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Sapporo Winter Festival 2012 2011/9/5 19:28
I plan to tour Hokkaido during the winter festival for around 5 days. Aside from Sapporo, Otaru, Hakodate, I also want to visit Asahikawa and Abashiri.

What other optional tours do you recommend?
This will be my first time to go to Hokkaido.

Thank you
by angel426  

... 2011/9/6 09:46
Sounds like a nice plan to me, I'm not sure you will have time to fit much else in! We did a similar trip a few years ago.

How and where are you arriving/departing from Hokkaido?

I would suggest an itinerary along the lines of:-
Day 1 Hakodate, afternoon and evening visit Mt Hakodate, overnight Hakodate
Day 2 visit Hakodate early morning market, morning train from Hakodate to Sapporo, see Snow Festival/Ice Festival, overnight Sapporo
Day 3 day trip from Sapporo to Otaru, visit canal area etc. return to Sapporo in late evening for Snow/Ice Festival, overnight Sapporo
Day 4 early morning (~7am) train Sapporo to Abashiri (5.5 hours), 2pm/3pm icebreaker boat to see the pack ice, overnight Abashiri
Day 5 ~9:30am train Abashiri to Asahikawa (3.75 hours) view Asahikawa Snow/Ice Festival, overnight Asahikawa (or Sapporo)
Day 6 fly home.

The above probably assumes you arrive into and out of Sapporo (by plane), or into and out of Hakodate (via train to the rest of Japan).

It would be more efficient to fly into Hakodate and do Asahikawa on the way from Sapporo to Abashiri and to fly out of Abashiri.

The rest of your schedule (is it only Hokkaido?) will determine what rail pass would be of most benefit to you as you are covering a lot of ground.

A few other suggestions, book your accommodation for Sapporo well in advance as it gets booked out quickly, also pricing is quite high during the Snow Festival period, probably cheaper during the week if that helps. You can also consider staying somewhere nearby (even Otaru) and day tripping in to Sapporo.

Book your ice breaker tour from Abashiri in advance as it can get booked out during that time frame. There are a number of hotels near the station area but book ahead because Abashiri is not an overly large town.

Enjoy your trip!
by GC3 rate this post as useful

thank you 2011/9/9 15:54
My entry and exit point is Sapporo (via plane). If I lengthen my stay, what places to visit would you recommend? I don't plan to ski but I'm interested in sightseeing.
Thank you
by angel426 rate this post as useful

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