You can buy the 4day Furano Biei Pass from Sapporo station. The JR Tourist Information office has english speaking staff. After disembarking from the train at Sapporo station, exit the JR station turnstile by WEST GATE EXIT and walk towards West Concourse North Exit (look for the signs which state JR INFORMATION CENTRE - I remember it was quite easy to find) if you exit the WEST GATE ticket turnstile, I think the office is towards the right side.

• JR SAPPORO STATION WEST GATE EXIT - JR INFORMATION CENTRE 8.30 - 1900. There's a dedicated counter just for JR bookings and the JR furano biei pass. Another counter serves visitors who want to know about Sapporo and the surrounding sights.

1) Ask for the 4 day FURANO BIEI ticket Y5400 per px. I assume its the same for August as it is for July.

2) Ask for all the train schedules for the Furano local train in furano (makes it easier for you to decide which trains to take when departing and returning from the various places esp Biei or furano).

TIP:

I believe you can even download this from
the JR Hokkaido website - this helped me to plan our daily trips so we know what time we wanted to start our journey etc. Suggest you do the same as it saves alot of hassle when you arrive.

http://www2.jrhokkaido.co.jp/global/english/ttable/e10....

3) Book your twinkle bus tours in Sapporo when you buy the pass. DOnt wait till you reach furano as the tours may be fully booked. Hopefully the weather will be in your favour. If short on time, just take the Twinkle Tour of the Takushinkan Course rather than the hills. But you have plenty of time to kill, then no problem.

TIP:

To do your homework before you reach the Information Centre, google ''JR Hokkaido Twinkle Bus tour''. Download the PDF called A REFRESHING SUMMER AWAITS YOU - you can see the twinkle bus tour times.

Actually most of the bus tours start from BIEI - so give yourself enough time to take the local train from Furano to Biei each morning.

The bus stop at Biei for the Twinkle Bus is in front of the JR station. Just look for the right sign or go to the Biei Information centre for more info.

In Biei, there's a nice little soba restaurant called SHOBATEN across the Tourist Information centre. Order the Tempura soba if you are hungry at lunch.

You can rest at the Information centre as there are some benches - also there's a dvd show inside of the 4 seasons in furano & biei you can view if you want to kill time in between the tour times. Quite nice soothing scenes.

If the weather turns bad on the day you want to take the tour, I suppose you can try to change your reservations to the next day at the Biei JR train station provided there are vacancies. The Takushinkan route is quite popular. ALWAYS CHECK WHAT THE WEATHER FORECAST WILL BE before you plan what to do on that day. Its usually given at the hotel lobby or the Tourist Information at Biei or Furano.

TIP:

As for the cheese factory & farm tomita sights, I suggest you download the bus timetables and fares from the furano tourism website. I usually do alot of planning before leaving since we dont read japanese. Even with extensive homework, there are sometimes quite abit of changes we have to make when we arrive. At least if you know where you want to go and what you want to do, its easier to make last minute changes when you arrive.

Read my reviews I posted on TRIPADVISOR on ASAHIKAWA GRAND HOTEL and FURANO NATULUX which has already been posted. I also did one on La Terre in Nakafurano which should be posted in a couple of days. I gave additional tips there.