Rishiri Island is a remote island apart from the northern tip of Hokkaido. Mt. Rishiri, one of the one hundred top mountains of Japan, is located at the center of the island and known locally as “Rishiri-Fuji”. A road circles the island and you can enjoy the panoramic view of the mountain from the ponds around the island.

Photo

Recommendation

Mt. Rishiri
I would like you to drive on a road which circles the island, and enjoy the great view of Mt. Rishiri and small hiking. The place to see is Hime-numa Pond, Otatomari-numa Pond, Minamihama Marshland and Mikaeridai Picnic Site. If you like climbing mountains, you can try.

Sunset
Yuhigaoka Sunset Observatory and Cape Kutsugata Park are popular. During my visit, the sun setting behind Rebun Island on the sea was so beautiful.

*A link for your reference
Rishiri Island Tourist Information

Access

Your travel to Rebun Island 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, but infrequent. I think that rent-a-car is more useful.
We carried my own car to the two islands on the ferry, but the fee was very expensive. If you stay long in the islands, that will be also your option.

Travel route

Your schedule in the island depends on whether you climb the mountain or not. It takes you a whole day to drive around the island to enjoy the view, but must take more if you are planning to climb the mountain.
For your reference let me introduce the travel route when we made a tour around Hokkaido for 40 days. We visited Rebun, Wakkanai and Soya area as well as Rishiri, and would like to recommend you the driving on the “Ororon Line”, the straight road to Wakkanai in the western coast of Dohoku area.

 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 chose the pension “RERA MOSIR”, because we could stay with my dog here. As this pension provides us a nice dinner and wonderful hot spring, we could be so relaxed. It seems that you can also get a information and some support services for climbing the mountain. There are some other hotels and guesthouses in the island, and you will be able to find your favorite one on the travel reservation websites.