5 days in Hokkaido without a car, what to do/see?
 

Hi all

Will be spending a short week in Hokkaido, sadly I do not drive, trying to plan an itinerary to see all the major landmarks of the island, is 1 week a realistic timeframe? What is the most cost effective mode of transport for alot of different sights? Train, bus?

Thanks for your help!

Hakodate, Sapporo, and Otaru are top tourists destinations in Hokkaido which are easily reached by JR trains.

When transiting between Hakodate and Sapporo can stop by at Noboribetsu (about half way between Hakodate and Sapporo) for Onsen, Japanese hot spring spa. Also, Noboribetsu will provide none city, nature environment, which Hokkaido is known for. Where Hakodate, Sapporo, and Otaru can be more of city setting.

These will easily keep you busy for five days.

I tend to agree with the above.

Hokkaido can absolutely be seen quite nicely by train, with a few buses thrown in for the more remote locations like Asahidake and Shiretoko and for local transit within specific cities.

I looped the whole island, mostly by JR train, in under 10 days. That included Hakodate, Sapporo, Asahikawa and the national park region above near Asahidake, Abashiri, the Shiretoko Peninsula, the national park/lakes area above Obihiro, Kushiro and a lot of beautiful scenery between those points. To make it even more of a rail trek, I started and ended at NRT, not CTS, stopping in Sendai on the way north and Morioka on the way back south. A fair number of meals were eki-bens on the trains. :-D

For doing that sort of thing, a Japan Rail Pass is very helpful. I also got a lot of help from the book "Japan by Rail," which is available from Amazon. Hokkaido is getting much more popular, so I would strongly recommend making train seat reservations as soon as you arrive in Japan and know what routes you want. I had made up a list of all trains I needed before leaving home. HyperDia is very helpful for that. The little local trains are a joy and rarely full but the shinkansen and limited express trains were often full, even several years ago when I visited Hokkaido the first time.

https://www.amazon.com/Japan-Rail-3r.../dp/1905864396

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/

JPRail.com is also very helpful for building itineraries. You might want to take a look at this itinerary if you like trains http://jprail.com/category/travel-in.../2017-hokkaido
JR Hokkaido also publishes some model courses http://www2.jrhokkaido.co.jp/global/...del/index.html

There are special lavender season & Biei trains for the Furano area if you are visiting during that time frame
http://jprail.com/trains/sort-by-typ...-railways.html

Bus Map
http://www.uu-hokkaido.com/corporate/sharibus.shtml Page is for Shiretoko, scroll down for Hokkaido
JR Hokkaido map
http://www2.jrhokkaido.co.jp/global/english/rmap/

You can also fly between CTS and some of the smaller regional airports like Memanbetsu and take the bus to Shiretoko or fly to Kushiro to catch a bus from the airport if there isn't a well timed train route or highway bus.

You sure packed a lot into <10days!

I'm trying to imagine what I would do in a week if I relied on train (no car). With only a week, I would personally just focus on Hakodate-Noboribetsu-Sapporo-Otaru corridor, as suggested by AlwaysAisle.
Hakodate/Onuma: 2 nights
Noboribetsu: 1 night
Otaru/Sapporo: 3 nights

That's already 6 nights right there.

The trip was actually a bit over 14 days total but the other 4+ were spent going to/from Hokkaido on the various trains - NRT-Sendai-Aomori-Hakodate and Kushiro-Morioka-Tokyo-NRT with a few short stops along the way. The 10 days I mentioned were actually all on Hokkaido - 2 days Hakodate, 1-1/2 days Sapporo, 2 days Asahikawa/Asahidake, 2-1/2 days Abashiri + Shiretoko, 2 days Obihiro/Kushiro. I used up my 14-day Rail Pass getting back to Tokyo and had to pay cash for the last train of the trip, back out to NRT for the trip home.

