“I want to go for a drive amidst the glory of nature.”
“I’ve always had a thing for locations where I’m surrounded by grass, trees and flowers.”
“I want to try Hokkaido’s famous food.” ……
If you have any of these desires, then surely the spot called the “Hokkaido Garden Path” will make them come true.
Hokkaido… the 21st largest island in the world.
Here, there are cities, leisure areas, nature, great food, and any and every kind of tourist spot you’d want on a trip. Of these, the “Hokkaido Garden Path” is a wonderful area with “nature” and “food.”
The “Hokkaido Garden Path,” as it is fondly known, is a course that connects several sightseeing areas.
How did it get this pet name, you ask? On this page, in addition to explaining the reason and meaning of the Garden Path’s name, we’ll really get into its charms!
※Information is current as of 2015※
1. What is the Hokkaido Garden Path?
In 2009, the route running from north-to-south across central Hokkaido was christened the “Hokkaido Garden Path.”
Biei, Furano and Tokachi are sites in nature which are often cited as examples of Hokkaido’s wonderful scenery When Hokkaido is brought up on TV, images from these three areas are often used.
▲Lavender blooming on the highwayside
The Garden Path goes through Tokachi, Furano, and Biei, through Asahikawa with its attention-grabbing zoo, and all the way up to Kamikawa, which is famous for its hot springs.
▲The road near Kamifurano
The first thing to point out is that this Path is not simply a thoroughfare that connects all the sightseeing spots, but that it is a sightseeing spot in and of itself, and a charming location.
The chance to drink in the sights of nature on your drive, and being able to enjoy each garden, is what makes the Garden Path.
2. Features and Highlights of the Eight Gardens
2-1.Taisetsu Mori no (Great Snow Forest) Garden
Taisetsu Mori no Garden is primarily comprised of four areas.
The gardening upkeep in the area called the “forest flower garden” is carried out according to various themes like “the garden of affection” and “the house of four seasons.”
You can enjoy nearly 500 different flower breeds through several approaches.
The gardening in the “forest reception hall” is also composed in accordance with themes. In contrast to the “forest flower garden,” where enjoyment of the flowers is the main emphasis, this “forest reception hall” is an area where you can unwind as as you feel the tranquility of the trees.
For when you’ve worked up a good hungry feeling from your nature walk, you can fix that at an ideal location!
The Garden Cafe has a lineup of food from Hokkaido, which is a treasury of ingredients.
You can enjoy carefully-prepared soup curry loaded with Kamikawa-grown vegetables, hot dogs from pasture-raised pigs, gelato, original coffee and more.
At the garden shop, linked to the cafe, there are many miscellaneous goods which seem like they’ve appeared from nature. From items with tree and leaf motifs to practical items for horticulture, everything available here is something you’d want.
Taisetsu Mori no Garden
・Located at: Kikusui 841-8, Kamikawa-cho, Kamikawa-gun, Hokkaido （Taisetsu Kougen, Asahigaoka）
・Phone number: 01658-2-4655
・Operating hours: 9:00 ~ 18:00（Reception closes at 17：00）
・Fixed holidays: No fixed holidays while the garden is open to the public
2-2.Ueno Farm
Even if it’s called a farm, this is a wonderful garden that really feels like Hokkaido.
Ueno Farm originally sold rice. The people at the farm wanted people who stopped by to enjoy the rural scenery. With this in mind, they planted lupinus, camomile and other flowers, and strived to create a picturesque view.
Furthermore, from that desire to have visitors enjoy the rural scenery, the Ueno Farm people made paths in the fields and planted flowers, which maintained so that anyone can enjoy a stroll around.
Also, the vast hill called Shatekiyama, from which you can get an unbroken view of the landscape and the basin, is a perfect spot for picture-taking!
The natural “Gnome Garden,” surrounded by a lake, is projected to be completed in 2016 (2015 as of this article).
Ueno Farm continues to develop.
Ueno Farm
・Located at: Nagayama-cho, 16-chome 186-banchi, Asahikawa-shi, Hokkaido
・Phone number: 0166-47-8741
・Operating hours: 10:00 ~ 17:00
・Fixed holidays: No fixed holidays while the garden is open to the public
・Garden is accessible from: 4/25 ~ 10/18
2-3.Kaze no (Windy) Garden
Almost all Japanese fans of Hokkaido know this famous garden.
It’s the place where the Japanese TV Drama “Kaze no Garden” was filmed.
The theme is “a garden in the middle of nature.”
While it is a garden, visitors to this location can also savor its wide-open spaces and vast backdrop.
