[Trip Report] Solo trip to Hokkaido trip from Oct 7-14

Just came back from my trip to Hokkaido. I have mostly followed [this itinerary that I planned for](https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/15xaqfi/itinerary_check_8_days_in_hokkaido/), **except for a few differences:**

– Day 2 (Otaru) I only went to have a look at Sankaku market, then Otaru canal for some daytime snaps and looks, and went to the Otaru Museum. Lunch was not done at Otaru Masazushi, and dinner was done at Sapporo.

– Day 3 in Obihiro I didn’t get to have dinner and ate back at Sapporo instead.

– Day 6 in Hakodate I went straight for mount Hakodate after checking in, the buildings were visited after leaving mount Hakodate.

**Firstly, a few observations/experiences in general.**

– What I didn’t account for in my first few days is how soon the sun sets in Hokkaido. I’m used to sun setting past 6pm, but here the sun starts setting by 5:00pm and it’s completely dark by 5:30pm. This is especially important if you plan to go up the mountains for nighttime views.

– Save for some restaurants, expect everything to close down past 6pm. Sapporo is better in this regard, especially in Susukino.

– I brought my old Pasmo card from my 2014-ish Tokyo trip basically because it had the most money left. It’s quite useful in cities like Sapporo and Hakodate, but you’re kinda SOL in other cities. Also most vending machines do not support IC cards, though convenience stores or even some shops do, especially if that city has an IC card system.

– I didn’t check how much I saved using my JR Hokkaido 7 day ticket, but one thing I really, really like is the ability to reserve your seat especially in the long distance express trains (Sapporo – Obihiro/Asahikawa/Hakodate and back). [Learnt how to do it via this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa3_by5fRjE). And also probably not recommended, but I did reserve for 2 different time slots just in case for a few rides. Also, if you don’t plan to drive/have a driver’s license, expect lots and lots of walking.

– Google maps is your friend, and make sure you have a data sim and you don’t need to rely on wifi.

– My trip was planned exactly for after China’s national day week to avoid crowds. It mostly works, but in turn, some places look really quiet as a result.

– I only know a few phrases of Japanese but thankfully it’s not a huge problem. Though obviously I mostly don’t know what the one serving me says.

**Onto the thoughts:**

***Day 1:***

– I stayed at the [JR Inn Sapporo](https://maps.app.goo.gl/h6C4337yBMyLMYAw9) until day 6. For a single room, it’s actually a pretty decent size, but my room is facing the train tracks. If you wake up easily on any sounds while sleeping, I wouldn’t recommend this hotel to you, though trains basically stop running at 12am.

– For the sights, JR Sapporo Tower is quite nice, and if you’re a guy, you can go to the men’s restroom for a urinal with a view. The shopping center below (and basically the JR station building) has various shops, including a bookstore and HMV, and restaurants are all on the 6th floor.

***Day 2***

– For Otaru, what I didn’t account for was how small it is. I actually had time to spare when I’m done with lunch. Speaking of lunch, I instead ate at [Asahi Sushi](https://maps.app.goo.gl/6wgYoQAGWRxCR8897) where nobody speaks English and they rely on you to jot down your name (Google translate helped me with this). I went to Otaru Masazushi without a booking at 12pm and they told me to wait for 1.5 hours. If I knew what would happen (basically dallying until night passes for the Otaru canal), I would’ve taken their offer. Not that Asahi was bad, mind you. I know that Masazushi had another store in Otaru, but I didn’t want to check there as I feel it’d be more crowded.

– Anyway, Otaru Museum. I think if you’re a train buff or a history buff, this should be a place you should check out. It’s a little far from the touristy stuff, but just walking along the canal to its end also gives you some [pretty nice photo opportunities](https://imgur.com/o15Pfyy). Then I just walk back via the Temiya line to Sushiyadori (and it basically ends there).

– The road to Otaru Orgel isn’t very long but there’s tons of shops that’s catered to tourists of all kinds. Not much to say, though did spend some time checking out the Snoopy Cafe (which is basically a souvenir shop). Otaru Orgel is a pretty amusing place to look at. If you go to the second floor it also has some exhibits of music boxes and its history, alongside some old music players.

– Otaru canal is the main attraction – it’s kinda short, though (at least the touristy parts). Never got onto the boat tour.

***Day 3***

– Gingko avenue in Hokkaido University might be better served by going a week or two later. The trees were still in green and it doesn’t look as impressive when it’s all in green, unfortunately.

– Butadon Pancho has a very basic menu, basically a butadon in small/medium/large/very large sizes. The restaurant has less customers than I expected, but Obihiro itself seems pretty sparse.

