In May 2024 it is going to be my 2nd time traveling in Japan and my first time traveling solo. I’m planning to stay 3 weeks mostly in Hokkaido and Tohoku, starting from Sapporo and then going my way down by shinkansen.
At some point I’ll be staying shortly to Hakodate, and I’m hoping to visit Matsumae before leaving Hokkaido. But I’m worried about time and transportation.
Here’s what I was thinking at first:
– May 13th – After arriving at Hakodate the night before; spending whole day visiting the area (Goryokaku, Kanemori RedBrick Warehouse, Motomachi, Hakodate park and Mt.Hakodate Observatory)
– May 14th – Day trip to Matsumae (Castle, park and surrounding shrines/temples, sakura museum and Matsumae Clan Residence)
– May 15th – In the morning, take shinkansen to Aomori
but I realized that by train/bus, going to Matsumae from Hakodate takes 3 to 4 hours… And I also realized that the closest station from there to take the shinkansen is at Kikonai, which is almost 2 hours! (I thought I could take it from Yoshioka :’)
I’m worried I won’t have enough time to visit Matsumae but I don’t really want to skip it 🙁
I wanted to know if anyone had advices for me to be able to make the most of my time.
For now, the options I’m thinking are:
1- If I’m to use train + bus, I would most likely be staying the night at Matsumae or Kikonai.
2- Using a car would be a lot faster, but I don’t drive (no license) and taxi would probably be super expensive. I’m wondering if sharing a taxi or even taking a ride from someone with a rental car is something common that people do when traveling?
Additional infos: I’ll have a JR pass and I hope I’ll still be in time to see lot of Sakura at Matsumae.
I’m also anxious because there’s sooooo many things I really want to see, but so little time! (and I also don’t want to be totally exhausted by the end of my trip)
by Glyndra