Heavenly stay at Lake Suite Ko No Sumika, a luxury resort at Lake Toya

29 and 30 May 2026

Lake Toya is a charming, caldera lake located within the Shikotsu-Toya National Park and is a good place to stay for at least 1 night when doing a road trip in Hokkaido.

We had booked a stay at the Lake Suite Ko No Sumika, a luxury lakeside hot spring hotel located within Toyako Onsen. Toyako Onsen is a popular hot spring resort town featuring scenic lake views, outdoor foot baths, and nightly fireworks from late April to the end of October. 

Checking in

We drove to Lake Toya from Hakodate and spent some time exploring the attractions of Lake Toya before heading to our hotel.

As we drove into the driveway, a couple of hotel staff were present to help us unload our luggage and bring them into the lobby while I parked my rental car in the parking space just next to the entrance. I believe we were the first to arrive on this day as the car park was practically empty.

Unlike most Japanese hotels that are very strict in terms of check-in time at 3 PM, Lake Suite Ko No Sumika allowed us to check in at 2 PM. So nice of them.

View of Nakajima Island in the middle of the Lake Toya as seen from the lobby.

We were given instructions on the meal times, and that our meals will be at the adjoining sister property, the Toya Sun Palace.

Our suite featuring a private open-air hot spring bath

As we took the elevator up to our room on the second highest floor of the hotel, we noticed signs banning the use of drones at Lake Toya. This is because every one of its 80 rooms is a suite featuring a private open-air hot spring bath on a private balcony with direct views of the lake. The banning of drones is for the privacy of all guests.

In addition to the private bath in the room, the hotel features a large open-air public bath on the roof top. We could also use the facilities at the adjacent Toya Sun Palace Resort & Spa.

Upon entering our 54.5 m² suite, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the hotel staff had decorated our room with a couple of kissing swans made from bath towels and also given us a complimentary bottle of champagne to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

Complimentary bottle of champagne from the hotel.

Views from the balcony of our room and the hot spring bath.

Enjoying the champagne while waiting for the hot spring bath to fill up with water. It took around 15 minutes to fill the tub with new water after pushing the “Onsen” button on the wall.

Every room in Lake Suite Ko No Sumika has a natural open-air hot spring bath fed by chloride, hydrogen carbonate, and sulfate springs.

Chilling at the balcony after soaking in the hot spring bath.

Evening at Lake Toya

Many people visited Lake Toya as a day trip. I think that is a shame. The best time to enjoy a lake like Toya is during sunset and sunrise. It is nice to watch the changing colours of the evening sky from the comfort of a luxury hotel.

Dressed up for dinner in yukatas provided in each room.

The lobby at the sister hotel, Toya Sun Palace has beautiful views of the lake as well.

Enjoying the evening views of the lake from Toya Sun Palace before dinner.

Sunset at Lake Toya. Our hotel is on the left of the picture.

 

Hybrid / Kaiseki Style Dinner

Our stay at Lake Suite Ko No Sumika is full board, with dinner and breakfast included.

Our dinner plan featured a few multi-course Japanese kaiseki dishes prepared by the head chef, plus items from the all-you-can-eat buffet.

Appetiser - simmered rapeseed blossoms with crabmeat

Appetiser - Cuttlefish with kumquat golden egg yolk sauce.

Japanese wagyu beef suki yaki hot pot.

Sashimi course with sweet botan shrimp, tuna and sea bream.

Udon for the suki yaki.

The half-buffet offers a variety of dishes, including steak, sushi, sashimi, tempura, and other seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. The highlight of the buffet items for us was the snow crabs legs. Although they were not as tasty as the live King Crab we had at Hakodate, the snow crabs were quite good too.

Free flow of snow crabs legs from the buffett spread.  

    
After dinner, we went to the lounge for coffee before getting ready to enjoy one of the highlights of staying in Lake Toya.

Lake Toya Long-Run Fireworks Display

During late April to the end of October, there is the Lake Toya Long-Run Fireworks Display. Approximately 450 fireworks are launched each night for about 20 minutes starting at 8:45pm and the best place to enjoy them was from the balcony of our room.

The fireworks are launched from a moving boat, painting the lake’s surface in vibrant, shimmering colors. The launch boat moves along the shoreline for about two kilometers, creating ever-changing views from around the lake.

Here are some of the photos we took.

 

Buffet Breakfast and checking out

We woke up to excellent weather over Lake Toya. Once again, we had to walk over to the sister hotel, Toya Sun Palace Resort & Spa for our buffet breakfast featuring a wide selection of Japanese and Western dishes. 

Some items we had for breakfast.