Those who want to see the drama should visit the ‘greenhouse.’ At the greenhouse, there are re-enactments you can watch, which use the actual set from the TV drama.
In addition, at ‘Gabriel’s House,’ there are original goods from the drama as well as artificial flowers for sale, among others.
If you plan to raise seedlings, go to “Rui and Take’s Nursery.” You can choose from many flower seedling varieties, and more.
Kaze no Garden
・Located at: Three minutes away from the Shin-Furano Prince Hotel (Kaze no Garden reception) via their shuttle service
・Phone number: 0167-22-1111 (Shin-Furano Prince Hotel)
・Operating hours: 8:00 ~ 18:00（Reception closes at 17:30）
・Fixed holidays: No fixed holidays while the garden is open to the public
・Garden is accessible from:4/25 ~ 10/18（Cafe open year-round）
2-4.Tokachi Sennen no Mori (Tokachi Millennium Forest)
The Tokachi Millennium Forest was created from the concepts of forests, gardens, agriculture and art.
The extremely extensive scope of the forest grounds is something that can only be realized at Tokachi. The area contains an assembly of garden and forest areas, a farm, and various other facilities.
As for the gardens, they received the “Grand Award” from the UK-based Society of Garden Designers, and were named “the most beautiful gardens.”
Plus, at the farm, you can meet goats, horses and even foxes.
At The Tokachi Millennium Forest, Segway guide tours are currently being held, and you can have a comfortable forest stroll atop a vehicle of the future.
If you are a beginner with Segways, the tour starts on a large grassy plain, so they can get a grasp on how it feels to ride one. Once you get used to it, you can take paths in the forest where you can hear the murmuring of streams, and also make a circuit of the forest garden.
Tokachi Millennium Forest
・Address: 10-Sen, Haobi-Minami, Shimizu-cho
・Phone number:0156-63-3000
・Operating hours:10:00 ~ 17:00（7/1 ~ 8/31, 9:00 ~ Until 16:00 after September）
・Fixed holidays:No fixed holidays while the garden is open to the public
・Garden is accessible from:4/25 ~ 11/3
2-5.Manabe Garden
The style of gardening at Manabe Garden has a particularly individual feel, even among areas on the Garden Path.
It has such a fairy-tale atmosphere that you could liken it to a never-never land.
Manabe Garden has been operated on this land since 1966, for almost 50 years.
With an actual collection of more than a thousand plant varieties, it is a fascinating botanical garden, and is loved by both locals and tourists alike.
There are three types of gardens within the 19-acre grounds: western-style, Japanese-style, and landscape-style.
Maintaining these grounds is difficult, but groundskeeping is carried out by only a few employees.
Through the work of a select few gardeners, an extraordinary atmosphere has been created.
The feel of the space, which is quite different from the city, will surely cure your daily fatigue.
Manabe Garden
・Located at: 6-Banchi, Higashi 2-Sen, Inada-cho, Obihiro-shi
・Phone number:0155-48-2120
・Operating hours:8:00 ~ Sunset ※ In summer, guest admission ends at 18:00
・Fixed holidays:No fixed holidays while the garden is open to the public
・Garden is accessible from:4/25 ~ 11/29
2-6.Tokachi Hills
Gardens, food, farms, shops… Tokachi Hlls makes the best use of its locational advantages and has spots which can be enjoyed in various ways.
The concept of this garden is “an agriculture and food theme park.” There are several events which are held here, where visitors can enjoy sights and experiences.
Roughtly a thousand varieties of flowering plants are grown at Tokachi Hills, of which the lilacs and the azaleas are particular highlights.
Also, edible flowers are cultivated at the “Vies Potage,” which is themed around food. You can eat the flowers here.
In a complete change from gardens where you’re surrounded by plants, dragonfly ponds are spread through the area called the “natural oasis,” and here you can enjoy the sight of flora and fauna such as ruri damselflies and narcissus flowers.
There are several places to eat within the garden. Savor the agriculture and food of Tokachi at your preferred timing and location.
Tokachi Hills
・Located at: 5-13-banchi, Nisshin, Makubetsu-cho
・Phone number:0155-56-1111
・Operating hours:9:00 ~ 18:00
・Fixed holidays:No fixed holidays while the garden is open to the public
・Garden is accessible from:4/25 ~ 10/31
2-7.Shichiku Garden
“I want to create scenes of wildflower fields, like the places I used to play when I was a child.”
–Shichiku Garden was the result of that one woman’s sentiments.
It is also known as “The Happiness Garden.”
The beloved “Granny Shichiku,” as she is known, is responsible for creating the splendid fields of flowers which cover approximately 12 acres of open Tokachi plains.
