Itinerary Check: Hokkaido in Winter (February) using Public Transportation

Hi everyone, love reading this sub. Hoping for some advice. My partner and I will be travelling to Japan this February. I just have a couple of questions/concerns regarding the Hokkaido section of our itinerary.

Basically, we are Australian, have never seen snow, and thus will not be renting a car and will be relying on public transport in Hokkaido. I have read a lot about winter in Hokkaido on this sub but would just like opinions on the itinerary I’ve made – whether it’s realistic, basically.

The dates are all designed to be able to make it to all of the festivals/sites we want to see – Sapporo, Otaru and Asahikawa – so there isn’t much room for moving the days around. We are also not planning on skiing or doing winter sports as we will be in Nagano at an earlier part of this trip and doing that there.

I am very open to any suggestions – thanks!

Day 1
– Fly from Haneda Airport to New Chitose Airport
– Check-in to motel
– Free rest of day due to day trip tomorrow
– Ramen Yokocho for dinner

Day 2
– Day trip to Asahikawa: 2 hours to get there + 40 minute bus ride to Asahiyama Zoo
– Go to the Asahiyama Zoo – hours are 10:30 to 15:30 (entry until 15:00)
– Penguin Walks are at @ 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m
– Try local ramen in Asahikawa Ramen Village
– Then view the Asahikawa Winter Festival
– Two sites to view: Heiwa Dori first (near Station) then to Asahibashi Site
– Train back to Sapporo
– Be careful to make sure to get home with transport on time! Buses only twice an hour – check timetable in advance

Looking back at this and hearing about winter/snow delays, I am considering just booking a night in a motel here and keeping our wheeled luggage back at our motel in Sapporo and bringing a backpack, would this be better/less stressful/tiring, or am I just paranoid? Or is there something else we should do instead of this very long day trip?

Day 3
– Explore the Sapporo Winter Festival in Odori Park and the Susukino Site
– Sapporo TV Tower at night

Day 4
– Day trip to Otaru – 50 minute one-way
– Go to the Sankaku Fish Market for lunch
– Try Le Tao cheesecake/desserts while in Otaru
– Possibly explore the Minami Otaru Market also or explore the main street if time permits
– Explore the Glass Studio
– Possibly take the Mt. Tengu Ropeway which is located right near the Glass Studio
– View the Otaru Snow Light Path Festival at night time in the canals, then head back to motel in Sapporo

Day 5
– Try a fresh seafood breakfast at the Nijo Market
– Explore and shop
– Visit the Sapporo Beer Museum
– For dinner go to the Sapporo Beer Garden – all you can eat and drink, try the Gengkhis Khan

Day 6
– Fly back to Tokyo (Haneda) to continue the rest of our trip.

I have also seen there are other places to visit in Hokkaido and I know we are missing a bit, are there any must-sees we could fit in, keeping in mind it being winter and we are only using public transportation? Day 3 feels a bit empty but not sure what to put there. Also, we are thinking about going again in Autumn in the future as I understand there is beautiful scenery and we could easily drive in Autumn and cover more ground.

Also sorry for the formatting, I’m on my phone.

Thanks very much.

by azlaen

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