Hokkaido Regular Sightseeing Bus – Course D (Asahiyama Zoo One-Day Bus Tour)

Take a tour to the hard-to-reach Asahiyama Zoo.

This is a regular sightseeing bus heading to Asahiyama Zoo, Japan's northernmost zoo, a little further north from Sapporo. Asahiyama Zoo is famous for its exhibits showcasing animals in their natural, vibrant state, rather than confined to cages. The zoo is brimming with innovative facilities that allow visitors to experience the habits and lifestyles of animals firsthand, including the Azarashi Pavilion, where you can peer up at seals swimming freely underwater, and the Polar Bear Pavilion, where massive polar bears approach you through glass windows.
The Orangutan Hall, Spider Monkey & Capybara Hall, and Chimpanzee Forest offer up-close views of the dynamic movements of animals as they glide through the trees. From the Red Panda crossing a suspension bridge to the Wolf Forest with its forest backdrop, and even the Tancho Temple with its elegant cranes, the zoo's spatial design brings visitors closer to the animals, making it a beloved destination for repeat visitors.
The beauty of this tour is that it's entirely focused on Asahiyama Zoo. Rather than rushing through multiple attractions, you can dedicate ample time to each zoo, taking your time to admire your favorite animals, and taking plenty of photos. While Sapporo is a bit of a distance from Asahikawa, the regular tour bus guide provides a wealth of information, including seasonal scenery and local stories, ensuring a smooth and enjoyable journey.
After the tour, you can also opt for a stop near the Sapporo Clock Tower, an iconic tourist attraction in central Sapporo. This route seamlessly connects the zoo's vibrant daytime activities to your evening activities in downtown Sapporo. Reduce your travel worries with a convenient and comfortable regular tour bus and fully enjoy a day with the lively animals.

Asahiyama Zoo: A Must-See

Seal Museum
This space feels like a replica of the Hokkaido sea. The outdoor enclosure, with its small boats and tetrapods, evokes a northern harbor, and seagulls and white-tailed eagles are also kept here, recreating the seals' natural habitat. Indoors, a large, vertically-opened cylindrical tank and a large tank allow visitors to observe the Komafu seals swimming up and down, from below, right in front of them, and overhead. There's also a tank housing fish native to Hokkaido, offering a unique perspective on the northern seas.

Polar Bear Pavilion
This popular area features a massive tank where visitors can get up close and personal with polar bears diving and swimming powerfully. Another exhibit utilizes a moat structure to allow visitors to observe polar bears in an open-air enclosure without cages. The Seal's Eye, a capsule-style observation space accessible to visitors, offers a glimpse into the bears' lives, as if they were seals. The chance to encounter a curious polar bear approaching you is a unique feature of Asahiyama Zoo.

Orangutan House and Chimpanzee Forest
This area features tall towers, ropes, and wooden structures where you can observe orangutans freely climbing and descending, and chimpanzees actively moving through a forest-like environment. This isn't just a simple cage exhibit; it's designed to show the animals moving and interacting as if they were living in a real forest, making it a great place to observe their behavior at a leisurely pace. It's a popular spot, attracting visitors who stop and watch for hours during feeding times and other activities.

Red Panda Suspension Bridge
Here, you can watch red pandas traverse the narrow suspension bridge connecting the two enclosures. If you're lucky, you might spot them lounging leisurely above you, or trotting along gracefully. Because the pandas glide right overhead, this area is also a popular photo spot, perfect for capturing photos and videos.

Wolf's Forest
This observation area was created to capture the natural beauty of Hokkaido approximately 100 years ago. Within this expansive space, interwoven with rocks, hills, trees, and small streams, you can observe wolves walking and running in packs, drinking and resting by the water's edge. The observation area allows you to spot the wolves from various angles, and through a low-angle glass dome, you can observe them up close, as if you were a small animal. This area offers a relatively natural experience of wolf sociality and pack life.

Other popular areas besides Tanchosa (Crane)
Other highlights of Asahiyama Zoo include the Tanchosha Shrine, where you can get up close to Hokkaido's iconic crane; the Moujukan, a collection of wild beasts; and the Penguin Hall, where you can observe penguins actively moving around on land and in the water. Each facility features exhibition ideas that showcase how the animals live, making it a great place to plan your route around your favorite animals and explore at your own pace.

Tour Attractions

✅ This is a direct day tour that lets you leisurely enjoy Asahiyama Zoo, located at the northernmost tip of Japan.
✅ Rather than a busy course that takes you to several attractions, you can spend ample time at one zoo to see them in depth.
✅ You can tour popular areas of Asahiyama Zoo at once, such as the Azarashi Pavilion, Polar Bear Pavilion, and Red Panda Suspension Bridge, so it's great for first-time zoo visitors.
✅ You can travel comfortably without worrying about transfers or driving by taking a dedicated sightseeing bus departing from Sapporo.
✅ During the trip, the guide tells various stories about the area and the zoo, so the long distance to Asahikawa doesn't feel boring.
✅ You can get off near the Sapporo Clock Tower on the way back, so you can naturally continue your trip after visiting the zoo touring Sapporo City or enjoying an evening out.