Porous hydroxyapatite(HA) and HA-coated porous $Al_2O_3$ possessing pore characteristics required for bone substitutes were prepared by a slurry foaming method combined with gelcasting. The HA coating was deposited by heating porous $Al_2O_3$ substrates in an aqueous solution containing $Ca^{2+}$ and ${PO_4}^{3-}$ ions at $65{sim}95^{circ}C$ under ambient pressure. The pore characteristic, microstructure, and compressive strength were investigated and compared for the two kinds of samples. The porosity of the samples was about 81% and 80% for HA and $Al_2O_3$, respectively with a highly interconnected network of spherical pores with size ranging from 50 to $250{mu}m$. The porous $Al_2O_3$ sample showed much higher compressive strength(25 MPa) than the porous HA sample(10 MPa). Fairly dense and uniform HA coating(about $2{mu}m$ thick) was deposited on the porous $Al_2O_3$ sample. Since the compressive strength of cancellous bone is $2{sim}12$ MPa, both the porous HA and HA-coated porous $Al_2O_3$ samples could be successfully utilized as scaffolds for bone repair. Especially the latter is expected suitable for load bearing bone substitutes due to its excellent strength.