Rebun Island
Rebun Island in Hokkaido is called “an island of flowers”, where you can see many alpine flowers even at sea level and some of them cannot be found anywhere else in the world. I am not interested in flowers in my daily life, but enjoyed hiking to find many pretty flowers during my stay in this island. The landscape of some capes and the view of Mt. Rishiri across the blue sea are also wonderful.
Photo
My recommendation
Hiking
There are some hiking courses to enjoy the alpine flowers. You can get each information at the tourist information in Kafuka Port, and then choose your favorite one. I enjoyed “Momo-iwa Tenbo-dai Course” and “Rebun-rindo Course”. In the former course I enjoyed many alpine flowers on the hill surrounded by the sea, and in the latter I found a red-headed black woodpecker in the forest. Local people say that it cannot be seen easily.
Rebun Atsumoriso Area
If you stay in this island from the end of May to the middle of June, I would like to recommend you visit here. You can see the alpine flowers “Rebun Atumoriso” (Cypripedium marcanthum var. rebunense), which cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Capes in the island
There are some capes to visit in this island. You can enjoy a beautiful blue sea in “Cape Sky”, and a wild landscape in “Cape Scoton” that is the northern tip of the island, and harbor seals in “Cape Kaneda”.
Kita-no-Canaria Park
This is a park where a Japanese movie “Kita-no-Canaria-tachi” was filmed. However, even if you do not know this movie, I would like to recommend this park because the view of Mount Rishiri from here is so great!
*A link for your reference
Rebun Island Tourist Assciation
Access
Rebun Island is about 60km west from the northern tip of Hokkaido, and your travel will start from Wakkanai. Most people take a ferry to travel around Rebun Island and Rishiri Island.
Scheduled bus services are available in the island. I think that rent-a-car in this island is more useful (but expensive).
We carried my own car to the two islands on the ferry, but the fee was so expensive. If you stay long in the islands, that will be also your option.
Travel route
I have made a tour around Hokkaido for 40 days, and let me introduce the travel route for your reference. After starting the tour from Hakodate, I entered Dohoku region to visit Rebun, Rishiri, Wakkanai and Soya area. If you have time, I recommend the driving on the “Ororon Line” which is the straight road to Wakkanai along the western coast of Dohoku, where you can enjoy a great view such as Mt. Rishiri on a clear day.
Although some tourists make a day trip, I would like to recommend to stay for a while because there are many places to see and great hospitality of the inhabitants. As we felt so comfortable, we stayed 4 nights in this island.
| Day | Move | Sightseeing | Stay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hakodate -> Haboro (car) | (None) | Haboro |
| 2 | Haboro -> Wakkanai (car) Wakkanai -> Rebun (ferry) |
Ororon Line Cape Noshappu |
Rebun |
| 3 | around Rebun (car) | Rebun | Rebun |
| 4 | around Rebun (car) | Rebun | Rebun |
| 5 | around Rebun (car) | Rebun | Rebun |
| 6 | Rebun -> Rishiri (ferry) | Rebun, Rishiri | Rishiri |
| 7 | Rishiri -> Wakkanai (ferry) | Rishiri, Wakkanai | Wakkanai |
| 8 | Wakkanai -> Soya -> Next (car) | Cape Soya, Soya Hills |
Accommodation
We stayed at “Kame to Hamanasu” that is a guesthouse called “minshuku” in Japan. We could feel at home here because the staff were so kind! There are some other guesthouses, hotels and camp sites in the island, you will be able to find your favorite accommodation on the travel reservation websites.
Restaurant
I strongly recommend fresh seafood in this island such as sea urchin. You will be able to enjoy them in the guesthouse, hotel, and restaurants as well. Below you can see the dishes I enjoyed in the restaurants.
“Hokke ChanChanYaki” (hokke fish grilled with miso sauce) in “Robatachidori”
“Uni-don” (bowl of rice topped with sea urchin) in “Sakatsubo”
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