The check-out time is until 11:00 AM so we had more time to soak in the private hot spring bath after breakfast. On hindsight, I should have gone to check out the large open-air public bath on the roof top.

All good things must come to an end. On to the next hot spring hotel in Noboribetsu Onsen.

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Exploring Lake Toya’s attractions

29 and 30 May 2026

We had visited many caldera lakes within Hokkaido and Lake Toya was another. Located within the Shikotsu-Toya National Park, the charm of Lake Toya lies in its beautiful scenery blessed with a rich natural environment.  

We had booked a stay at the Lake Suite Ko No Sumika, a luxury lakeside hot spring hotel located within Toyako Onsen. Toyako Onsen is a popular hot spring resort town featuring scenic lake views, outdoor foot baths, and nightly fireworks from late April to the end of October. 

Many hot spring resorts at Toyako Onsen, by the shore of Lake Toya.

After almost 3 hours of driving from Hakodate, we arrived at Toyoko Onsen, located on the southern shore of the lake. The first thing on our mind was to find a place to have lunch.

Wakasaimo Honpo Lake Toya Main Store

We made a quick stop at Wakasaimo Honpo Lake Toya Main Store to buy some of their famous bean paste sweets. Their signature sweet is the “roasted sweet potato”, a sweet that looked like a small sweet potato but made without any sweet potato. The sweet even include a strand of Hokkaido seaweed in the fillings to mimic the real fiber of the sweet potato.

We tried their freshly fried wakasaimo which was absolutely delicious. The seating area in the store faces the lake and we could enjoy the hot snacks and coffee with views of the lake.

Enjoying our freshly fried wakasaimo and coffee. The large yellow paper bag contains a selection of snacks we bought.

The limited-edition freshly fried  Wakasaimo “sweet potatoes”, only available at Lake Toya.

The fillings are made from bean but tasted like sweet potatoes.

There were a large selection of sweets available and we just bought a few boxes of assorted sweets to try.

Lunch at Cafe & Restaurant THE TOYA

After shopping at Wakasaimo, we walked across the road to Cafe & Restaurant THE TOYA. This a small restaurant with only four 4-seater tables that serves excellent Japanese curry rice dishes.       

We ordered from a machine with English menu. The menu offered a choice of spiciness for the curry with 0-2 spiciness free, 3-4 spiciness for additional 100 JPY and 5 spiciness for additional 150 JPY. We went for the level 2 spiciness and it was just right for us.

Original Char Siu curry rice made with Hokkaido pork for 1700 JPY.

Fried Scallops Curry Rice. for 1800 JPY.

If you like Japanese curry, you will love the food here. Self serve cold water is available free of charge for filling in a short customer survey.

While eating, we saw an accident involving a toddler. A Korean family was seated on the table next to us. They improvised a baby chair for their toddler using their baby harness that is meant for carrying their child. My wife was just commenting to me that it was a smart idea to strap the harness onto the wooden chair to use as an improvised baby chair since the restaurant, like many in Japan, did not have a baby chair for their customers.

Shortly after, we heard a bang. The chair with the toddler had toppled backwards. The poor child may have hit his head on the floor as he was crying. The restaurant staff brought the crying child and distraught parents to the back of the restaurant to get some treatment.

We were quite shocked by the accident. Thankfully, the child was alright as we met them later at the Lake Hill Farm, our next destination after lunch.

Lake Hill Farm

Lake Fill Farm is located on the western shore of Lake Toya and just a few minutes drive away. In my original plan, I wanted to hike the Nishiyama Crater Walking Trail (1.5 hour to walk the trail) but the weather was not good so we went to the Lake Hill Farm instead. It started to rain while we were driving there.

The Lake Hill Farm is a place that serves creamy, handmade sweets including ice-cream on a scenic hilltop overlooking Lake Toya. Thankfully the rain stopped as we arrived. Spotty rain indeed.   

Walking towards the main building of Lake Hill Farm.

We spotted a couple of red huts on the meadow. These huts contain a couple of pet goats named Hana and Yuki. The wind was blowing at us as we approached the huts. I wanted to shoot photos of the red huts against the green meadow and grey skies.

Hana poked his head out to check on us.

Yuki was more laid back and preferred to stay in the warm of the hut.

There are other farm animals besides the goats. This include a rabbit pen and a stable with some miniature ponies. The weather was no great so the animals were kept inside.

There was not much else to see or do at Lake Hill Farm except go grab some hot drinks and sweets from the farmhouse.

The cafe was packed, due to the weather. We could not find any available seats so decided to just buy their gelato ice-cream to take-away.

