One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Shikabe鹿部町
A geyser beside the fishing port on Uchiura Bay
Oshima region · Hakodate's night view, castle towns and the shinkansen gateway.
Shikabe's geyser blows every ten minutes beside the fishing port — steam your own seafood at the roadside station's hot-spring kitchen.
Shikabe is a small fishing town on the east side of Mt. Komagatake, where the volcano's slopes drop into Uchiura Bay. Its one big sight is a natural geyser that erupts every ten minutes or so right in the middle of town, now the centrepiece of the roadside station, where you can steam seafood in hot-spring vapour. The rest is a working harbour landing cod roe, scallops and kelp, a hot-spring district by the shore, and the volcano filling the sky behind. Ideal for a half-day loop from Onuma or Hakodate.
- Region
- Oshima (渡島)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~152 km · 2.3 h summer / 2.8 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~169 km · 2.6 h summer / 3.1 h winter
- Best season in Oshima
- Late April–early May for Matsumae and Goryokaku cherry blossoms; the night view and markets shine year-round.
Shikabe 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 Shikabe
Shikabe Geyser Park
しかべ間歇泉公園
A geyser discovered in 1924 during hot-spring drilling that still throws a column of hot water into the air roughly every ten minutes. The roadside station (Michi-no-Eki) around it has a foot bath and steam ovens where you cook seafood bought on the spot.
Shikabe Onsen
鹿部温泉
A row of hot-spring inns along the shore near the harbour, fed by the same underground heat as the geyser. A quiet, small-scale alternative to Yunokawa in Hakodate, with the fishing harbour and the volcano close at hand.
Komagatake from the bay side
湾側から見る駒ヶ岳
From Shikabe the volcano shows a different face from the Onuma side, with its sharp Kenga-mine peak rising directly behind the fishing boats. The coast road toward Sawara has the best angles.
Getting to Shikabe
Shikabe station is on the Sawara branch of the JR Hakodate Main Line, the loop that runs around the bay side of the volcano between Onuma and Mori; trains are few, so check times. By car it is about an hour from Hakodate on National Route 278 along the coast, and about the same from Hakodate Airport. Onuma is 30 minutes over the shoulder of the mountain.
Oshima region: The Hokkaido Shinkansen arrives at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto; Hakodate also has its own airport with Tokyo flights.
When to visit Shikabe
The geyser erupts year-round, so timing matters less here than elsewhere. Summer, June to September, is best for the harbour and the steamed seafood at the park. Winter brings cod roe season and a snow-covered volcano over the bay, with the onsen at its most welcome.
What to eat in Shikabe
Tarako, salted cod roe, is the town's signature product, made from pollock landed in the bay. Scallops from the aquaculture rafts, kelp and octopus come off the same boats, and most of it can be bought at the harbour or the park and steamed on the spot.
Shikabe in context: the Oshima region
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Oshima is Hokkaido's historic south — the first part of the island to open to the outside world. Hakodate wears that history beautifully: Motomachi's churches and slopes, red-brick warehouses on the bay, a morning market that justifies the trip alone, and the celebrated night view from Mt. Hakodate.