Eating our way from Noboribetsu to Hakodate | Japan 2016 | Episode 8

With some R&R in the books we were off to our next city destination, Hakodate. Japan’s first port opened to foreign trade, we were eager to explore and see what outside influences still remain in the city.

We started the day’s adventure with a generous Japanese breakfast, before being dropped off at the bus station.
We had a short bus ride to Noboribetsu Station and had plenty of time to get off the bus and get to our platform before the Super Hokuto pulled in to take us to Hakodate.

On the train we enjoyed another small meal. We seem to be pros at being prepared with food for the train. Not only were we well stocked before getting on the train, we finally found out what was waiting for us in the basket we had seen carried up and down the aisle on all the trains we had taken in Hokkaido. It was ice cream! Hokkaido special ice cream, and we couldn’t help ourselves. It was delicious!

The train trip was a little less than three hours and with all the eating on the train we arrived before we knew it. The station was larger than Noboribetsu as to be expected as it was the end of the line. Our hotel, The Vista Bay Hakodate was a 15 minute walk according to Google Maps, and 25 minutes later we were there. As we had luggage with us, a few short breaks were in order. Google Maps should have a luggage in hand option!

Despite all the food we already consumed throughout the day, we were hungry. We wanted to find a place the locals eat at so we headed back to the train station (15 minutes this time!) and asked at the Information Centre. They steered us in the right direction and it wasn’t long before we came across an interesting Izakaya. It was definitely for the locals, they only had a Japanese menu, but with Google Translate and pictures were managed to put in an order and enjoyed everything which showed up.

It had been a week since we arrived in Japan, but were still fighting jet lag, and as sad as it was we were exhausted and it was only 7pm. We headed back to the hotel, stuffed from an amazing meal and ready to get some sleep. Tomorrow we had a full day to explore Hakodate.

For more details about this episode visit our show notes page:

Locations seen in this episode
Noboribetsu Onsen Kyo Takinoya –
Southern Road Bus Station –
Noboribetsu Train Station –
Hakodate Information Centre –
Hakotami-Shokudo Izakaya –
La Vista Hakodate Bay –