Arrive in Sapporo on suggested flights and transfer to the hotel (transfer from Sapporo airport to the hotel included in tour price). Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your flights and other travel arrangements, including travel insurance (a condition of travel), accommodation before or after the tour and a room category upgrade.

The capital of Hokkaido and Japan’s fifth largest city, Sapporo provides access to some of Japan’s most celebrated northern gardens, including Tokachi Hills and Ueno Farm, and offers a refreshing contrast to the country’s more traditional garden settings. Its northern climate nurtures a distinctive horticultural style, where sweeping landscapes, alpine flora and European-inspired designs flourish alongside native plantings.

In the morning, join your tour leader Elizabeth Swane and fellow travellers for a welcome briefing at the hotel. Today’s exploration of Sapporo begins at Odori Park, filled with sculptures, fountains, lilac trees, acacia plants and flowerbeds. See the Sapporo Clock Tower and the former Hokkaido government office building (1881), known as ‘Red Brick’.

After lunch, visit Hokkaido’s famous Moerenuma Park, a large, contemporary park on the outskirts of Sapporo designed by American Japanese sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Completed in 2005, the park blends contemporary landscape architecture with traditional Japanese principles of harmony and seasonal change. Expansive lawns, geometric mounds, water features and tree-lined pathways form a vast “complete landscape,” where art and nature coexist in balance and continual transformation throughout the year.

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Today, enjoy a morning walk in the Hokkaido University Botanical Gardens. Established in 1886, the Botanical Gardens preserve a small part of the forest which formerly covered the Ishikari Plain. In addition, there is an alpine garden, a greenhouse and a small Ainu museum.

Then, visit the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, which features works by Hokkaido-associated painters and sculptors, an acclaimed collection of glassworks ranging from Art Nouveau to the Modern period and works by the ‘School of Paris’ painters including Jules Pascin.

After lunch, the afternoon is at leisure to further explore Sapporo at your own pace.

This evening, enjoy a night view of Sapporo from the JR Tower Observation Deck.

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The day begins with a visit to the Makomanai Takino Cemetery, a site designed by architect Tadao Ando containing a giant Buddha surrounded by a hill of lavenders and facing a reflection pool. The site includes replicas of Easter Island statues, Assyrian winged bulls and Stonehenge.

Then, wander through the Sculpture Garden of the Sapporo Art Park, set on a beautiful green hillside with a sprawling collection of 75 contemporary artworks by Japanese and international artists.

After lunch, depart Sapporo for an afternoon’s drive across the south of Hokkaido to the largely rural region of Tokachi. Here, join the ‘Hokkaido Garden Path’, a 200km garden tour route stretching from Tokachi through Furano to Asahikawa in the centre of the island.

Arrive in Tokachigawa in the late afternoon.

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Today, enjoy three very different garden experiences.

Begin with a visit to Rokka-no Mori, displaying the flower varieties of Tokachi, which blossom through the seasons. Throughout the garden are scattered old, rustic houses brought from Croatia that serve as art museums.

After lunch, stroll through Tokachi Hills garden, surrounded by three different types of gardens: a colourful border garden, an English-style garden and the natural native untouched wildflowers of Tokachi.

Finally, explore Manabe Garden, famous as the first conifer garden in Japan but also featuring many species of colourful deciduous trees.

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Spend time this morning exploring the Tokachi Millennium Forest. Designed by Dan Pearson, internationally-renowned British garden designer, the Tokachi Millennium Forest was created under the theme of a Hokkaido garden being in harmony with nature. The garden comprises of four concepts: the Earth Garden, which features undulating grassland and magnificent views of the Forest Garden, where one can feel the life of flowers and plants; the Meadow Garden, with its curving boardwalk through informal drifts of colourful Tokachi flowers, and the Farm Garden, with its theme of agriculture coexisting with nature.

In the afternoon drive back to hotel and enjoy some time at leisure before dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.

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Depart the Tokachigawa region for the Daisetsuzan National Park located in the mountainous centre of the island.

En route, visit the Daisetsu Mori-no Garden. Overlooking the Daisetsu mountain range, Daisetsu Mori-no Garden is a ‘forest garden’, where more than 700 kinds of flowers bloom throughout the year.

Arrive in the late afternoon at the hotel in Daisetsuzan National Park, the largest national park in Japan until 2024.

