Let's play to the fullest! Recommended Spots in Hokkaido for Fun with Kids
Hokkaido has many spots where children and adults alike can return to their childhood memories and enjoy theme parks, parks, and animal encounters in the great outdoors. Ziplines, which are popping up all over the island, are a great way to enjoy the thrill of gliding through the wilderness.
In this issue, we will introduce not only popular spots but also recommended spots for those in the know.
- * Please note that the text shown on this page includes machine translations.
Take the time to observe the creatures! There are also facilities where you can enjoy petting the animals!
There are many facilities where you can directly interact with animals living in the rich nature of Hokkaido. You can learn the value of life while observing the animals, a valuable experience.
- Sapporo Maruyama Zoo (Sapporo City)
- The zoo is conveniently located within 30 minutes from the center of Sapporo. About 170 species of animals live in the zoo. One of the attractions of the zoo is its close proximity to the animals, such as the dynamic swimming of polar bears, which can be observed through an underwater tunnel! The spacious park also has a lawn area for picnics and a cafeteria. Both adults and children can enjoy the zoo all day long.
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- Hakodate Dosanko Farm (Hakodate City)
- This is a horse riding club where you can ride “Dosanko,” a Hokkaido Japanese breed horse. Even beginners can feel at ease as they are carefully taught, and can trek through grasslands and nature on Dosanko, a mild-mannered horse. There is also a full-scale menu including lessons on horseback archery (yabusame), so please contact the facility for more details.
- Website（Japanese site）
- Farms Chiyoda Fureai Farm (Biei Town)
- This is a free admission ranch where visitors can interact with cute animals such as ponies, jersey cows, sheep, goats, and llamas. A variety of hands-on programs are available for children to enjoy, such as horseback riding, milking cows, and milking calves. You can feed the animals from the feed boxes set up throughout the ranch. The moment the animals start to eat from your hand is even more adorable!
- Website（Japanese site）
- Sahoro Resort Bear Mountain (Shintoku Town)
- This facility covers an area of 15 hectares. Visitors can observe brown bears in their natural habitat. You can enter the brown bear forest on a bus with iron bars, or observe brown bears while walking along a boardwalk built on high ground. You can enjoy the realistic and powerful observation of brown bears!
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Nature and parks where you can play freely with your body
Children love to move around even when traveling! Here are some parks and facilities in Hokkaido where they can play to their heart's content.
- Sapporo Satoland (Sapporo City)
- This is a facility where visitors can have fun experiencing agriculture on a vast site.Visitors can experience harvesting fresh seasonal vegetables and feeding sheep and goats. There are many hands-on programs that children will enjoy, such as making their own butter, sausages, and ice cream. There are also a variety of interesting bicycles, SL buses, and athletic playground equipment.
- View more (Japanese site)
- Funkawan Bay Panorama Park (Yakumo Town)
- The park is located on a lush green hillside overlooking Funka Bay. Families can enjoy a full day of fun with a wide variety of recreational facilities, including a vast lawn area, unique large playground equipment, a large indoor playground facility that can be enjoyed even in the rain, an auto-camping area, and a colorful flower garden.
- Website（Japanese site）
- Kamuinomori Park (Asahikawa City)
- The park is full of playgrounds, including a variety of athletic equipment for children of all ages, indoor play facilities with the warmth of wood, a water playground, and a campground. Hands-on learning activities such as crafts and events are also available.
- Website（Japanese site）
- Okhotsk Sea Ice Park (Mombetsu City)
- The park is a vast park divided into four blocks, each with a variety of facilities. The children's playground area is filled with fun-looking equipment such as a large wave slide, a giant jungle gym, a jumping mountain, and a pit combination playground! There is also a spacious indoor playroom.
- Website（Japanese site）
No problem even on a rainy day! Spots to play indoors
The weather is a concern when traveling, but it's all up to luck. Here are some indoor spots that the whole family can enjoy even when the weather is bad. Let's have fun even on a rainy day!
- Shiroi Koibito Park (Sapporo City)
- Shiroi Koibito Park is a theme park where visitors can see, learn about, taste, and experience confectionaries. Visitors can observe the production process of “Shiroi Koibito,” a popular souvenir of Hokkaido, make their own original sweets, compare chocolate tastes, and have fun with their family.
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- AOAO SAPPORO (Sapporo City)
- This urban aquarium is located on the 4th to 6th floors of the “moyuk SAPPORO” complex in the heart of Sapporo. New exhibition methods, such as the “Library Aquarium,” where books and aquariums are categorized like a library, and an innovative aquarium where visitors can observe the dynamic behavior of the northern penguins up close, are the talk of the town. Why not pay a casual visit during sightseeing or shopping?
- Website
- ROYCE' CACAO&CHOCOLATE TOWN (Tobetsu Town)
- Why not try a workshop to make your own original chocolate at “Lloyds Cacao & Chocolate Town,” a hands-on facility of Lloyds, famous for its fresh chocolates? A large chocolate board measuring approximately 23cm x 12cm is finished by freely topping it with dried fruits, nuts, and other ingredients! The finished product will be packaged in a box, so it will make a great souvenir.
- Website
- Hakodate Kids Plaza (Hakodate City)
- This all-weather indoor play facility is located inside Kiraris Hakodate in front of Hakodate Station. Visitors can relax and play in a playground where they can use their whole bodies, or in an area where they can play with building blocks, play house, and read picture books. The indoor terrace is also a great place to eat and drink for families with small children.
