A rest day at the lovely Yubari Forest Youth Hostel

June 13, 2023

We decided this morning while watching the weather forecast for this area that we would stay another day at this lovely youth hostel. Heavy rain was in the forecast and the idea of riding a hundred kilometres with no services did not sound like a good idea.

The hostel is run by a woman and her mom. They provide a welcoming environment, cook amazing food and they sell small items they have made like jam, tomato juice and these cute knit animals

The youth hostel is unlike any youth hostel we have ever stayed in before. It is part of the international youth hostel association. We had to pay a little more because our memberships have not been renewed due to not travelling during the Covid pandemic. Age doesn’t seem to be a restriction as all the other other guests are older adults as well.. We decided to have breakfast and dinner included in our room rate. And boy are we glad we did as the food has been amazing.

The dining room with hot water on demand, tea that is house made and a great view.

Like any Japanese accommodation, you leave your shoes at the door, put on the provided crocs for inside and of course, change into bathroom slippers for the toilet room.

Such a cosy, beautiful building that encourages relaxation…which is exactly how we have been here.

Many homemade items for sale..jam, juice, pottery cats, change purses, etc. These women are busy. When I got up, I looked out the window..our breakfast was on the table and the two women were chopping and piling firewood.

Our hallway - bedrooms on the left and bathrooms plus a traditional bath. We will miss this type of bathing when we get home.

Breakfast: all ingredients from their garden or made by them. Poached eggs on a fried patty of greens, roasted meat, fresh cauliflower steamed, 2 slices of homemade bread (red bread has beets in the mix) and coffee. Delicious and nice.y seasoned. The tomato sauce and jams were house made too.

Dinner was incredible. I’ll start clockwise….local melon (wow, flavour explosion), tempura broccoli and cauliflower, miso soup, chicken in a yummy sauce with lettuce, cucumbers and a rich tasty cheese concoction with asparagus. Best meal we have had in Japan. It will be hard to leave this unique place and the food just made it harder.

Oh yes, I forgot the small dish with stir fried spinach, onions etc with bonito flakes on top. On the left is the baked cheese asparagus dish.

A close up what I called tempura (not usually a big fan) but this was really good.

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