Biei Blue Pond Tour from Sapporo: What the Day Looks Like

• Top choice Colored Hokkaido: Furano from US$48 Duration1 day^[1]Guide languagesEnglish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean^[1]Rating4.56 from 122 reviews^[1]CancellationFree up to 24 hours ahead^[1]Main stopsBlue Pond, Shikisai No Oka^[1] Check availability
• Asahiyama Zoo & Blue Pond from US$48 Duration9 hours to 1 day^[3]Guide languagesChinese, English^[3]Rating4.49 from 47 reviews^[3]CancellationFree up to 24 hours ahead^[3]Main stopsZoo, Blue Pond, Ningle Terrace^[3] See this tour
• Biei Best 5 Photo Tour from US$60 Duration10 - 10.5 hours^[4]Guide languagesEnglish, Korean, Chinese^[4]Rating4.72 from 77 reviews^[4]CancellationFree up to 24 hours ahead^[4]Main stopsLate departure photo stops^[4] See this tour

Why Biei's Blue Pond draws people from Sapporo

Shirogane Blue Pond sits in the hills above Biei, and the first thing most people notice is the colour: a flat, milky turquoise that photographs almost too well. The second thing is the trees. Dead Japanese larch and white birch stand upright in the water like a sculpture garden, the remains of a patch of dry forest that now stands in the pond.^[5] The blue itself comes from suspended aluminium hydroxide colloids in the water, which scatter blue light in a process called Rayleigh scattering, the same process that makes the sky look blue.^[2]

The pond is not ancient. It was created accidentally in 1988, when erosion control dams were built along the Biei River to protect against mudflows from the active volcano Tokachidake.^[6] Tokachidake stands at 2,077 m (6,814 ft) and its last eruption was in 2004.^[7] A young, man-made pond with a live volcano above it is part of what makes the place feel slightly strange in the best way.

You may already have seen it without knowing. The Blue Pond appeared in Apple's WWDC 2012 MacBook Pro with Retina Display introduction.^[8] It has since become a standard stop on a Biei day trip, and it is easy to reach on a coach tour from Sapporo. Go early if you can: the water is often calmest before the wind picks up, and the light is softer for photographs.

What the Colored Hokkaido day tour does

The tour booked from this site is Colored Hokkaido: Furano Flower and Biei Blue Pond From Sapporo. It starts from US$48 and is rated 4.56 from 122 reviews.^[1] The listing gives the duration as 1 day, and you check availability to see starting times.^[1] A live guide travels with the group in English, Chinese, Japanese or Korean.^[1]

The coach picks up at 2 starting location options in Sapporo and drops off at 2 drop-off locations.^[1] Along the way it stops at Patchwork Road in Biei, then Biei, Shirogane Blue Pond, Shikisai No Oka, a local restaurant and Farm Tomita.^[1] Free cancellation runs up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund, and you can reserve now and pay later.^[1]

That shape of day suits travellers who want the scenery without the driving. You sit back while the hills open up north of Sapporo, step out at each stop, and let someone else handle the parking, the narrow farm roads and the timing. It also folds the flower fields and the pond into one loop instead of two separate trips, which matters when your Hokkaido stay is short, and it leaves the evening free back in the city.

Pale trunks stand in the blue water where a forest once grew.

Patchwork Road, Biei's hills and Shikisai-no-oka

Biei's hills are working farmland, and the patterns you see from the road are crops in rotation. Wheat is one of the four main crops in the cycle, along with potatoes, beans and sugar beet, and together they form the patchwork landscape on the hills.^[9] Depending on the month, a field might be green, gold, white or bare earth, so the same road looks different from one visit to the next.

Shikisai-no-oka is the showpiece of the area: panoramic flower gardens spread across fifteen hectares of land.^[10] The tour stops here, so you get time to walk the rows and look back over the hills. Bring a light jacket even in midsummer, since open fields can feel cool once the sun goes behind a cloud, and remember that the rows change colour through the season, so returning visitors meet a different garden each time.

Photographers tend to shoot in two directions here, wide for the bands of colour and close for single blooms against the sky. Families do well at this stop as well: paths are gentle, the views are easy to enjoy from the entrance, and there is room for children to move. Eat properly at the restaurant stop later in the day rather than snacking your way through the fields.

Farm Tomita and the lavender window

Farm Tomita is the lavender name most people know, and timing matters more than anything else here. At the Traditional Lavender Field, lavender blooms from late June to late July, with the best viewing season from early to mid-July.^[11] Book for that window and you get the purple rows at their peak; come later and you meet a greener, quieter farm.

