Taiwan cyclists’ top travel choice: Hokkaido unveils 10 cycling routes including lavender fields

▲ Giant holds a cycling tour in Hokkaido every year. (Photo / fromGiant’s official website)

Reported by Tsai Wen-jun / Compiled by staff

Bicycle tourism, which involves riding up mountains and along coastlines, is becoming increasingly popular, and this trend has now reached Japan too. Hokkaido, with its breathtaking natural beauty, has become a favorite destination for many Taiwanese cyclists, and the local government has recently decided to collaborate with tourism operators to establish Hokkaido as a “cycling tourism mecca.”

The spring landscape adorned with vast pink cherry blossoms, the summer lavender fields that look like a purple carpet, the slightly melancholic autumn foliage, and the winter wonderland of silver-white snow — Hokkaido, with its distinct four seasons, offers travelers a fresh and unique experience no matter when you visit. It has even prompted Giant, Taiwan’s leading bicycle brand, to organize cycling tours there for five consecutive years.

According to Japanese media reports, in late June, 27 cycling enthusiasts rode through “Jisshu no Oka” in Asahikawa City, enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Daisetsuzan Mountain Range and the Tokachi Mountain Range along the way. They completed a 200-kilometer journey over three days. A 48-year-old architect from Taipei who participated said with a smile that the roads in Hokkaido are wide and great for cycling, and the magnificent scenery is captivating. Luo Xiang’an, CEO of Giant Manufacturing, who also joined the ride, praised enthusiastically: “The roads in Hokkaido are rolling and scenic, and the environment is fantastic — there’s huge potential to popularize cycling tourism here.”

▲ The lavender fields in Furano are a must-visit spot in Hokkaido during the summer. (Photo / fromFurano Tourism Association’s Facebook page)

A local cycling tour planning company in Sapporo,“Cycling Frontier Hokkaido,”has also been designing tour itineraries for beginner cyclists since five years ago. In addition to hiring former competitive cyclists as guides to introduce the surrounding scenery while riding, they also provide specialized road bike rentals. This program has been very popular, with the number of participants increasing year by year, surpassing 1,000 for the first time in 2013.

With cycling tourism growing in popularity, the Furano City Tourism Council, formed by Furano City and neighboring towns and villages, has announced plans to develop 10 cycling routes centered around popular tourist spots such as lavender fields by this autumn. They also aim to gradually expand cycling tourism across all of Hokkaido in the future.