The beauty of the naturally abundant Shichiku Garden, and the efforts of Granny Shichiku, have become well known through television and print appearances.
Unusually for a garden, Shichiku uses no agricultural chemicals and does no disinfecting. Also, watering has not been done in several years here, and gardening is done with the concept of raising the plants in a genuinely natural environment.
Granny Shichiku says that this is possible through Tokachi’s “safe, healthy soil.”
Through the power of this soil, unearthed through trial and error, plants grow energetically and rapidly.
Shichiku Garden
・Located at: 107-banchi, Higashi 4-sen, Biei-cho, Obihiro-shi
・Phone number:0155-60-2377
・Operating hours:8:00 ~ 18:00
・Fixed holidays:No fixed holidays while the garden is open to the public
・Garden is accessible from:4/18 ~ 11/3
2-8.Forest of Six Flowers (Rokka no Mori)
The garden space known as the Forest of Six Flowers spreads across 24 acres.
A well-known local confectionery company operates the garden.
Notably, the six Tokachi flowers, well-known from being featured on wrapping paper for sweets—specimens of caltha palustris var. barthei, gentiana triflora var. japonica, and glaucidium palmatum Siebold et Zucc., as well as trilliums, dogtooth violets, and rugosa roses—have been given spots here. Inside the garden, starting with mountain wildflowers, you can stroll around and view the various vegetation.
In addition, there are product galleries where you can observe artwork, as well as memorial halls, located at several areas within the grounds, and carving works on the massive hill.
These things originate from products by the confectionery company, so it’s possible to enjoy the garden by treating it as a field trip to a business.
Products from that sweets shop and original goods, among other things, are sold at the rest house and shop area. At the adjoining cafe, you can savor an elegant meal in an open-feeling location.
Rokka no Mori
・Located at: Tokiwa-nishi 3-sen, Naimura, Nakasatsu
・Phone number:0155-63-1000
・Operating hours:10:00 ~ 17:00（6/1 ~ 8/31: from 9:00, October: until 16:00）
・Fixed holidays:No fixed holidays while the garden is open to the public
・Garden is accessible from:4/24 ~ 10/18
4. About Access
4-1.When Going to the Gardens of the Asahikawa and Furano Areas
■From Shin-Chitose Airport by train
It takes roughly two hours and 20 minutes to get to Asahikawa.
■From Shin-Chitose Airport by car or taxi
Taking the straight-ahead route (going through Kuriyama Town and Iwamizawa City) will take up to two hours and 10 minutes.
Even if you use the other way from Shin-Chitose, taking the expressway via Sapporo to go towards Asahikawa, it will still take about two hours and 10 minutes.
Choose the mode of transportation that suits the purpose of your travels.
■From Asahikawa Airport
You can access the heart of Asahikawa City, and the local Ueno Farm, in 30 minutes, give or take.
To get from Asahikawa Airport to the Shin-Furano Prince Hotel (Kaze no Garden Reception), it takes 80 minutes by train, and up to an hour by car or bus.
■Using Central Asahikawa as a Base for Your Trip
It takes up to 26 minutes to get to Ueno Farm from the heart of Asahikawa, and up to 53 minutes by train. It can take up to two hours and six minutes to travel from central Asahikawa to Furano and Kaze no Garden.
4-2.When Going to Gardens in the Tokachi Area
■Going to Tokachi Hills
It takes roughly 20 minutes to get there from Tokachi-Obihiro Airport by car, and up to 42 minutes when using the bus.
You can also get there in two hours and 10 minutes from Shin-Chitose.
■Going to Tokachi Millennium Forest
There is a free parking lot with a 200-car capacity at Tokachi Millennium Forest, so we recommend going by car.
It is an hour from Tokachi-Obihiro Airport, and two and a half hours from Shin-Chitose.
When going by taxi, it will first take up to two hours from Tokachi-Obihiro Airport to get to Tokachi-Shimizu Station by bus and train. From that station, you can get to Tokachi Millennium Forest in 15 minutes by taxi.
■Using Central Obihiro as a Base for Your Trip
To get from Tokachi-Obihiro Airport to central Obihiro, it takes 48 minutes by bus and 34 minutes by car.
■Additional Note
It takes up to roughly an hour to get from Tokachi Hills to Tokachi Millennium Forest by car.
In Closing
The Hokkaido Garden Path, replete with plant gardens, has a natural appeal to people who care about gardening, and will surely leave them satisfied. Even people without particular interest in gardens will definitely feel healed by the open atmosphere.
Why not soothe your fatigue in these places that really exemplify Hokkaido?
Please comment