Hey all, I’m a Japan resident and hoping to visit Hokkaido for the first time this summer.
I’ll be travelling solo and relying on public transport, which I realise isn’t ideal in Hokkaido, but I’ll manage to make it work. I’m hoping to do a decent amount of hiking and get into nature (obviously being mindful of bears), and try out all the delicious local food in Hokkaido.
I’m fairly happy with the places in this itinerary, but if anyone thinks I should spend more or less time somewhere, there’s a way to better order the places I’m visiting, or I’m missing out somewhere really good (particularly good hikes), please let me know – I could probably add a few more days to the trip if I needed to! If anyone has any restaurant or bar recommendations too (big craft beer fan), I’d love to hear them as well!
Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this, any feedback or suggestions would be really appreciated! 🙂
|**Day**|**Place**|**Plan**|
:–|:–|:–|
|1|Hakodate|Hopefully arrive early in Hakodate, wander around the city and head up Mt Hakodate in the evening for the night view.|
|2|Lake Toya|If I have time, wake up early and visit the morning market in Hakodate, then head on to Lake Toya by train (2 hours). Explore the area and head to Noboribetsu for the night.|
|3|Noboribetsu|Head to Jigokudani and do some hiking. Probably will stay this night in Noboribetsu too.|
|4-6|Sapporo|Planning on spending 3 nights in Sapporo, with one of the days being a day trip to Otaru for the Nikka distillery. Definitely going to go to the Sapporo brewery, other than that just explore the city really, hoping to try some local food.|
|7|Furano|Check out the flowers in Furano, then head on to Asahidake Onsen in the evening.|
|8-9|Daisetsuzan|I definitely want to hike Asahidake on one of the days, but I’m still debating what to do on the other day. Are there any good two day hikes that people recommend? Or just other places that I shouldn’t miss while I’m there?|
|10|Asahikawa|Return to Asahikawa, fairly chill day. Check out the zoo.|
|11|Utoro (?)|This day will probably be spent travelling. I think I should be able to get a train from Asahikawa to Abashiri, then a bus to Utoro, which will take about 7 hours in total. This is a pretty massive trip though, if anyone has any ideas of how I could better fit Shiretoko into my trip, it would be appreciated! Are there any places nearby that would be worth stopping in?|
|12-13|Shiretoko|Two days in Shiretoko. The 5 lakes look cool, and I’d like to do some hiking so I might look into hiring a local guide – since I don’t really want to be hiking by myself in Shiretoko! Climbing Rausudake would be cool, has anyone here climbed it? Again, if anyone has any recommendations of great hikes in the area, I’d love to hear them.|
|14|Sapporo|Bus from Utoro back to Sapporo. Spend the night in Sapporo and relax. Head home the next day.|
7 comments
As for the cities on your list, I would certainly plan to spend more time in Hakodate vs. Sapporo.
Depends on your Asahidake bus schedule on the 7th day, but we were able to visit Furano (Farm Tomita) AND Shikisai-no-oka in a single day and return to Asahikawa in the evening. While Furano is more about lavender, Shikisai-no-oka has alpaca farm and other flowers, i.e. big sunflower field. Both places are amazing, so if it’s possible I would suggest to visit them.
Another good place in Biei area is Shirogane Blue pond. It should be not that far from Shikisai-no-oka.
Asahikawa has a pretty unique place, which is Snow Museum. It was closed at the time of my trip, so be sure to check their schedule if you decide to go.
Be sure to visit Shiroi koibito chocolate factory in Sapporo. You can also buy chocolate for souvenir, it’s famous in Japan.
I went to Hokkaido for 2 weeks in Jan 2020, so much of my itinerary differed due to all the snow, but I do have a couple recommendations.
One is definitely make time to enjoy the onsen resort at Noboribetsu. I’m by no means a “spa guy” or whatever and the resort far exceeded my expectations. I stayed at Hotel Takimoto, which provided free access to the more expensive hotel’s giant onsen.
Second, since it seems you’re interested in beer and whiskey, is to go to The Bow Bar and Beer Bar North Island in Sapporo. The former is one of the coolest whiskey bars I’ve been to with an excellent selection, and the later had a great beer selection with good views of the city.
Your itinerary basically matched mine spot for spot except I didn’t have enough time for Hakodate, since I chose lake akan instead
I don’t have much to speak on public transpo since I decided renting a car would be more convenient with scheduling and language barriers, but I can say shiretoko was incredible. Rausu -dake is quite grueling, about 9 hours uo and back but the views (if you’re lucky to avoid the fog) is spectacular, being able to see both sides of the island. Bring bear bells and you can also rent near spray from the local visitors center. Hikers also bring their own disposable pee/poop bags since there is no washroom besides the trailhead, which is conveniently located at an onsen.
At asahikawa, I took the cable car up, and focused on climbing the exposed portion of asahidake but if you enjoy being in the trees and have good legs, you can extend the 2hr trek to 6-7hrs.
The hiking times are another reason I decided to rent a car. Longer hikes require early start times and later returns that forces you to make some tough choices about which hikes you’re able to do.
I can also speak on the blue pond at shirogane – it’s okay if you’ve the place to yourself but when I went there were way too many tourists for it to be worthwhile. Perhaps with fewer tour buses the place can reclaim some of it’s famed serenity.
Himawari no Sato is a must go if you are visiting in August.
Firstly, I just want to say thank you for your neat organisation in your OP. It makes it so much easier to sift through XD
Secondly, I too am a big craft beer person ( 😀 ) and wanting to trek around Hokkaido on my next trip over, so while I’ve not got any advice to give, I’ll definitely be following this post for suggestions with planning my next trip 🙂
Not to divert the topic but, any specific Japanese craft breweries you’re loving that should be checked out (regardless of location)? Went to Miyajima Brewery (found it by chance when on – obviously – Miyajima) and it was wonderful! The owner was so incredibly lovely and welcoming as was the staff and other patrons around us and the beer was obviously tasty. When I was there last just before covid, it seemed like craft beer was on the rise, but you still had to specifically scour the internet for it as – besides Hitachino – it wasn’t the most discussed.
I’ve been to sapporo and Otaru, lovely places I wish to revisit when japan opens again.
Sapporo;
* if you like views, in sapporo Station there’s a lift/elevator that goes to the top, giving, in my opinion the best view of the city, ( I tried the TV tower and it wasn’t as good) https://ibb.co/x5TCmrZ
* also there is Mt moiwa too which you should definitly visit fantastic views from there of the surrounding area. https://ibb.co/KrBsNbR
* Sapporo also has some great parks that also have great coffee shops for you to find, if you like coffee. https://ibb.co/9gyxrPb
Otaru;
Magical little canal town, I too wished to visit the whiskey place, but Otaru is so beautiful I spent the whole day there, (the whiskey place is another train that’s not covered by jr pass if anyone’s interested) my suggestion would be spend a day in Otaru and then spend another day going to the distillery (which is a day trip itself)
* Otaru station: https://ibb.co/bQ7GpvH
* Otaru abandoned line: https://ibb.co/XbpM7Xb
* Otaru canal: https://ibb.co/n7QZR9g