One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Sarabetsu更別村
Big-field farming and a village of plums
Tokachi region · Obihiro food, Tokachigawa Onsen and seasonal gardens on the Tokachi Plain.
Sarabetsu farms potatoes and sugar beets on heroic scales, and grows a village orchard of northern plums.
Sarabetsu is a small farming village on the southern Tokachi plain, between Obihiro and the Pacific coast, with some of the largest single fields in Japan. Potatoes, sugar beet, wheat and beans stretch flat to the horizon, and the village's surprise is an orchard park of northern plums that flowers in spring and fruits in late summer. It is an honest slice of working Tokachi, best seen from a car window or a bicycle on the way south to Taiki and Hiroo.
- Region
- Tokachi (十勝)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~168 km · 2.6 h summer / 3.1 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~214 km · 3.3 h summer / 3.9 h winter
- Best season in Tokachi
- Late spring to autumn for gardens and green farmland; seasonal gardens such as Manabe Garden close in winter, when food, onsen and snowy scenery shape the trip.
Sarabetsu at a glance
Drive estimates: straight-line × 1.35, at 65 km/h (summer) / 55 km/h (winter). How we calculate
What to see in Sarabetsu
Sumomo-no-Sato plum park
すももの里
A village orchard park of hundreds of northern plum trees. White blossom in May, red fruit for picking in August, and a lawn with the fields beyond.
Michi-no-Eki Sarabetsu
道の駅さらべつ
The roadside station on National Route 236, with the village's potatoes, beans and plum products, and a good spot to break the drive between Obihiro and the coast.
Sarabetsu Country Park
更別村カントリーパーク
A village campground with grassy pitches, cabins and a park golf course, wide open under the plain's sky and quiet even in August.
Getting to Sarabetsu
About 40 minutes by car south of Obihiro on National Route 236, or 25 minutes from Tokachi-Obihiro Airport. The Obihiro-Hiroo Expressway passes through with a Sarabetsu interchange. There is no railway; the nearest station is Obihiro.
Tokachi region: Tokachi-Obihiro Airport and JR Obihiro Station are the main gateways. Plan the last stretch separately: the airport bus into the city, a local bus or taxi to the racecourse or onsen, and a car or taxi for gardens outside the centre.
When to visit Sarabetsu
May for plum blossom over bare fields, July to September for the crops at full height and plum picking in August, September to October for harvest. Winter is flat, white and windy.
What to eat in Sarabetsu
Potatoes and sugar beet on a heroic scale, plus wheat and beans, are what the village grows. Plums become jam, juice and sweets sold at the roadside station. Dairy and beef come from farms on the village edge.
Sarabetsu in context: the Tokachi region
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Tokachi is an eastern Hokkaido region of 19 municipalities spread across the Tokachi Plain, a wide farming area that reaches far beyond Obihiro city. Obihiro is the usual base, with butadon pork rice bowls, sweets and banei racing, in which heavy draft horses pull sleds along a course.