Northern Hokkaido: Wakkanai, Cape Soya [Trip Day 2.1] 北海道・道北：稚内・宗谷岬

Trip itinerary and map

Cape Soya is about half an hour drive away from Wakkanai station (稚内駅). Once past the town area, it’s a very pleasant drive following the coastline, with the sea on one side and lush green hills on the other.

Cape Soya / Soya-misaki (宗谷岬)

: Northernmost point at Cape Soya (宗谷岬)

The northernmost point! There are plenty of northernmost stuff here.

: Wind turbines in a distance.

: Northernmost point at Cape Soya (宗谷岬)

: “Northernmost restaurant” (食堂最北端)

: In this souvenir shop you can buy a certificate for “arriving at the northernmost point in Japan”. For 1000 yen.

: On the hill looking back

: Another parking area, and some monuments

: And a ramen place. The crab sign saying “the further north you go the better the ramen”

Soyamisaki Farm (宗谷岬牧場) / Soya Rolling Hills (宗谷丘陵)

Across from the seaside park up the hill is the starting point of the Soya Footpath Course, going through Soyamisaki Farm (宗谷岬牧場). The course is nearly 10 km in total so we wouldn’t have time to complete, but there’s a particular place of interest – the “white shell path”, that shouldn’t be too far away.

: From the parking area, the road leads to a restaurant which has a windmill.

: On the back is a view of sea and grass.

: Walking further, we started to see these barns with cows inside. Why were’t out in the field?

: Livestock feed storage tanks

: But soon we saw some cows outside…

: Looking at us…

: From some reason the cows started gathering in front of us.

: Lining up…

: Good bye cows

We walked on after some cow watching. But the “white shell road” was still nowhere in sight, so we decided to go back to grab some lunch first and then return to get the car to cover more distance.

: Resaturant / sovernir shop

: They have arious dishes made from the local Soya Black Cows

: More cows right behind the restaurant. They would be what end up on your plate

: Soya beef burger meal. Delicious

: Back on the car, looking for the “white shell path”

: On the way there’s a vantage point sign. So we parked there and took in the excellent view

: Soya Rolling Hills (宗谷丘陵)

: Lots of wind turbines

: According to sat nav, the “white shell path” is almost there. So we walked…

: Finally, the “white shell path” (白い貝殻の道). The white colour comes from crushed scallop shells covering the path.

: Blue, green and white.

We turned back towards Cape Soya; just when we were at the hillside park, a small herd of deer appeared. It’s the first time we saw wild deer with their beautiful antlers – These aren’t the pseudo-wild deer seen in other places in Japan like Nara or Miyajima, that take biscuits from tourists hands and had their antlers cut off for safety! We had to keep our distance while taking pictures…

: First, just one crossing the road…

: And then a herd

: Northernmost point in Japan with deer

Fukuko Market (副港市場)

Returning to the Wakkanai town area, we made a stop at the Fukuko Market (副港市場). There’s a shop that sells Wakkanai produced dairy products, and then later on we had planned to come back for dinner at a Russian restaurant there. Wakkanai is geographically close to Russia, and this restaurant is quite famous here with authentic dishes, so we had high expectation. But then we found out it’s closed on Sunday!

: On the way back, we could see the distinctive silhouette of Rishiri Island

: Fukuko Market (副港市場)

: Although named as a “market”, it’s mainly restaurants and it only has a small area selling food stuff.

: Shop with Wakkanai dairy products.

: Wakkanai milk (稚内牛乳). So rich it’s almost sweet.

: Interesting decoration on the restaurant floor

: Russian restaurant Pechika (ペチカ) closed for the day. Oh no

We tried to check out a few more restaurants nearby that we were interested in, but they were either closed (for Sunday), or finished for the day (it’s not even 6 pm!). Well, in a small town like this just can’t expect these small local restaurants to open for long! Finally, we went back to Wakkanai train station which has a restaurant still opened.

: Fujita (ふじ田). Basic eatery in Wakkanai train station.

: “Wakkanai Don” (稚内丼). Enough volume but not so good as the batter turned soggy.

: Crab fried rice. Reasonable.

: Paid a visit to the nearby supermarket to stock up on some food for breakfast tomorrow. In Tokyo we had never seen cherry produced in Hokkaido, so we bought a pack to try.

Yuhi-ga-oka / Sunset Hill Parking (夕日が丘パーキング)

At this northern location, sunset in the summer is after 7 pm. It’s the right time to catch a view of that after an early dinner. Previous entry mentioned a good place to view sunset is Cape Noshappu; but as it’s easily accessible from town it tends to attract more of a crowd; with a car, we tried another recommended place a bit further away – Sunset Hill Parking (夕日が丘パーキング).