First of all, super grateful in advance for this community and the help rendered.
My partner and I are planning a honeymoon to Hokkaido in early January. We plan to spend around a week in Hokkaido (and around another week in Tokyo/mainland Japan) and don’t intend to drive if possible. We love good scenery (especially mountains/lakes) and food, and are generally not as big on museums etc. We will be flying into and out of Japan via Tokyo.
I don’t have a complete itinerary (yet) but in terms of the “broad” areas to cover, I was thinking: Sapporo -> Otaru -> Niseko -> Lake Toya -> Noboribetsu -> Hakodate.
However, I have a few isolated questions for now:
1. **Hokkaido in January:** Would the weather would be overly inclement/harsh during early January? It would kind of ruin the romantic aspect if it were heavily snowing and blizzarding most of the time.
2. **Transportation:** I’m not comfortable with winter driving, but would public transportation be serviceable during the winter season?
3. **Otaru:** Is it recommended to spend a night in Otaru while en route to Niseko? The night view of the canal seems spectacular, but am not sure if that itself warrants spending a night there.
4. **Niseko:** Mainly here to experience skiing and the famed JAPOW (we are complete beginners though so its really more for the experience rather than hardcore skiing). Is two nights appropriate? Think it might be difficult to fit a skiing session into a one night trip given travel time to Niseko etc. At the same time though, we aren’t really hardcore skiers and Niseko accommodations are rather pricey.
5. **Lake Toya and Noboribetsu:** Loved the view of Lake Toya based on the photos alone. We were thinking one night each for Lake Toya and Noboribetsu. Would it be advisable to instead stay two nights in Lake Toya and make a day trip to Noboribetsu from there instead?
6. **Hakodate:** Is it worthwhile to visit Hakodate, given that it is an almost 3 hour journey from Lake Toya? Main attractions that appeal to us would be the Mt. Hakodate observation deck, morning market, Hakodate illumination and the ramen. Though if we are travelling back to Tokyo by train, we would have to stop by Hakodate station anyway.
7. **”Mainland” Japan:** Assuming that we won’t be flying back to Tokyo, and would instead take the shinkansen, are there any specific recommended (e.g., romantic / great scenery) stops in between Hakodate and Tokyo? Apologies – there are so many possible stops that its hard to identify the ones which would be suitable for honeymooning couples / during early January. Some ideas I had so far:
1. Zao Onsen: Snow monsters look really unique, but I’m concerned that it would be too similar to the Niseko experience.
2. Ginzan Onsen: Love the atmosphere of the place but heard that its difficult to get reservations.
An alternative route would be to skip Hakodate and circle back to Sapporo from Noboribetsu / Lake Toya, then fly back to Tokyo from there. This would open up more options outside of Tokyo, though I don’t have a specific direction in mind for this alternative route at the moment.
Thanks so much in advance!
1 comment
1. Hokkaido in Winter: YMMV. Blizzards and heavy snow are to be expected at times, considering Hokkaido/Sea of Japan coast is Lake Effect x 3.
2. In Sapporo/Otaru or on JR Hakodate line: typically yes. It’s worth noting that in Japan – in case of bad weather or congestion – priority is given to public transport, as in: certain roads may be closed for all private cars.
3. Otaru is typically a day trip from Sapporo, although area does have some fine resorts/ryokans.
4. Honestly, considering that you want to visit Noboribetsu Onsen and Toyako afterwards and the fact that you are not comfortable with winter driving – I would probably go for Furano. Note that Niseko to Toyako would most likely come by a cab – a fairly expensive one at that. And this kind of makes me want to recommend flying to Asahikawa, going to Furano first and then making your way to Sapporo/Otaru and via JR Muroran line to Noboribetsu and Toyako.
5. See above. And yes, staying at Toyako and making a trip to Noboribetsu is possible.
6. It’s always worthwhile to see Hakodate (it’s about 2½ hour trip from the onsen and under 2 hours from Toya station). My recommendation during winter is perhaps to stay either 2 nights or 1 night, but arrive in the morning and leave late in the afternoon. I also feel that Goryokaku is kind of mandatory, when it comes to visiting Hakodate. Also: Onuma-koen is very nice to visit during winter and is renowned for being ski running paradise.
7. I would add Akiu Onsen for your consideration – it’s within sensible travel time to Sendai and Yamadera, and a fairly nice play to stay. Takayu Onsen also is worth considering, if going for a more rural location – it’s still fairly close to Fukushima city.