Lake Toya, Hokkaido

Lake Toya is a volcanic lake, and is one of my favourite places in Hokkaido because it’s peaceful and beautiful. i love it in summer as the sky and the lake are a brilliant blue, and there’s a short 20min display of fireworks every night over the lake.

due to its depth, Lake Toya never freezes over; the 3 small islands in its centre are a popular (but slightly pricey) ferry ride away from the shore where the many hotels and japanese ryokans are:

Lake Toya is a great place to chill out and relax, although there are only a few attractions in the vicinity. One of them is the Volcano Science Museum, which details the volcanic activity of Mt. Usu, with a free exhibition of the wildlife around in the area. Outside the museum are many solar panels:

The museum is right next to the Konpira Crater Hazard Area – it features the preserved  remains of buildings that were destroyed when Mt Usu erupted in 2000.

I love Toya too :) 

 This is a little small, but if you look closely, you can see the shattered windows and crumbling walls of the building

We wanted to visit the Nishiyama Crater Promenade, a walking trail that’s meant to bring visitors close to the crater created when Mt Usu erupted most recently. I thought it was near the Konpira Crater Hazard Area – there was a walking trail nearby too – but that only led us on a long walk up till a dead end in the hot sun. At least we got some nice views though:

A view of Lake Toya and the Toyako Onsen town. That’s me in the picture below – the road we’re on is the former highway linking Toyako Onsen and Sapporo that was cut off and put out of use by the 2000 eruption.

The sad state of the road we were on – we had doubts as to where we were going once we got on this road, and those doubts were confirmed soon after:

The Nishiyama Crater Promenade was actually a bus ride away from Toyako Onsen to the foot of the hiking trail. I was really tired by then as we’d been walking for much of the morning, and it was a steep climb uphill. The view was good, but pity about the branches though:

The Konpira Crater Hazard Area below:

And here is the elusive Konpira Crater Lake – i love the colour of the crater lake. I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t steaming like it was on the tourism website though:

 

 

we stayed at Toya Sansui Hotel Kafu [洞爺山水ホテル　和風（かふう)], a smallish hotel slightly off the edge of the lake. That makes it cheaper too. In fact, our hotel was really cheap, at only 5800yen per night, inclusive of dinner and breakfast – most places charge at least 7000-8000yen. Our room had a view of the lake – and hence the fireworks – and was a typical tatami room with shower, tv, fridge, kettle and tea.

Breakfast was so-so only, but dinner was really good. We calculated how much such a dinner would cost at a restaurant outside, and concluded that we were paying perhaps less than 2000yen for the room itself. Here’s breakfast – there was tofu, fish, egg, toro, a boiled vegetable dish and rice:

 

and here’s dinner – it was amazingly delicious with pork shabu with delicious goma (sesame) sauce, sashimi, fish, a small crab claw, 3 small dishes of savoury food (one was mushrooms, another had fatty pork!) and super sweet yubari melon:

I’d recommend this hotel to everyone wanting to visit Lake Toya! Prices do not increase on weekends too – we were there on a Saturday – which makes it extra extra worth it :)