– One of my highlights is the Obihiro racecourse. To get there, you can take the bus, right outside the JR Obihiro station there’s a bus stop that takes you all over the city. On top of that, they have a bus round trip + Obihiro racecourse entrance fee combo that’s sold there. Go to the bus station’s info center, I think the price was 580 yen. The races are special – huge horses pulling sleds with a jockey on it and going up/down a couple slopes in a straight road and it races till night time. There’s no other horse racing in the world (or so it claims), and it’s definitely a unique enough experience. On top of that, it’s also family friendly (though obviously you can’t bet if you’re underage), people actually bring kids there. There’s an area where you can also feed horses, look at ponies, and there’s also a market that sells fresh produce from the Obihiro area. Race days are every Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Highly recommended if you have a passing interest.

– I planned to eat dinner at the Rokkaitei HQ, but it turns out their cafe closes at 4:30pm. There was a plan to eat the local curry chain Indian Machinaka, but seeing I was planning to eat curry for the coming days, I decided against it.

***Day 4***

– Asahiyama zoo was a blast, unfortunately there’s no penguin marching to be seen. You have to take the bus from Asahikawa JR station though. My protip here is to get the bus ticket x2 (including the return ticket) and the zoo ticket from the bus info center right outside the bus station. You don’t need to, but then you will have to take a ticket when you enter the bus and then pay for it when you exit. Note that buses basically only run once an hour.

– For Biei, I firstly came in with the expectation that there’s not much flower to see because it’s past summer. Secondly I was expecting too much from Zerubu Hill where the flowers were starting to wilt and there’s zero staff. Thirdly, it’s kinda stupid to walk all the way from Biei to Zerubu Hill, then to the Ken and Mary tree, then the Hokusai observatory. Yes I could’ve rented a bicycle (others did), but I don’t want to get into accidents when I’m poor with one. Regardless, might be better shilling out for a tour, or even have a taxi drive me around. On the other hand, some of [my](https://imgur.com/zNuOGRv) [favorite](https://imgur.com/rhAMpxB) [pictures](https://imgur.com/yj5m5rS) in the trip were from Biei where my legs became jelly.

***Day 5***

– The botanical garden itself was good. A decently quiet place in the morning and there’s a few old houses from the early days of the Hokkaido university that also serves as exhibits.

– For lunch I originally wanted to go to [Garaku](https://maps.app.goo.gl/fn8wd8zjgbKiyGx36) but upon seeing the reviews (like going there at 10am to line up), I decided against it and went for [Rojura Curry Samurai](https://maps.app.goo.gl/8uW2EFfrhJjwFENg7) which [helped fill](https://imgur.com/lUHpmPB) the lack of veggies I had in prior days.

– Sapporo Clock Tower was also a nice visit. There’s a working clock upstairs and the history of the clock tower is also quite important to Sapporo. Plus entry is cheap.

– I originally didn’t want to go up the Sapporo Tower because I went to the JR tower already, but I did want to see how long Odori park is and some surrounding areas, so I paid the entrance (plus I had time to spare). It’s…okay.

– Half of this part of the trip is to check out the video games and anime stuff. [Animate Sapporo](https://maps.app.goo.gl/N9yUoT8DSKxPRkT79) and the stores up/downstairs has most of what you need, and the [Norbesa](https://maps.app.goo.gl/2Da6J2RD1NgbEHXu9) mall as well.

– Other part is to buy cold/flu drugs for my friends. Tanukikoji has a large amount of them so it’s the obvious place to go. Do note that per Japanese law, you can only buy 1 box max per store. They will ask questions when you buy them.

– Earlier I mentioned about the sun setting early and here I walked a bit too much to remember that the sun sets at 5pm. So I went to Mount Moiwa ropeway station at 5:40ish and it’s already dark. I got there via tram, and if you’re lucky, there’s a free shuttle that takes you to/from the tram station and the ropeway station. Otherwise it’ll be a small hike.

– At night time, I wanted to try out the jingisukan, so I went to [Ezoya](https://maps.app.goo.gl/KULGzEEEneyXBF2UA) at 8pm without a booking and was told to wait for 30 minutes to which I declined, and went for a Daruma restaurant which spawned a few in the area. The store I went to had a short line and I thought it wouldn’t take that long, but it turns out there’s a longer second line *inside* the freaking restaurant. At that time it’s kinda a sunk cost fallacy thing, and the mutton was okay, not particularly good really (and it’s a little awkward solo). I would probably not go there again, though they did have lockers (so your bags and jackets wouldn’t get the BBQ smell), so that’s a plus.

