Southern Circuit

The Southern Circuit (道南 Dōnan) covers the western and central parts of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Cities

• 🌍 Hakodate (函館市 Hakodate-shi) – domestic tourists come in droves for the food, culture and history
• 🌍 Hokuto (北斗市 Hokuto-shi) – adjacent to Hakodate, terminus of the Hokkaido Shinkansen's first phase; it is a bedroom community for Hakodate

Towns and villages

Cherry Blossoms at Matsumae Castle

• 🌍 Matsumae (松前町 Matsumae-chō) — it has the only traditional-style castle in Hokkaido, and an Edo village
• 🌍 Oshamambe (長万部町 Oshamambe-chō) — known for Kanimeshi bento (crabmeat on rice)

Other destinations

• 🌍 Onuma Quasi-National Park (大沼国定公園 Ōnuma Kokutei Kōen) - placid lakes and a steaming volcano

Understand

Get in

Hakodate is the main gateway, with trains north to Sapporo and south to Honshu, as well as ferry connections to Tohoku.

Get around

See

Do

Eat

Drink

Go next