Partial Self-drive trip in Hokkaido, 9-17 April 09

Hi,

Am also planning a partial self-drive trip with 3 other friends, arriving in Hokkaido in the wee hours of 10 April at Hakodate.

The proposed itinerary at this stage (still very much in the draft) goes like this:

Day 1: Arrive at Tokyo at 9pm; too late for night sleeper train which departs from ueno at 9.05pm. Hence, will fly in to Hakodate by JAL instead, arriving at midnight (any recommendation on accommodation???)

Day 2: Around Hakodate (stay)

Day 3: Pick up car from Hakodate and drive to Noboribetseu (stay)

Day 4: Day road trip from Noboribetsu to Lake Toya and back to Noboribetsu

Day 5: Drive from Noboribetsu to Sapporo; returning car at Sapporo (stay)

Day 6: Day trip by JR rail/bus to Otaru and return to Sapporo (stay)

Day 7: Pick up car at Sapporo and drive to Furano (stay)

Day 8: Drive from Furano to Biel and return car in Asashikawa (stay)

Day 9: Depart for Tokyo from Asashikawa airport

Frankly, have not looked at the driving routes and toll rates as well. Will this be a workable itinerary?

Thanks for the advice in advance!

PW

Partial Self-drive trip in Hokkaido, 9-17 April 09

Hakodate to Noboribetsu will be the longest drive. The rest looks ok. You will be moving around a lot though.

For driving times and tolls, the best site is Navitime. You can enter city or station names in English but the results are in Japanese.

http://www.navitime.co.jp

I have not used Northern Road much. It doesn%26#39;t seem to give you toll details but it does have a pull-down menu of major destinations in English.

http://northern-road.jp/navi/eng/

Partial Self-drive trip in Hokkaido, 9-17 April 09

Hi Sammyfloyd,

Thanks for the links! I will re-consider the drive from Hakodate to Noboribetsu, since it%26#39;s almost a long 5 hours. Will buy a JR Pass and hit the rail instead.

Re-looked at the itinerary and thought of embarking on the drive from Sapporo to Asahikawa onwards (also hitting Furano, Biel). Seems much more manageable.

Cheers!

Hi,

I don%26#39;t know how much u paid for flight by JAL. U can actually get the budget airline fly within Japan island, just like Jetstar or Air Asia.. There is actually 2 budget airline i found; Skymark (www.skymark.co.jp/en/) and Air Do (www.airdo.jp).

Unfortunately Air Do only available in Japenses but if u understand chinese, u will able to check the price is cheaper the earlier u book on it. Sometimes if u lucky, u will able to get cheap price from skymark as well.

I had try the flight from Haneda to Sapporo via Skymark, i would said everything is fine for me, service is nice, even though the counter person not able to speak english, just use yr body language will do.

Cheers, Rach

Hi Zephyrs,

I be going around the same route as you, same period too. :)

%26gt;I have not used Northern Road much. It doesn%26#39;t seem to give you toll details but it does have a pull-down menu of major destinations in English.

The Northern Road Navi website lets you prioritize your search according to travel time, driving distance and use/non-use of toll roads. So at least you can see the difference in travel time and distance if you choose to avoid the toll roads.