Hello, 3 of us are visiting Hokkaido for our first time Feb 20-29 ’24 and are considering renting an RV instead of booking hotel accommodations.
We are keen on the flexibility an RV would offer in getting to the hills with the best conditions.
We live in Vancouver, Canada and are comfortable with driving in winter conditions.
My research has uncovered a few stories of RV’s fuel freezing and travelers getting hypothermia. We plan to bring our winter sleeping bags to give us the best chance of preventing hypothermia but i’m working if anyone here has first hand experience with winter RV trips?
We would pay the extra for 4×4 capable RV.
We have found information on the Michi no eki – road side camp areas but are wondering if these are available throughout the season? Do they become full in Feb? If we get stuck, are they places we could find assistance? Are there parks we should avoid? Any things tourists do that you wish we didn’t?
Generally wondering if we’re crazy to consider this option or if it’s wildly popular?
Thank you!
4 comments
Vancouver and Hokkaido are nothing like each other for winter driving. If you’re going over the coquihalla or up highway 1 mid winter often, then you might have the experience needed, but you’d need a pretty compact RV. Hokkaido in Feb can be several feet of snow inland.
I think in the winter it might be better to rent a car and stay in hotels? I’m not totally sure what it’s like in the winter but I can imagine some of them might close during the winter season. Hokkaido is cold and YVR is.. not a comparable experience
Hokkaido-ite here. I’ve traveled in RV in the summer and had a decent time, as the RV had the battery power to keep the AC going through the night for a nice sleep. I wonder how long the batteries could keep the heaters going, but the company renting to you could probably give a good idea of that. One of the challenges here (in Japan) is that, unlike a lot of North America, it’s SUPER hard (impossible?) to just find a field or place to park and open up shop to settle down and chill for the evening. You usually end up in some parking lot or “Michi no Eki” (Road Station, like you mentioned) hoping to try and enjoy nature while tourists drive through to stop for a potty break, etc.
Also, it’s very common in Hokkaido winters for the roads to be plowed, but the snow ends up forming “walls” on either side of the street, sometimes several meters high. Roads or paths that exist in the summer vanish! We have a few cases each winter where people get stuck in their car and die (running out of gas, or avalanches, or just losing control of the vehicle and getting stuck somewhere, etc.), so if the conditions aren’t great, you’ll probably get all kinds of people looking at you like you’re insane for intentionally trying to be out in those conditions! That being said, you can easily find Youtubers who intentionally go drive places and sleep in their little kei cars on winter nights (sha-chu-haku, 車ä¸æ³Šï¼‰without dying as well. You just need to be well-prepared, and have a shovel or two available (and be prepared to shovel for a few hours to get back to the road in the case of brutal storms too!)
Hope that helped!
Lots of people do it. I sleep in my van many nights. Did so last night. We have a heater that runs off the diesel but doesn’t require the engine to run. I think all RVs you could rent would have the same or similar. I’ve stayed in my van at -20 C and thrown my covers off because I was too hot.
The roads are bad. All bad. Pretty much covered in ice all winter. Snowstorms make it difficult or even impossible to see. When the weather is bad. Park it. Make tea. Have a sleep. Michinoeki are great. The have 24 Hour toilets. Anzendaiichi (safety first).
You can’t just park anywhere. It’s true. There are snow banks and snowplows everywhere you need to stay away from…. Even at the michinoeki
You can’t use the water in any (no toilet, sink, shower…) RV in winter. But there are onsen everywhere. If you don’t mind bathing with strangers.
I don’t think you need to book everything in advance but may need to be more flexible. There’s a lot more to Hokkaido than Niseko. Hokkaido is huge and all covered in snow. Go to small resorts for local vibes and hospitality…. and cheaper everything.
Talk the RV company. Tell them your plans and worries. They’ll be able to help. They’re not going to push an RV on you if you don’t have the confidence to drive it. They also don’t want you to piss of locals along the way by parking in places you shouldn’t be. THEIR name is on your vehicle. Be courteous, be discreet, drive slow. Apologize for everything even if it’s not your fault. You don’t even have to get an RV. Drive a van, make plans along the way.
All that said, you’ve only got a week!! First day in, last day out, 7 days is not enough for touring Hokkaido or even just a small part of it I think, especially in winter with bad roads.