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This morning, take the ropeway up Mount Asahidake, the highest peak in Hokkaido (2,291 metres) and one of the earliest spots in Japan to see autumn colours, which typically start appearing from early September around the mountain peak before slowly making their way down to the valley floor by around mid-October.

The afternoon is at leisure to enjoy the hot springs or walks from the hotel.

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Today depart Daisetsuzan National Park for a leisurely day’s drive back to Sapporo.

Stop to visit Ueno Farm, modelled on an English country-style garden, featuring hardy perennials that have been rearranged to suit the Hokkaido climate. Ueno Farm is the creation of renowned Japanese garden designer Sayuki Ueno.

After lunch, continue to Sapporo, arriving in the late afternoon.

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This morning, transfer to Sapporo Airport for a flight to Sendai and continue to nearby Matsushima, famous for the stunning natural beauty of its bay, historic temples and superb gardens. The area has been designated as one of the three most scenic sites of Japan.

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Visit the Tōhoku History Museum, which houses finds from various archaeological sites in the Tōhoku region of Northern Japan. Then, visit Shiogama, a large Shinto shrine complex believed to be over 1,200 years old. Containing a wealth of history, fifteen of its buildings, which were built during the Edo Period, have been declared important cultural treasures.

After lunch, enjoy a cruise around the islands of Matsushima Bay. Some 260 islands, large and small, covered by black and red pines and light grayish-coloured rocks, are scattered throughout the picturesque bay.

End the day with a stroll through Zuiganji Temple. Founded in 828, it is one of the region’s most famous and prominent Zen temples and its grounds feature a magnificent avenue of cedar trees and lovingly tended gardens.

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This morning, explore Entsuin Temple, built in 1646 to house the mausoleum of Date Mitsumune, the son of the ruling local feudal lord, Date Terumune. The temple grounds feature a variety of traditional Japanese garden styles, including a moss and maple garden with a heart-shaped pond, a Western-style rose garden and a cedar grove for meditation.

Depart Matsushima for Sendai and visit the Rinnoji Temple, founded in 1441. The exquisite inner gardens, filled with strolling paths, ponds and bridges, well-tended trees, flowers and plants, and a three-storied pagoda are a perfect example of the Japanese skill of recreating a landscape in miniature.

Later, take the Shinkansen (‘bullet train’) from Sendai to Tokyo (train ticket included in tour price). Arrive in Tokyo in the late-afternoon.

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Today’s exploration of Tokyo’s gardens begins with a visit to Koishikawa Korakuen, one of Tokyo’s oldest Japanese gardens. It was built in the early Edo Period (1600-1868) at the Tokyo residence of the Mito branch of the ruling Tokugawa family. Like its namesake in Okayama, the garden was named Korakuen after a poem encouraging a ruler to enjoy pleasure only after achieving happiness for his people. Also visit the nearby Rikugi-en Garden, often considered Tokyo’s most beautiful Japanese landscape garden. Built around 1700 for the 5th Tokugawa Shogun, Rikugi-en literally means “six poems garden” and reproduces in miniature 88 scenes from famous poems.

After lunch, visit the Tokyo National Museum, located in Ueno Park and established in 1872. It is the oldest Japanese national museum, the largest art museum in Japan and one of the largest art museums in the world. Designated in 1873, Ueno Park was the first public park in Japan. Known as one of the best spots in Tokyo for cherry blossoms, Ueno is also wonderful for its autumn leaves, with brilliant maples and ginkgos everywhere.

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In the morning, visit the East Garden of the Imperial Palace, created on the grounds of the former Edo Castle, the residence of the Tokugawa shogun who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867 and the Emperor Meiji who resided there from 1868 to 1888 before moving to the newly constructed Imperial Palace.

The afternoon is at leisure to relax or to explore Tokyo at your own pace.

This evening, celebrate the conclusion of the tour with a special farewell dinner with Elizabeth and fellow travellers.

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Tour arrangements conclude with a transfer to Tokyo Haneda Airport for suggested flights to Australia. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your flights and other travel arrangements, including additional nights’ accommodation either before or after the tour and travel insurance (a condition of travel).

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Note: At time of publication (November 2025), most but not all garden visits were confirmed. Private owners are reluctant to commit more than two to three months prior to the visit. Therefore, while we undertake to operate the tour as published, there may be some changes to the itinerary.