- Website（Japanese site）
- Kenbuchi Town Picture Book Museum (Kenbuchi Town)
- This unique building is an impressive facility that combines a picture book library and an art museum. Visitors enter the museum without shoes, so they can spend a relaxing time sitting or lying down inside. In addition to picture books, there is also a “play house,” a furniture house for playing house, and a “wooden sandbox” with about 100,000 wooden balls, so there is never a dull moment!
- Website（Japanese site）
- Yumenomori Park Visitor Center (Nakashibetsu Town)
- Doritsu Yumenomori Park is a local favorite with its extensive outdoor and indoor playground equipment. The spacious egg-shaped visitor center is filled with playground equipment and toys! From slides and trampolines to bouldering and tricycles, this facility is fun for the whole family.
- Website（Japanese site）
Let's make various memories! Experiences and Activities
Enjoy activities in the great nature of Hokkaido and create wonderful memories with your family. What you experienced as a child will stay with you forever, along with the fun, surprise, and excitement!
- Kita Yuzawa Mori no Soraniwa (Date City)
- This resort hotel is a sports experience type hotel. The facility offers many fun activities for children and adults alike, including an outdoor athletic park where you can try zip-lining in a lush forest, an indoor attraction park with a wide variety of playground equipment, and a hot spring beach with natural hot springs.
- Website
- Forest Adventure Eniwa (Eniwa City)
- This outdoor park is located in the Lulu Map Nature Park Fureland. There are three dynamic zipline courses with different levels of difficulty, and kids can try the kids' course with a minimum height of 90cm. During the winter season, you can also take a zip trip tour with an instructor through the beautiful silvery forest!
- Website
- Hanazono Niseko (Kutchan Town)
- This facility allows visitors to enjoy outdoor activities to their heart's content in the great outdoors of Niseko. There is a zip line, the longest in Japan at 1.7 km, which flies at speeds of up to 110 km/h, and six tree trekking courses with athletic items high up in the forest trees. Fun kayaking for a leisurely stroll on the water, tree walking for a spectacular view, and many other fun activities are available.
- Website
- Jozankei Farm (Sapporo City)
- This farm has a beautiful orchard garden with blooming flowers and fruit trees. There are many experiences to enjoy the great outdoors, such as tree trekking, fishing ponds, and a forest playground where small children can play. Visitors can also enjoy experiences that are not usually available, such as making things using nuts, branches, and flowers and herbs grown in the garden. Seasonal fruit picking and making pizza and jam using seasonal vegetables are also recommended.
- View more (Japanese site)
- Onuma Canoe House (Nanae Town)
- Experience tours that allow visitors to fully enjoy the rich nature of the beautiful Onuma and Onuma swamps spread out at the foot of Komagatake are popular. Visitors can enjoy seasonal activities such as nature exploration, canoeing, desert island exploration, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. Early morning tours in the morning mist and night tours with beautiful moonlight are also fantastic.
- View more (Japanese site)
- Usotannai Placer Gold Mining Park (Hamatombetsu Town)
- With the careful assistance of an instructor, visitors can actually enter the river to experience digging for gold dust. Using “Yuri-ita” and “Katcha,” traditional tools for gold dusting from ancient Japan, even first-timers can enjoy authentic gold dusting. In addition to the experience of entering the river, there is also gold dusting, in which visitors search for gold dust in a water tank, which is a more casual experience.
- Website（Japanese site）
- Engaru Forest Okhotsk Roadside Station (Eastern Hokkaido)
- The first roadside station in Hokkaido to have a ski resort attached to it, it offers many fun activities, including a powerful zipline, tree trekking where you can enjoy walking from tree to tree in the air, and a silvery white ski slope in winter! Since it is a roadside station, it is also a convenient place to eat and look for souvenirs.
- Website（Japanese site）
Exciting for both adults and children! Museums and Galleries
Here we introduce participatory facilities where you can enjoy using all five senses: seeing, touching, and making! Have fun with the whole family!
- Historical Village of Hokkaido (Sapporo City)
- This open-air museum features relocated and reconstructed buildings from the Meiji to early Showa periods that were located in various parts of Hokkaido. In addition to touring buildings that tell the history of pioneering Hokkaido, visitors can enjoy horse-drawn wagon trains (summer) and horse-drawn sleigh rides (winter) on the tracks, and try their hand at straw crafts and old-time games such as beanbags, poker, and menko (Japanese pinball)!
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- Hakodate Miraikan (Hakodate City)
- An indoor facility where parents and children can enjoy experiencing “science” together. On the “Media Wall,” a huge LED display, visitors can enjoy powerful images on a large screen, including views of Hakodate and games played while moving their bodies. Be sure to check out the monthly science workshops for parents and children! Hakodate Kids Plaza is also located on the upper floor of the same building, so be sure to enjoy both!
- Website（Japanese site）
- Miyama Toge Art Park (Kamifurano Town)
- This is a complex facility centered around the “Trick Art Museum,” a hands-on museum. Both adults and children will surely be fascinated by the optical illusions of the trick art, which makes flat pictures appear as if they are popping up in three dimensions, and by playing around with trick photography! A ride on the Ferris wheel, 50 meters above the ground, is also recommended for a panoramic view of the majestic Tokachi Mountain Range.
- Website（Japanese site）
- Ashoro Museum of Paleontology (Ashoro Town)
- This museum exhibits mainly marine mammal fossils found in Ashoro about 25 million years ago. Skeletal specimens of large animals are a sight to behold! Visitors can also enjoy hands-on activities such as a mini-excavation where they can use various tools to dig out real fossils and mineral crystals from the stones.
- Website（Japanese site）
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