Good morning!
My husband and I are working on a trip for October 2024 and are looking for some suggestions. We have been to Japan twice before \[(Sakura season 2019 – Tokyo / Osaka / Kyoto / Nara/ Kanazawa) and (Feb 2023 – Tokyo / Sapporo / Hakodate / Otaru)\].
This time, we’re hoping to catch some Autumn colors! We have not yet finalized our dates, but wanted to get a feel of date allocations and find any suggestions for some of Hokkaido. Please let us know if there are any good day trip options in the Lake Toya / Jozankei area (hopefully via transit and not car).
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Depart North America for HND (hopefully).
Day 1 – arrive in HND, overnight in capsule hotel
Day 2 – HND – CTS ; train to Asahikawa ; visit Asahikawa Ramen Village
Day 3 – (rental car day trip) – Asahidake Ropeway ; Daiichi Observatory ; Shirogane Blue Pond ; Shirogane Waterfall (return rental car)
Day 4 – Hokuchin Memorial Museum ; try more Asahikawa ramen – head to Sapporo
Day 5-8 – hoping that the Hokkaido University Ginkgo Ave will have the beautiful golden colors. We are also looking into the cookie workshop at Shiroi Kobito Park ; Mt Moiwa ; Hokkaido Museum and the Historical Village of Hokkaido. We will also try and built in an Otaru day trip
Day 9-10 – *Jozankei Daiichi Hotel Suizantei stay* \- will also visit the various bridges / valleys of Jozankei. Google has given me some ideas (Momiji Bridge ; Tamagawa Bridge ; Jozankeio Bridge ; Jozankei Dam and Futamitsuri Bridge)
Day 10-12 – travel to Lake Toya and visit Sobetsu Wateralls, lake views, the Toyako Visitor Centre and hopefully cross the lake to the middle island
Day 13-15 – travel to Hakodate and visit Goryokaku Park ; revisit Mt. Hakodate views, the brickware house district and actually experience the morning market this time. We will be spending the last night in Hakodate at the *Bourou Noguchi Hakodate Onsen* (if you have any reviews on this one, that would be greatly appreciated). We will also be flying for Hakodate Airport to Itami
Day 16 – 20 – using Osaka as a base, we’d like to visit Universal Japan (for the Halloween themed events) ; revisit Nara for some non-deer locations ; see if Kiyomizu in Kyoto has their illumination nights. We didn’t spend as much time visiting other areas in Osaka so may try to visit Umeda Sky building ; Haruka Benos etc.
Day 21 – 24 – travel to Tokyo via Shinkansen ; we will be dedicating a morning&afternoon to the new Harry Potter studio tour ; and revisiting some repeat locations (Asakusa; Akihabara; Nakano). Will see what new museums are open and any collab cafe events.
Day 25 – return home