Yes, I was on the move a lot. I did get enough images for a small book and a newspaper travel article but would have done better with more time. I was almost 64 at the time and will admit that I pretty much collapsed and slept the entire way home. Thank heaven for business class, lie-flat seats. :cool:

For a shorter stay, I think I mostly agree with you. Hakodate is worth at least a couple of days, with the westerner influenced neighborhoods and churches, morning market, rope-way for evening mountaintop views of the harbor and the northern peoples museum. It rained while I was in Sapporo but I still enjoyed the botanical garden and downtown area. Some more time there would have been useful. I feel that any visitor should get up into at least one of the national parks for the mountain experience. There are several to choose from that are closer to Sapporo than where I concentrated. Since I was primarily there for fall foliage photography I made my choices accordingly. Different times of year would suggest other areas. I am sorry I missed the lavender fields and other farming regions but they were mostly muddy messes when I was there.

That seems like a pretty comprehensive overview of Hokkaido. I'd love to head out to Kushiro and Shiretoko one of these days. We're doing our third Hokkaido trip in as many years next month. Doing most of the same places every single time... Niseko, Sapporo, Noboribetsu... mostly because I'm too lazy to research new places. But if you're a photographer and you haven't been, you should check out Shakotan Peninsula and the Niseko area next time. Kamui cape is a pretty stunning location. The panoramic view from Niseko side out towards Mt.Yotei on a sunny day is amazing. On the other hand, I didn't find Bitei/Furano area all that memorable.

Sounds good. Age and infirmity are slowing me down so I don't know if another Japan trip will be possible but if it is, I would love to go to Hokkaido again. I am bored with Tokyo and have been to Kansai several times. I think returns to either Shikoku, Kyushu or Hokkaido would be the limits for future trips.

If you want to go further afield in Hokkaido, the long run across the island to Abashiri goes through some interesting if desolate farming regions. Abashiri is not a tourist mecca by any means but if interested in history, the old prison is actually more interesting than you might expect. So is the Drift Ice Museum. In the spring, a visit to the Koshimizu Wildflower Preserve would be very nice. I was sorry to miss that but in fall it isn't much. Abashiri can also be a jumping off point for the Shiretoko Peninsula although the bus tours mostly depart from the little town of Shari, a few miles up the line from Abashiri Station. I'd definitely recommend a car. There are a few buses - I used one - but a car would be much better. In that case, I might recommend flying into Memanbetsu (MMB) and renting a car there.

On the other hand, the little local train from Abashiri, up and through the national park and lake district and down to Kushiro was a highlight of the trip. There are only a couple of trains per day but the scenery was superb. Of course, I am a bit of a tetsu for the little rattle-trap one-car local trains. ;)

You're so passionate and knowledgeable about Jpn, and it'd be a shame if you couldn't make it back again. I hope you do.

Thanks. It would be nice. I'll have to see what the future brings.

Thanks everyone for these valuable inputs, highly appreciated.

Sadly I won't have much time to prepare for this trip, ,I'm going to look at everything you posted, ideally I want a mix of city & nature & would love to do a bike tour maybe or just rent a bike & discover for myself.

How much is a 5 day JR pass?

Are you arriving and departing from New Chitose Airport near Sapporo? If so, there is a JR Hokkaido Rail Pass that is 22,000 yen for the 5-day Pass. It is good on all JR Hokkaido trains EXCEPT the shinkansen (bullet train.) It can be purchased at home before you leave for Japan or upon arrival.

Info: http://www2.jrhokkaido.co.jp/global/...ss/rail01.html

Yes, arriving at CTS airport from Narita :)

Then I'm going to Osaka for 2 days again from CTS before leaving Japan for good.

At a minimum check out sites like http://us.jnto.go.jp/top/index.php I see two Hokkaido articles from the home page and there are links to plenty more information you can print out for the plane. These days there is little excuse for not being informed on things to do in most regions of Japan.

You can also check Jr Hokkaido website http://www2.jrhokkaido.co.jp/global/english/travel/index.html for travel ideas