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Full-day tour from Sapporo: Noboribetsu and Lake Toya

Last updated: August 26, 2026

Lake Toya at dusk in winter, a pink and violet sky over the snow-dusted volcanic peaks beyond, with the lakeside town's lights strung along the far shore
Photo:Lake Toya in winter, the second half of the day out of Sapporo. The lake sits in a caldera, and the peaks behind it are still active volcanoes.

Trade Sapporo for southern Hokkaido's volcanic heartland on a full-day tour pairing Noboribetsu's Hell Valley with the caldera waters of Lake Toya. At Jigokudani what lies beneath your feet is not just earth but the remnant of an eruption from tens of thousands of years ago — a steaming crater landscape of sulphur vents and bubbling springs, crossed on boardwalks, that feeds Hokkaido's most famous onsen town. Lake Toya answers it with calm: a near-circular caldera lake, islands at its centre and volcanoes on its rim, at the heart of a UNESCO Global Geopark. Cape Chikyu's Pacific cliffs, the SAIRO lookout, the smoking flank of Showa Shinzan and a pause at Lake Shikotsu round out one generous loop through Shikotsu-Toya National Park.

Itinerary

Route
Departure
  1. Start point: Sapporo TV Tower
  2. Stop at: Noboribetsu Park Service Center
  3. Stop at: Noboribetsu Jigokudani (Hell Valley)
  4. Stop at: Cape Chikyu
  5. Stop at: SAIRO Observatory
  6. Stop at: Lake Toya
  7. Stop at: Mount Usu
  8. Stop at: Showa Shinzan
  9. Stop at: Lake Shikotsu
  10. End point: Sapporo TV Tower
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