Outside the lavender weeks the farm still works as a stop, with other flower fields and the wider grounds to walk through. The tour pairs it with Shikisai No Oka and the Blue Pond, so one day gives you three quite different kinds of Hokkaido scenery.^[1] If lavender is the reason for your trip, choose the dates first and the tour second.

The lavender weeks are the busiest stretch in Furano, so it pays to book early. Booking a listing with free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance gives you room to move if the weather turns.^[1] Watch the forecast in the days before you travel, and pack for wind as well as sun, because the Furano basin can be breezy while Sapporo feels perfectly still.

Shirahige Falls and getting to Shirogane

Shirahige Falls is the other water stop in the Shirogane area. The falls drop approximately 30 meters into the Biei River, and they are a rare subterranean stream waterfall: the water flows directly from cracks in the rock face rather than from a stream running above ground.^[12] White threads against dark rock are what gave the falls their name.

Doing this stretch by public transport is possible but fiddly. From Biei Station the Blue Pond is about 20 minutes by Dohoku Bus route 39.^[13] From Sapporo it is about 1 hour 25 minutes by JR Limited Express to Asahikawa plus 60-70 minutes by bus.^[13] Winter buses have few daily departures, so a coach tour removes the timetable worry.

A day tour starting in Sapporo saves you the Asahikawa transfer and the bus connections, and it usually pairs the pond with the falls and the flower fields. If you are staying in Biei or Furano rather than Sapporo, look for a listing with pickup in your area instead, since a long return drive to the city is a poor use of a short trip.

Winter at the Blue Pond illumination season

In winter the Blue Pond is lit, and the season has fixed dates. The illumination runs from October 24, 2025 to April 22, 2026.^[14] Lighting starts at 5:00 PM in October, November and January, 4:30 PM in December, 5:30 PM in February, 6:00 PM in March and 6:30 PM in April, and runs until 9:00 PM.^[14]

Biei has a cold continental climate with warm summers and freezing winters.^[15] Expect snow underfoot and ice on the paths, and dress in layers with boots that grip. The pond freezes, the surrounding trees hold snow, and the lights turn the scene into something closer to a stage set than a lake.

Winter days are short, so a lit pond is often the last stop rather than the first. Build in extra time for road conditions, and keep your camera battery somewhere warm, because cold drains it quickly. Summer visits to the same spot feel entirely different: green banks, fast water and long daylight that lasts well into the evening, with the trees reflected in a still surface.

Choosing between Blue Pond tours from Sapporo

Several operators run this corner of Hokkaido, and the differences come down to price, group size and stops. Sapporo: Asahiyama Zoo, Waterfall, and Blue Pond Tour starts from US$48 and is rated 4.49 from 47 reviews.^[3] Sapporo: Asahiyama Zoo, Shirahige Waterfall and Blue Pond Day Trip starts from US$48 and is rated 4.25 from 113 reviews.^[16] The Biei Best 5 Must-Visit Day Tour, a late departure, starts from US$60 and is rated 4.72 from 77 reviews.^[4]

If you would rather have the vehicle to yourself, private day trips are on the market too. From Sapporo: Biei, Furano or Asahikawa Private Day Trip starts from US$599.^[17] From Sapporo: Biei Blue Pond and Furano Flowers Day Tour starts from US$446.^[18] Those suit families and small groups who want to set their own pace, stop for longer at the pond, or add a detour on the way home.

Read the stops before you read the price. Some listings put the zoo first and the pond later, others lead with the flower fields, and a few keep the group small. Check the duration as well, because a shorter day means less time at each stop. Whichever you pick, one day from Sapporo covers a lot of ground, and the cancellation terms on most listings make it easy to change your mind.

How to plan your day trip

1. Pick your month

   Choose by what you want to see: lavender in bloom, green crop fields in summer, or the lit pond in the colder months.

2. Book a seat

   Compare the stops and the from price on each listing, then reserve with free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance.^[1]

3. Meet the coach

   The Colored Hokkaido tour has 2 starting location options in Sapporo, so check which one sits closest to where you are staying.^[1]

4. Layer up

   Biei swings between warm afternoons and cold mornings. A light jacket, comfortable shoes and a water bottle cover most of the day.

5. Stay flexible

   Weather moves fast in the hills. Free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance gives you room to shift the day.^[1]

Answers before you go