Noboribetsu Bear Park
Last updated: August 26, 2026
Ride the gondola out of Noboribetsu Onsen and the mountaintop belongs to the bears: some 70 Ezo brown bears — Hokkaido's giants — laze, spar and wave for treats across Noboribetsu Bear Park. Around them sit a brown-bear museum that is a rarity anywhere in the world, keeper talks on how the animals really live, and an observatory over Lake Kuttara, one of Japan's clearest lakes; Yukara no Sato below recreates an Ainu village, traditional patterned costumes included. Duck races and Hokkaido's jingisukan lamb barbecue at the Kumayama Restaurant round out the mountain.
Itinerary
- Stop at: Noboribetsu Bear Park
Frequently Asked Questions
Hokkaido's own subspecies of brown bear and Japan's largest land animal — adult males can pass 300 kilograms. The park keeps around 70 of them, and watching a dozen sit back and beckon for snacks with a raised paw makes their scale and their cleverness equally obvious.
By the park's own gondola, which rises straight from the ropeway station in the centre of Noboribetsu Onsen town — the ride up the mountain is part of the fun, with the hot-spring valley falling away below. The onsen town itself is about 15 minutes by bus from JR Noboribetsu Station.
A museum devoted to brown bears, keeper-led talks on their ecology, an observatory looking over the impossibly clear Lake Kuttara, and Yukara no Sato, a recreated Ainu village where you can try on traditionally patterned costumes. The duck race is the crowd's dark horse — pick the winning duck and you take home original park goods.
Perfectly — the gondola leaves from the same onsen town as the walk to Jigokudani, the steaming Hell Valley, so bears, volcanic scenery and a hot-spring soak fit comfortably into one Noboribetsu day.