How does the sentence “All you can eat fruit picking with no time restriction” sound to you? If you’re anything like us, then excited is an understatement. Fruit picking makes for the perfect excuse to stopover in Yoichi for the day with friends and family this autumn.
Over the weekend, we paid a visit to in Yoichi. The orchard is open 7 days a week from mid-June to early November. Opening its doors at 9:00am and closing at 5:00pm, there’s a whole lot of time to fit in as much fruit-eating as you can handle.
With free on-site parking, it is most convenient to travel to by car. The journey takes approximately one hour if you depart from Niseko. Alternatively, travel by train to Yoichi Station, and the orchard is a 5-minute taxi ride away (the fee is roughly ¥1,200).
You can check in advance which fruits are in season by visiting Yamamoto’s website. Luckily for us, having visited in late September, the fruits in season were grapes, apples and prunes - amazing! There can easily be two or more kinds of fruit available to eat at any time which makes for a very fun adventure around the orchard.
The cost for an all-you-can-eat entry ticket is ¥1,100 for adults and ¥880 for children. Add an additional ¥750 onto the price, and you can eat all you want in the park as well as take some fruit home with you (weight limits apply).
After paying at the entrance, you will pick up your very own fruit picking basket. Staff are extremely friendly and will help point you in the right direction to find assorted fruit with an illustrated map. Then, all that is left for you to do is simply wander through the endless rows of vines and trees, eating the delicious fruit on offer. Pick as much as you can eat, and leave the orchard when you feel content.
As a coastal location, Yoichi is a popular tourist spot. In addition, it is a sightseeing orchard town, offers vast amounts of quality seafood, has its own and is fast becoming famous in Japan and throughout the world as Hokkaido’s premier wine valley.
The best way to explore Hokkaido is to do just that, get out and explore it! Let our team at MnK Niseko help you organise a during your stay to make it even easier to get to the places you want to visit. Our autumn road trip package is also valid until November 30, to find out more! Make the most of the glorious autumn weather and see what Niseko and its surrounding towns have to offer.