Follow This Blog

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Grand Hotel Daisetsu (グランドホテル大雪)| Hot Spring Hotel | Daisetsuzan National Park

Asahidake area (旭岳) in the Daisetsuzan National Park is one of the famous hot spring areas in Hokkaido. It is surrounded with the great nature, and we can enjoy calm atmosphere here. Today I'll show you "Grand Hotel Daisetsu (グランドホテル大雪)", a small hot spring inn, in this area.

Look at this↓ The hotel serves genuine 100% pure hot springs!!! Sounds very relaxing, doesn't it?

Whey you enter the building, the shika deer and a brown bear welcome you at the lobby area.

Let's go through the lit-up corridor and..............

This is a single room.............. Don't expect too much about rooms in this hotel. We came here to enjoy hot spring!!! Hahaha!

From the room window, the vapor from the hot spring and beautiful nature can be enjoyed. There are no noisy city sounds around here. 

This is a dinner set. Again, don't expect too much about food here! Hahaha!

Well, well, well, the is a main event!!!! Let's take hot spring!!

Their hot spring is brilliant! Some mineral encrustations are floating in the water, which is one of the evidences this water is 100% pure natural hot spring!!

This is an inner bath area, which has both high-temperature and low-temperature hot springs. I chose the latter one, spent here for about 30 minutes, and enjoyed the water with a lot of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, salt, and sulfate.

Let's go to the outdoor hot spring area! This is in the forest, and we can enjoy the very fresh area here!

Look at the abundant water!!! The hotel has four kinds of hot spring sources.
After taking the hot spring, our fatigue and stress were completely gone, and our skins became very smooth and younger!!!

After eating breakfast, we went to Mt. Asahidake (2,291m), the highest mountain in Hokkaido. It takes only five minutes from this hotel to the rope way station.

Voila!!! How beautiful the autumnal leaves are!!!

I really love avens
We can go near the craters, and enjoy the sulfur smell and vapor close by.

We enjoyed the 1-hour walking course near the Sugatami station (姿見駅), a summit station.

If you want to enjoy autumnal leaves here, the mid October is the best season, but please check the real situation constantly before climbing the mountain.

■Where is "Grand Hotel Daisetsu (グランドホテル大雪)" hot spring area?


View Larger Map

↑See!! The hotel is by Mt. Asahidake!!


■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Monday, October 29, 2012

KINOTOYA 2 (きのとや 2) | Ice Cream & Cheese Tart Stand | New Chitose AP

The New Chitose Airport has a lot of attractive restaurants and cafes. Today, I'll show you "KINOTOYA 2", a yummy x 2 dairy sweets stand"♪

One of the popular items here is the cheese tarts

We can enjoy freshly-baked hot hot hot cheese tarts at this stand!!! Perfect ♪

How about their soft ice cream? Among four kinds of flavors; milk, raspberry, chocolate, and caramel, I chose........................

Raspberry! The ice cream is made of Hokkaido milk, and very rich, dense, and ..............................

super-milky, which goes well with this sour raspberry sauce!!! Yummy x 2!!! "Kinotoya (きのとや)", is one of the famous sweets companies in Hokkaido, and I also recommend their other sweets such as cookies and cakes.

This stand is on the 2nd floor of the Center Plaza at the New Chitose Airport.

■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Kita no Lamp Tei (北のランプ亭)| Seafood BBQ Restaurant | Shiraoi

If you want to enjoy delicious seafood BBQ and hot spring at the same place, I recommend "Kita no Lamp Tei (北のランプ亭)" in Shiraoi (白老)!

This restaurant is just in front of the Pacific Ocean! Perfect location, isn't it?

When it's a beautiful day, it is great to eat lunch at the terrace!

How beautiful the ocean is!!

This is the menu for the lunch time. You must be surprised at a portion for one person.

Voila!!!
These are "Seafood BBQ sets (海鮮炭定食)" for four persons. My guests really enjoyed this delicious seafood caught off this area! The seafood so fresh that we can eat it as sashimi!!

They also ordered a "meat BBQ set (大地の炭焼定食)", 

a "sashimi set (お刺身定食), and
(*They are of course caught in the Pacific ocean just in front of the restaurant!!)

a "deep-fired oyster set (かきフライ定食)".

Look at the plump oysters!

Please dip it in the delicious tartar!!! Yummy x 2!!!

This is today's special (おまかせ定食)! How big the seafood and vegetable fritters are!!

I should have ordered this seafood bowl??? Hahaha!

Actually I ordered a "seafood and meat BBQ set (海・山炭焼定食)"because I love meat, too!

Each set comes with rice, salad, miso soup, pickles, and a small dish like this↓ Are these normal side dishes? No, No, No!!!!

Look at the miso soup! It has several asari clams!!!! I love this fresh seafood texture!!!

Please enjoy the fresh ingredients with three kinds of BBQ sauce!

This is Sakhalin surf clam caught off Tomakomai city! How sweet it is! It is so fresh that I made it rare!

The vegetables were also produced in this area!

How about Hokkaido beef? It is very juicy! I love charcoal-broiled fish and meat!!

This home-made bacon is really recommendable!

This scallop was again caught off this area! Would you like to eat it? Please open your month! Hahaha!

We were so happy to eat such delicious local products!

This salmon was the best among all seafood today! It is perfectly fatty!!

This is not the end of our lunch.
Look at the today's special sashimi memu↓ Today they serve smelt sashimi, squid sashimi, HUGE botan prawn sashimi, Pacific saury sashimi, and boiled hairy crabs.

We ordered smelt sasimi (ししゃも刺), because it is very local. Except this area, it is very difficult to get such fresh smelt and eat it as sashimi!!! Actually when it came to our table, the head was still moving a little bit!! Wow! Wow! Wow!

I love it!!! It is super-delicious!!!

This restaurant is very unique! How unique is it? Let's enter the "Natural Hot Spring --Zange no Heya-- (天然かけ流し温泉 懺悔の部屋)"↓

Yes! It has an outdoor hot spring!

This is just in front of the ocean! How comfortable it is!

The hot spring is alkali with salt!

Look at the large amount of natural water!! And guess what? It is free!!!

The time tricked by very slowly here!

■Where is "Kita no Lamp Tei (北のランプ亭)"?

View Larger Map


■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?I'll guide you! Plz click here!