We had to buy tickets for the ice-cream from a machine. Good marketing from them. The cost of a double scoop is only slightly more than a single scoop, so almost everyone bought a double scoop.

A double scoop ice-cream with 2 flavours. Unfortunately no view from here due to the cloudy skies.

Toya National Park Silo Observation Deck

After Lake Hill Farm, we went to the Toya National Park Silo Observation Deck. It was just a few minutes drive down the road from the farm. We saw many tour buses in the car park.

This place is supposed to be a good observation deck offering stunning panoramic views of Lake Toya with Nakajima Island in the middle, Mount Usu, Showa Shinzan, and Mount Yotei in the far distant. Not today.

We only saw fog on this day. Faint shadows of the Nakajima islands could be seen through the fog.

The building next to the observation deck offered various souvenirs and local specialties to ease the disappointments of the tourists.

This was the last “attraction” we visited on this day. We decided to try checking into our hotel, the Lake Suite Ko No Sumika, earlier than the stated check-in time.

Lake Suite Ko No Sumika

Unlike most Japanese hotels that are very strict in terms of check-in time at 3 PM, Lake Suite Ko No Sumika allowed us to check in at 2 PM. So nice of them.

View of Nakajima Island in the middle of the Lake Toya as seen from the lobby.

Every room in Lake Suite Ko No Sumika has a private hot spring bath facing the lake.

Sunset at Lake Toya. Our hotel is on the left of the picture.

Many people visited Lake Toya as a day trip. I think that is a shame. The best time to enjoy a lake like Toya is during sunset and sunrise. It is nice to watch the changing colours of the evening sky from the comfort of a luxury hotel.

Another good reason why a stay at Lake Toya is a must during late April to the end of October is their nightly fireworks. Approximately 450 fireworks are launched each night for about 20 minutes starting at 8:45pm. We could see the fireworks display right from the balcony of our room.

More about our stay in this wonderful hotel in my next post.

          

After enjoying our stay at the Lake Suite Ko No Sumika, we went to check out the rest of Lake Toya attractions the next day before leaving for Noboribetsu Onsen.

Toya Lake Gurutto Sculpture Park

Near to our hotel is a sculpture park with many sculptures by famous Japanese and international artists located on the lake shore. Some were too abstract for my liking. We do not have the time to view them all.

For me, a not-to-miss sculpture is the "Moonlight" by Igor Mitrai (installed in 1991). Google Map location here.

"Moonlight" by Polish sculptor, Igor Mitrai features a dramatic, classical-style fractured face with a hollow void.

This bronze face sculpture is very striking and a photo of it with Mount Yotei and the lake in the background is actually very nice.

Three marble lionesses are located nearby too.

Lake Toya Visitor Center

We made a stop at the Lake Toya Visitor Center. This is a free visitor center providing information about nature, volcanoes, the local ecosystem, and plants and animals. It also displays the formation and natural environment of Lake Toya through panels, specimens, and photographs.

Graphics showing the origins of Lake Toya and Mount Usu.

The Volcano Science Museum is right next door but it is a paid attraction. Given time, we could have visited the museum to learn about the history and mechanisms of Mt. Usu’s eruptions. We decided to give it a miss.

Sobetsu Park

Just before leaving Lake Toya, we turned off the main road (Hokkaidō Hwy No. 2) onto a side road and drove up a narrow zig-zag road to Sobetsu Park. Sobetsu Park is situated on top of a hill, offering picturesque views of Lake Toya, Mount Yotei, and Mount Showa-shinzan.

From this elevated spot, the calm blue waters of the Lake Toya stretch out below us, with the surrounding mountains creating a naturally stunning backdrop.

Showa Shinzan is one of Japan's youngest mountains. The mountain rose to its current height of 290 meters between 1943 and 1945 after a series of  earthquakes. The mountain, bare of trees, is still venting fumes today.

View of Showa Shinzan from Sobetsu Park.

Zoomed in view of Showa Shinzan, the bare mountain.

There is supposed to a grove full of plum trees at Sobetsu Park. Sobetsu Park is supposed to be a good place to view plum blossoms in Spring. Few plum flowers were seen and the branches of the plum trees seemed to be freshly pruned.

Sobetsu Park is suppposed to be a good place to view plum blossoms in Spring.

Partially covered Mount Yotei as seen from Sobetsu Park.

There is a hut with a strange figure inside. It looks like some kind of shrine for a deity and there are metal blades behind the figure.

We only spend a short time at the Sobetsu Park observatory point to enjoy the views before continuing on our drive to Noboribetsu Onsen via the Orofure Pass (Hokkaidō Hwy No. 2).

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