Most of the things we did while staying in Tomamu were actually in Furano or the surrounding area but there’s plenty to do at Hoshino Resort Tomamu.
Hoshino Resorts Risonare Tomamu has a golf course, which it appears not many people play on, we didn’t have a round, but the hotel has loads of wide open space and like most things in Japan, there’s always good places for kids, especially younger kids. Take a chairlift up the hill or hike up (not really a hike, this is literally a walk up a hill) and there’s a bit of a playground, fort, some hay bales, tree climbing and a few other things like that on the way. All good things to fill in a morning but nothing absolutely wicked. The hotel also has a good catch and release fishing pond and Mina Mina Beach, basically a large artificial wave pool which is better than nothing but got pretty crowded in the afternoons. You can check out this page for other things to do at the hotel. Basically we spent the first day around the hotel and plenty of things to do and keep you busy.
At the hotel you can get up early (real early) and supposedly witness the “Sea of Clouds” at Unkai Terrace. Looks great in photos but in reality I think it’s rather hit and miss what you actually get.
On the second day we headed to Furano, specifically, to Farm Tomita (click here for the website). Not sure how to describe this, basically a farm with a shitload of flowers and lavender (which is seasonal). The drive there is quite long, a few hours, some nice scenery on the way but pretty frustrating driving in Hokkaido. Make sure to check out when things are in blossom because with no flowers, it’s basically just a farm of nothing. Not really one for the kids, regardless of age, so keep that in mind. Grobbler had a bit of a meltdown so you’ve got to keep them entertained or bribe them with Hokkaido Ice Cream. There’s a few other places around the area you can visit but all pretty much same, same – flower type places so it’d get tedious very fast.
Farm Tomita Furano
Bear Mountain
Bear Mountain Hokkaido
Because Grobbler had such a stink time at Farm Tomita, we drove up to Asahiyama Zoo, which you can read more about in Toucan’s Tips for Kids. Pretty typical for zoo’s in Japan, this one’s pretty big and you could easily spend a day there although we spent a few hours because it was a pretty long day already before we got there. Good selection of animals, petting zoo for small kids and animals kept in pretty poor conditions. I’ve seen much worse, but if you like animals and don’t like seeing them in captivity, Japan is not the place to go to visit zoos. Asahiyama Zoo is just outside the main city of Asahiyama, about 60km north of Furano.
The Blue Pond in Biei is rather famous with locals and worth a drive to, not jaw-dropping spectacular, but if you’re driving around Furano, take a look. Apparently it was used a Mac wallpaper, quite a few people but so much that it made it unpleasant. You can spend about an hour there at the most.
Blue Pond Biei Hokkaido
Other than that, didn’t do a whole lot in Furano or Tomamu. Perhaps it’s better in the winter, well for sure it’d be better in winter, but still, not bad, just not a place you would return to unless you maybe lived in Japan.