I got lucky once when i checked the airfare, found a good deal on skyscanner with china airline, return fare of $680 from Melbourne to Sapporo (transit in Taipei) including in flight meals and 30kg baggage. so i quickly contacted my friends, and see if anyone interested to go along. such attractive price, of coure i had no trouble to lure my friends, lol....
you probably have seen many snow pictures of Hokkaido, and wondering why would us to plan a Hokkaido trip in summer? i surely have done some quick research before i bought those cheap tickets, apparently, the late july and early august is the flower season in Hokkaido, and flowers do not bloom forever, so the flower season is actually shorter and more popular than the snow season.
let me show you one of the flower field picture i took during our trip first:
since i was the one dragging my friends into this trip, i felt its my responsibility to plan the itinerary. after doing some research on the forum and blogs, from travel books, it seems the public transport is not as sufficient as other part of japan, especially if we would like to see the lavender farm in Faruno, the unkai terrace in Tomamu and the blue pond in Biei, which are the top summer attractions for hokkaido. You might be able to take the 4 day JR pass for 22000 yen, to go different area, but the train stations are not always nearby some of the attractions, that further transportation often needed.
it just happened that we have 4 ppl going for this trip, i think it might be more flexible to rent a car and drive ourselves, not to mention, japan has similar traffic rules with Australia, all we need it to get our international license from RACV, which can be done in couple minutes.
it was a good arrangement, because we ended up spent 81259 yen in total for 5 days, that includes all rental cost, insurance, parking fee, toll charges and petrol. so renting a car was not only more flexible
and turned out to be cheaper for each of us as well. we paid for 5 x 24 hours, and because we picked car in the first day afternoon, and returned on the 6th day afternoon, we actually used the car for like 6 days, not to mentioned, we could have saved more money if we have bought the 5-days toll pass and also my friend did not drove to the wrong entrance of the toll way.
Hokkaido is very big, there is no way we can visit all the place in our 8 days trip, so the plan is to visit the central part. we started from Chitose airport, then clockwise completed the left circle， and then anticlockwise finished the right circle and returned car in the Sapporo city.
the trip itinerary was:
day 1 : arrive Chitose airport -> get the car (Nissan Car Rental) -> drive to Noboribetsu -> check in Hotel Mahoroba -> buffet dinner ->wander around the onsen street ->onsen (hot-spring bath)
day 2: onsen (hot-spring bath)->buffet breakfast -> check out -> drive to Hell Valley(Jigokudani) ->drive to Noboribetsu Date Jidai Mura -> drive to lake Toya ->check in The Lake View Toya Nonokaze Resort -> buffet dinner -> roof top onsen with fireworks
day 3: roof top onsen -> buffet breakfast -> check out -> drive to Otaru->shopping at Otaru Sakaimachi(music box museums) -> dinner at Otaru -> check in Airbnb
day 4: check out->drive to shiroi koibito park ->drive to Mitsui Outlet Park Sapporo Kitahiroshima->drive to Tomamu ski resort -> check in Village alpha(booked on airbnb)
day 5: free shuttle bus, then buy lift pass to see Unkai Terrace->check out->drive to Furano, lucn at Kumagera->drive to Farm Tomita ->drive to Shikisai No Oka ->drive to blue pond ->check in Yumoto Shirogane-Onsen Hotel ->walk to Shirahige Waterfall ->in room dinner ->Onsen
day 6: buffet breakfast -> check out ->drive to blue pond (again) ->drive to Sapporo ->check in Dormy Inn Premium Sapporo ->return car ->walk to sapporro station ->shopping at Daimaru and Stellar Place ->taxi to hotel ->shopping at Tanuki Koji Shopping Arcade
day 7: walk to Nijo market(二条市場) for seafood brunch ->taxi to sapporro station->shopping at Bic camera, Daimaru and Stellar Place (again) ->taxi to hotel ->shopping at Tanuki Koji Shopping Arcade
day 8: buffet breakfast -> check out ->bus to airport -> shopping at the domestic terminal -> fly home
I will put up more details about this trip later on, and hope it might be helpful for anyone might think of going Hokkaido.
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