The Yubari melon (Yubari King) is Hokkaido’s most famous fruit and one of Japan’s ultimate luxury foods, grown in the former coal-mining town of Yubari in central Hokkaido. A premium cantaloupe-type melon with beautifully netted skin and vivid orange flesh, it’s prized for its intense sweetness, juicy tenderness and rich aroma, the result of careful cultivation in Yubari’s ideal soil and climate. Yubari melons are graded by strict standards, and the finest specimens are legendary for fetching astonishing prices at the season’s first auctions — the top pairs have sold for millions of yen, making headlines each year. In season (roughly early summer), you can enjoy Yubari melon far more affordably as fresh fruit, or in parfaits, soft-serve ice cream, jellies, pastries and other sweets at cafés, farm stands, department-store food halls and shops across Hokkaido. Sweet, fragrant and iconic, tasting a Yubari melon is a delicious seasonal highlight of a Hokkaido food trip.

🗓️ At a Glance
Location Yubari / across Hokkaido
Hours Shop/café hours
Admission Varies (premium fruit)
Time needed A treat
Best time Early summer (peak season)

What to Try

  • Fragrant, intensely sweet orange-fleshed melon.
  • Melon parfaits, soft-serve and jellies.
  • Fresh melon at farm stands in season.
  • Melon sweets in department-store food halls.

Combine Your Visit

Getting There

  • In season: at farm stands, cafés and shops across Hokkaido.
  • In Sapporo: department-store food halls and dessert cafés.

Tips

Visit in early summer for peak season and the best, most affordable fresh melon. If a whole premium melon is beyond budget, enjoy it as a parfait, soft-serve or jelly at a café, buy from a farm stand or department-store food hall for quality, and treat a top-grade whole melon as a special gift or splurge.