***Day 6***

– Sapporo to the Onuma park. In retrospect, I probably wouldn’t take the left side window seat because the sun was shining directly onto my face for a few hours, but there’s some really nice [coastline](https://imgur.com/vyWj0qJ) to go with the sunshine, so it evens out.

– For Onuma I have my luggage with me, so I went to the Onuma visitor center next to the JR station and they can help store my luggage for 300 yen (the station has lockers, and up to 700 yen for the large ones). The visitor center also provides a nicer toilet than the station, seating area and restaurant listings in the town.

– Some shops rent bicycles, but if you plan to get into the park proper, bicycles are forbidden. As for the park itself, the view was simply [stunning](https://imgur.com/OseQ4js). Though do note that the path isn’t paved and one of the bridges was pretty steep.

– Before leaving, the local specialty is the dango from [Numa No Ya](https://maps.app.goo.gl/CimucEGmAzRVZ9z39). It comes in two combinations, but both have the sweet soy flavor which I didn’t like as much. I had the one with red bean paste, and I believe the other one had sesame. Even the small one has an absurd amount of dangos, so take note when ordering.

– In Hakodate I just checked into the APA Hakodate hotel near the station. The room is quite tiny, though I liked its bed. It also has a leaflet of the local Domino’s pizza. The slightly more concerning finding is that the hotel chain owner is a Japanese nationalist and the rooms have magazines with his articles (and I think a book about his success story). If that concerns you, you might want to avoid the APA group.

– I just went straight for mount Hakodate before sunset via tram. It’s filled to the brim with people already. I just waited it out in the observatory indoors and go back upstairs when night falls and the crowd makes its way down the stairs.

– On a side note, the trams and buses accept IC cards here (my Pasmo works, yay). You however need to touch the reader when you enter the ride and touch it again to pay for it as it calculates the number of stops you rode.

– I had to check out the Old Public Hall at night time as a result, it’s closed already obviously. But it’s still lit from outside, so that’s a bit of a saving grace there.

***Day 7***

– Checked out the morning market and had the kaisendon and also got a slice of melon there. Not much to say really, though I ate at [this restaurant](https://maps.app.goo.gl/RBbUfTuEZNTbpXrC7).

– Also don’t worry about storing your luggage – JR Hakodate station has plenty of coin lockers available.

– Took the bus to the Goryukyaku park and tower. Probably took around 2 hours in the area, also a historical site and even shows you about other countries’ forts that this basically borrowed the design from, but with a Japanese styled fortification (and buildings obviously). I definitely recommend this.

– Went back to the station area and ate at Lucky Pierrot. The menu is freaking confusing and I just ordered for the set with a fried chicken burger and fries with an oolong tea. The burger was great. The fries had some weird cheesy sauce mixed with red sauce and it tasted weird. If I could I would’ve told them to leave out the sauce.

– Took the express to Noboribetsu. Only point for this is if you are reserving seats for this, do it early. A lot of people will be boarding in Shin Hakodate station thanks to the Shinkansen.

– Noboribetsu has a bus to get to the onsen town area and it runs on a schedule (one or twice per hour). If you don’t want to wait, the taxis are there, and I don’t see what other activities are available in the station area, but it didn’t take long for the bus to arrive, so I took the bus (also the JR station also has a bus ticket vending machine indoors).

– I stayed at the Dai-ichi Takimotokan. There’s no single rooms so I got a room with two beds and it’s very spacious even for 2 people. Unfortunately when I was there, they experienced a flood earlier this month which led to the closure of their basement floor and the escalators as well. The onsen inside the hotel was huge.

– The onsen town was really just about a street’s length and unfortunately none of the restaurants there have breakfast (unless you count the convenient stores). Also you can literally smell the sulfer around the town.

– The hell valley was very impressive. Definitely worth going there. The Oyunuma pond however was a little too far out there on walking distance. I took the path uphill and there’s a lot of climbing up, and I gave up when I reached the lookout, plus it was about 5pm, and god knows how much light there would be in the woods. So I headed back.

***Day 8***

– That would be today! One of the smarter things I did was book for the Donan bus that takes me to the New Chitose airport. The bus runs at around 10:20ish and arrives at the airport at 12:00ish and [it’s only 1800 yen](https://www.donanbus.co.jp/map/noboribetsu_airport/?hp_lang=en). Though I asked the hotel to book for me, so you may try that, but that also means you have to pay when the bus comes instead.

– New Chitose airport is basically a goddamn shopping center complete with all sorts of shops and restaurants, a cinema, a Royce chocolate factory, Doraemon shops (restaurant, play area, library etc). Not to mention a Pokemon store. All of them are in the domestic area.

And that’s it! Hope this helps anyone out in some way for going to Hokkaido.