo

Furano is about a two hour drive from Sapporo using the Doo Expressway between Sapporo and Mikasa.^[1] The route opens into farmland once you leave the motorway, and a rental car gives you the freedom to stop at viewpoints, roadside stands and the cheese factory on your own schedule. Driving also lets you follow the back roads through the Biei hills at whatever pace suits you.

If you would rather not drive, trains and highway buses connect Sapporo with Furano, usually with a change at Asahikawa. The ride through the mountains is a pleasant journey in its own right, with rivers and forest most of the way. Seats on summer services can sell out, so reserve ahead if your dates are fixed and you want to travel in the middle of the day.

Coach day tours from Sapporo suit anyone with a short stay. You are collected in the city, driven through the countryside, with a stop at a local restaurant, and dropped back in the city at the end of the tour, with all the long stretches handled for you. That is the appeal of the Colored Hokkaido tour, which visits the Biei Blue Pond, Patchwork Road, Shikisai No Oka and Farm Tomita in one day.^[3]

Stripes of lavender running toward the hills outside Furano

Farm Tomita and the Lavender Season

Farm Tomita is the reason many people come to Furano in summer. The farm covers 29 hectares after doubling in size in 2008 with the addition of Lavender East, and it welcomes over a million tourists annually.^[8] Lavender starts blooming from late June to mid-August,^[2] so the purple weeks sit neatly in the middle of the school holidays.

Lavender has been cultivated in Hokkaido since the 1940s,^[9] and the rows here run in long stripes of purple, white and pink toward the hills. The scent is strongest in the warmth of the afternoon, while the light for photographs is best early or late in the day. Farm Tomita is one of the stops on the Colored Hokkaido day tour.^[3]

The farm is popular, so plan around the busiest hours. Come with the first coaches or stay on after the crowd thins, use the edges of the rows for pictures rather than blocking the main path, and leave time for the shop. Lavender oil, soap and dried bundles pack flat, and they make light souvenirs for the flight home.

Shirogane Blue Pond and the Biei Hills

The Shirogane Blue Pond was created when emergency erosion-control dams backed up water after the December 1988 eruption of Mount Tokachi, and it appears blue because suspended aluminium colloids scatter light.^[10] Standing at the railing you see dead larch trunks standing in still water that shifts from steel grey to bright turquoise as clouds move across the sky. It is a small, quiet place that rewards a slow look rather than a quick photograph.

Close by, groundwater seeping from the rock face plunges about 30 metres to the river below at Shirahige Waterfall.^[11] Mount Tokachi, the volcano behind this whole landscape, is 2,077 meters high.^[12] Both the Blue Pond and Patchwork Road are stops on the Sapporo day tour, so you can see them without working out the mountain roads yourself.^[3]

Biei's hills are working farmland, not parkland. The area around the Seven Stars Tree is known as Patchwork Road, where different crops are planted in each plot, forming Biei's iconic scenery.^[13] The views include golden wheat, purple potato flowers, green bean fields and brown plowed earth,^[14] so the colours change from week to week through the growing season.

Shikisai-no-oka and the Summer Flowers

Shikisai-no-oka is a panoramic flower garden in Biei that covers fifteen hectares of land.^[15] Rows of salvia, marigolds, lupins and sunflowers are planted in broad ribbons across the slope, and a slow loop on foot is the best way to take it in. There are benches and viewpoints along the way if you want to sit and watch the light move over the hills.

Summer here is mild rather than hot. The average temperature in Furano in July is 22.1°C,^[4] which keeps a walk around the flower fields comfortable and makes a light jacket welcome in the evening. Bring water and a hat, since there is little shade on the open hillside, and wear shoes you do not mind getting dusty.

The flower farms, the cheese factory and the Biei hills all sit in the same spread of countryside. If you are travelling independently, give the area a full day rather than trying to squeeze it in between two other towns, and keep the driving short so you have time to stop whenever something looks good.

What the Day Tour from Sapporo Covers

The Colored Hokkaido: Furano Flower & Biei Blue Pond tour from Sapporo runs for 1 day and costs from US$48.^[3] It is rated 4.56 from 122 reviews, a live tour guide speaks English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean, and you can reserve now and pay later with free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance.^[3]

The route begins at one of 2 starting location options, then travels by bus or coach to Patchwork Road in Biei, the Shirogane Blue Pond, Shikisai No Oka, a local restaurant and Farm Tomita, finishing at one of 2 drop-off locations.^[3] It is a full day out, and the coach takes care of the long roads so you can watch the scenery instead of the traffic.^[3]

If your preferred date is full, other operators run similar itineraries. The Sapporo: Hokkaido Biei Furano Flower Sea Tour Blue Pond costs from US$43 and is rated 4.76 from 51 reviews,^[6] while the Hokkaido Highlights Day Trip heads west toward Cape Kamui and the Otaru Canal, from US$56.^[5] Compare stops, group size and pickup points before you decide.

Seasons, Weather and What to Pack

Furano is a year-round destination rather than a summer-only one. In one recent season it received 158 cm of cumulative snowfall in the first two weeks of December, on top of 45 cm that fell in November.^[16] Winter visitors get ski slopes, snow-covered farmland and a very different landscape, while spring and autumn are quieter and the fields turn over to other crops.

Pack for layers whatever the month. Summer days are warm enough for short sleeves, but evenings cool down and mountain weather can turn quickly, so a rain shell, comfortable walking shoes and a sun hat cover most situations. In winter you need proper boots, gloves, a warm hat and something windproof for standing around outside.

Leave room in your bag as well. Cheese from the Furano Cheese Factory, lavender oil, melon sweets and local wine all make good souvenirs, and a cheese stop at the end of a flower-field day is a fine way to finish. Buy chilled items last, keep them cool in the car, and eat the soft ones within a few days.

Plan your Furano day

1. Choose your season

   Lavender fills the fields from late June to mid-August, while winter brings snow and a very different landscape.^[2]

2. Decide how you will travel

   Driving gives you flexibility: Furano is about a two hour drive from Sapporo using the Doo Expressway between Sapporo and Mikasa.^[1]

3. Book the day tour early

   The Colored Hokkaido tour from Sapporo costs from US$48, runs for 1 day and offers free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance.^[3]

4. Add the cheese factory

   Slot the Furano Cheese Factory into a free half day, taste before you buy, and keep a cool bag for the drive back to Sapporo.

5. Pack for the weather

   July in Furano averages 22.1°C, warm enough for short sleeves but cool in the evening, so bring a light layer and a rain shell.^[4]

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