Hokkaido II Day 3: Toyako Visitor Center & Volcano Science Museum

We woke up at 7am and headed to the onsen for our morning wash up.

The view of the mountain from our room window in the morning

Toya Kohantei Hotel provided the most comprehensive amenities, which included lotion, hair oil and even shaving liquid!

View of Lake Toya from the indoor onsen
Photo credit: Toya Kohantei Hotel

View of Lake Toya and Mount Yotei from the outdoor onsen
Photo credit: Toya Kohantei Hotel

The view of Lake Toya from the onsen was super amazing! While we were soaking in the outdoor onsen, it started snowing! 😆🥹 I was so happy that I could share the moment with my girls this time, unlike my last visit to Hokkaido! 😍🩷 It was an experience I'm sure we'd treasure for years to come! ☺️

After washing up, we had breakfast at the restaurant. With the sun up in the sky, we got a good view of Lake Toya and Nakajima Island from the restaurant as well!

The highlight of breakfast every morning was the waffles!

Enjoying our daily breakfast
(Hokkaido milk and butter is a must!)

At the end of our breakfast, we could not see Nakajima Island when we looked out of the window as it was snowing very heavily! 

Heavy snow!

Trying and failing to capture the beautiful snowfall outside

We managed to capture a photo with Lake Toya and Nakajima Island when it stopped snowing!

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We decided to take it slow today and not visit Mount Usu as planned because we were exhausted from the commute to Toya. We decided instead to explore the neighbourhood and give the kids more time to play with the snow! By now, the temperature has dipped to -2°C! 😁🤩❄️

Having fun in the carpark just opposite our hotel

My family loves the cold! 😁

The Illumination Tunnel from the night before looked very different in the day!

Walking along the street and popping into shops that caught our fancy

The Boy bought this toy from one of the souvenir shops along the street

Toyako is really beautiful in winter and we took our time to enjoy the scenery as we walked down the street to Ideyu Bridge.

Canal filled with snow

Me and my only son

After walking for about 15-20 minutes, we arrived at the Toyako Visitor Center & Volcano Science Museum where we wanted to learn about the history and information about the area. 

Look out for this sign on rocks for the entrance to the Toyako Visitor Center

Beautiful gardens surrounding the main building

Toyako Visitor Center & Volcano Science Museum 
(opening hours: 9am to 5pm)

We paid ¥600 per adult and ¥300 per child (6-14 years old) to visit the Volcano Science Museum. It wasn't expensive but the museum was really small and could be completed in less than an hour.

Entrance to the Volcano Science Museum

If you like volcanoes, this museum was very informative and we learnt about how Mount Usu and Lake Toya were formed.

I personally liked the 3D map of Toyako which gave us perspective of where we were

Simulation box of the eruption of Mount Usu

Mount Usu is one of the most active volcanoes in Japan. The last eruption was on 31 Mar 2000, almost 25 years ago! It's predicted that the next eruption would be between 22 and 50 years, which meant that it could erupt anytime that we were in Toya! 😬

We headed to the theatre for a very informative but slightly slow and boring show about the history of Mount Usu and its eruptions. The show was in Japanese but the museum provided us with headsets for the English translation. 

The museum's small theatre

If volcanoes are not your thing, you can consider visiting the Toyako Visitor Center for FREE. You'd still get to learn a lot of valuable information about Toyako and the living things that grow there!

The Visitor Center has 2 floors

Learning about the flora and fauna of the land

Interesting information about Lake Toya and other similar lakes in Japan

Taxidermied native animals

View from the 2nd floor was captivating

Beautiful view of the mountain

We had a great time and recommend stopping by if you're visiting Toya! 👍🏻

The kids love to play in the snow every chance they get!

We walked back to our hotel and stopped for lunch at Horaiken Ramen along the way.

Horaiken Ramen

Menu with many languages for ease of ordering

Our yummy ramen and gyoza

The Japanese staff were so amused that the biggest bowl of ramen we ordered went to my Boy! He really loves his ramen! 😅

After a satisfying lunch, we continued our exploration of the neighbourhood until we were too tired to walk!

With the Lake Toya signboard

Taking pictures with Lake Toya brought me back to 12 years ago when the Hubby and I first visited!

Even though it was still early, we decided to return to the hotel to rest. Since we didn't have much to do, I decided to visit the onsen with the Littlest.

Late afternoon at Toyako

Littlest was excited to go to the onsen

Sneaked a picture of our favourite outdoor onsen when there wasn't anyone.
The view of the lake was so soothing to my soul! 😍 

With nothing to do until dinner at 5.30pm, our family hung out in our room together. Sometimes, it's just nice to slow down and enjoy our fellowship together! ☺️

Yummy dinner at the hotel's restaurant

We were given special desserts as reward for staying more than 1 night 😁

The family went to the onsen after dinner and so did I 🤭😅 It was my first time going to the onsen three times in one day and admittedly it was too much! 😵 

All in all, still a very good day! 💖😊 

Continue to >> Hokkaido II Day 4: Mount Usu
<< Back to Hokkaido II Day 2: Train to Toya Kohantei Hotel

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