LAX/HKG

My 10-yr old daughter and my wife are visiting Hokkaido for the first time in August. They will join an organized tour for 5 days to see the nature related sights. However, they will have one night on their own before joining the tour. Should they spend that night in Sapporo or Otaru? Otaru is not included in the itinerary; the tour will conclude with a couple hours (and an overnight stay) in Sapporo before heading back to TPE.

They will be on BR flying TPE-CTS, arriving in CTS at 1500. They will join the tour the next day at CTS when the group arrives around 1500 from the same BR flight.

bmwe92fan

I guess my recommendation depends on how well your 10 year old travels as a visit to Otaru adds a lot of logistical complexity for a place where this isn't a lot to do... Assuming you would go straight to Otaru from the airport -- you would then check in and grab a bite before bed time (10 year old) -- get up and check out, store the bags, walk along the canal and have some ice cream -- maybe visit a museum -- and then go back to hotel for the bags and head to the train station (assuming you don't have a car) for the hour or so trip back to Sapporo to meet the group... Sapporo has a lot of interesting things to do and it seems there isn't much time spent there -- so I would recommend that they stay in Sapporo and not deal with all the moving and just enjoy the city...

abacaxi

I would consider spending the night in one of the hotels at CTS-This will avoid the hassle of catching the train to/from Otaru/Sapporo with luggage. That will give them the opportunity to store their luggage at the hotel the next morning for a very quick visit in Otaru/Sapporo before meeting the tour group back at CTS.

nishimark

They could store their luggage at CTS.
https://www.new-chitose-airport.jp/e...age_checkroom/

If Otaru looks interesting to them, then they could go there for the evening, stay overnight, and enjoy the next day before going back to CTS. With the luggage stored, they could then just carry a small bag for the overnight trip.

jib71

Or forward it to whichever hotel the group is going to stay the first night.

Pickles

I like Otaru. The canal area and the market are pretty atmospheric. And it has an excellent rail museum, if you're into that.

LAX/HKG

Thanks for all of your replies!

My wife will only have a couple carryons with her on the trip to CTS. She will store the big luggages in the TPE hotel that she will stay at upon returning from Hokkaido.

She heard good things about the canal in Otaru and would like to visit if the logistics work out. It sounds like it might.

I will have her go on the JR train that would take them “directly” from CTS to Otaru without getting off the train. Is it easy to get the tickets at CTS? Do they need to reserve and prepay?

jib71

They can just walk up to the ticket counter at the airport station - or buy tickets from a machine. Each train has a reserved (assigned seats) car and several non-reserved cars. The assigned seats in the reserved car are probably more comfortable, as they face in the direction of travel. On some trains, the non-reserved sections have longitudinal seating. I think they will have no problem getting seats in any case, since the airport is the first station.

abacaxi

When I visited many years ago, the former warehouses along the Otaru Canal were illuminated which made the scene more spectacular at night.

evergrn

Otaru is only like 30 additional minutes beyond Sapporo on that AirPort Express train. So logistically it’s not much more trouble to go to Otaru via train vs to Sapporo from CTS.

But personally I just find Sapporo a lot more exciting. There’s really not much in Otaru. The canal area is an often talked about spot, doesn’t do much for me, so I guess it’s each to their own. If it were me, I’d stay the night in Sapporo.

The second half of the train ride from Sapporo to Otaru is beautiful. I just rode it last week… the disappointing thing was that the train window was either dirty or scratched up.