Furano & Biei in One Day
Lavender at Farm Tomita first thing, the patchwork hills of Biei, a lunch of local vegetables, the Blue Pond and the Shirahige waterfall, and a slow drive home
Last updated 2026-09-03 · 1-day self-guided plan
Furano & Biei Flower Fields
Purple fields, rolling hills, one blue pond
For anyone in central Hokkaido in summer who wants the flower farms and the hills in one loop, ideally by rental car, with the crowds beaten at the start.
1Farm Tomita
From Asahikawa or Furano, drive to Nakafurano and be in the car park by 8:30, before the coaches. The fields are free to walk: bands of lavender in July, with poppies, marigolds and baby's breath striped beside them through August. Walk up to the top of the Traditional Lavender Field for the view back over the town to the Tokachi mountains, then queue for lavender soft-serve on the way out.
1.5–2 HoursCost: Free
2Biei Patchwork Road
Drive about 40 minutes north to Biei and turn into the hills north-west of the town. The Patchwork Road is a loop of farm lanes through fields of wheat, potato and beet planted in blocks of different colours, with a few famous single trees named after old television commercials. Stop at Hokusei-no-oka observatory, with its pyramid hut, for the widest view around 11:00.
1.5–2 HoursCost: Free- 3
Lunch in Biei town
Biei's small centre near the stone-fronted station has a handful of restaurants using the vegetables you have just been driving past: curry with local potatoes and asparagus, corn in season, Biei wheat bread and milk from the dairy farms. Park at the station and walk; most places open for lunch late in the morning and are quieter by 13:00.
45 MinutesCost: ¥1,000–2,000 
4Blue Pond
Drive about 20 minutes south-east on the road towards Shirogane Onsen. The pond was created by a dam built after a volcanic eruption, and minerals in the water give it a milky blue that shifts with the light; dead larch trunks stand out of it. A flat gravel path runs along one side and takes ten minutes. It is busiest in the middle of the day, so arrive by 14:00 and then leave the coaches to it.
45 MinutesCost: Free- 5
Shirahige Falls
Five more minutes up the road, in the little hot-spring hamlet of Shirogane, a bridge looks down on Shirahige Falls, where groundwater pours in white threads out of a cliff face into a river the same blue as the pond. From the bridge the Tokachi peaks stand behind the falls. Warm up in a day-use bath at one of the hotels here before the drive back, which is about 45 minutes to Asahikawa.
45 MinutesCost: Free
Day 1 Estimated Cost
- Food¥2,000–3,500
- Car & fuel¥6,000–10,000
- AdmissionsFree
Tips
A rental car from Asahikawa or Furano makes this day; the hills have no useful buses. Without one, ride the seasonal Norokko sightseeing train to Lavender Farm station for Tomita and join a local bus loop for Biei.
The lavender rows and the pond path are dusty and dry, the falls bridge is windy: trainers, sun cream and a hat, because Hokkaido's July sun is stronger than the temperature suggests.
Melon at a roadside stand between Furano and Biei is the mid-morning stop, and lavender soft-serve tastes better than it sounds; save real hunger for the vegetable curry in town.
Lavender peaks mid-July, and the fields are photographed from the top of the slope looking down, not from the bottom; the Blue Pond is bluest under a clear sky before noon and dull in rain.