Hello everyone~~ My husband and I are traveling to Hokkaido for the first leg of our trip and will be there for 6 nights. My main curiosity is if it's better to stay in the Akan-Mashu area for 1 night or 2 nights which is Day 2-3 or 4. We will have a car and I'm keeping in mind to not underestimate the size of Hokkaido. I also know that the sun rises and sets really early that time of year so I've been considering that as well.
Day 1 Fly into New Chitose in the AM, pick up rental car, drive straight to Asahikawa and Biei. Staying in Asahikawa for the night.
Day 2 Head out to Daisetsuzan/Sounkyo Ropeway for a few hours in the morning before we make our way to Lake Akan. Roughly 3.5 hours drive. Ideally I would like to check out the Akan Ainu Kotan before checking into our place for the night which will be near Lake Akan but not in the town itself.
Day 3 Lake Akan/Lake Mashu. Check out the Marimo Observatory in the AM. Then start driving around the area but definitely stopping at one of the Lake Mushu Observatories and maybe the Tsubetsutoge Observatory. Then after all the stops I was originally planning to head to Sapporo this day and get there by evening. I did notice all of those areas are pretty spread out so (roughly 45-1hr from each other)
**would it be better to just stay 1 more night and then drive down the next day?**
Day 4 Sapporo (still figuring out the exact details of this part of the trip)
Day 5 Otaru/ Shakotan/maybe Cape Kamui
Day 6 Jozankei
fly out early AM next day.
by oginochihirosen