2 hours in Hakodate for Sakura. Enough?

Hi,

I'm travelling to Tokyo solo and making a trip out to Hakodate for a day JUST to view the Cherry Blossoms as that's the only place that'll still have the blossoms on May 13th. Now thing is because of this itinerary, I only have about 3 hours to spend in Hakodate:

-Tokyo- Aomori bus reaches Aomori at 8:30am
-the Aomori-Hakodate train reaches Hakodate at 11:30am
- The Seikan ferry leaves Hakodate at 3, reaches Aomori at 7
-Aomori-tokyo bus leaves at 9pm


My question: is 2 hours enough get to Fort Goryokaku from the Station, view the cherry blossoms by walk, take some pictures and head back? Because if it's not enough, then ill have to extend my trip by a night and it'll become too expensive for me. Or sugegst any other way to get to Aomori by 8:30om if not the ferry. Note that I'm not particularly interested in sight-seeing in the interest of
time. Thanks a lot in advance.

It takes about an hour to walk between Hakodate Station and Goryokaku one way:
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=%E5%A4%A7%E6%B2%BC%E5%9B%BD%E9%81%9...

So walking is out of the question. Even if you take the tram to get there, you should calculate about half an hour one way. And I don't know how long it takes to the ferry pier by public transportation. Considering that you should show up at least 15-30 minutes ahead of the ferry departure, you should probably leave Goryokaku about an hour before the ferry's departure time, which leaves you with under an hour at the park.

That is not a lot of time, especially if you also want to go up the tower (which is recommended).

I recommend that you have at least one and a half hour at the park itself to enjoy the tower and the park itself.

The only way to make it within your time frame is to use taxis to travel between the station, Goryokaku and the ferry terminal.

I strongly recommend to extend your trip by a day. Hakodate is a nice town, and even though I have some extreme "daytrips" myself in the past, I think that so much effort for just 90 minutes at Goryokaku is not worth it.

Thanks a lot Uji.

That's very helpful. However extending the trip by a day is not possible as I'm leaving to Kyoto the next morning and my tickets are booked. What I can do is find an alternative to leave Hakodate a little later, maybe by 6 to make it back to Aomori by 9pm, in time for my bus back. I chose the ferry option as it's about 1500JPY but do you think there's another alternative? The train from Aomori-Hakodate is about 6000JPY acc to hyperdia. But I'm not sure how the fare is calculated here. http://www.hyperdia.com/cgi/en/search.html?dep_node=HAKODATE&arv_node=...
Total:\ 5,340(Fare:\ 3,150 Seat Fee:\ 2,190)
Is this seat fees of 2190 optional if you want a seat ? or you must pay it. Cuz if the fare is just 3150, then i can definitely take the train back instead of the ferry. ( i dont have a JR pass)

Ok I found another option: ( aaah i should get an award for the kind of research I've put in to plan the Japan trip!)
Instead of the Seiken Ferry, I take the Tsugaru Kaikyo ferry at an additional 2000JPY so it looks like this:

-Ferry leaves Aomori at 10am-Reaches Hakodate at 13:40.
-Ltd exp train leaves Hakodate at 6:20pm & reaches Aomori at 8:20pm.

This gives me about 5 hours at Hakodate, instead of the earlier 2 hours. Sounds good?

Cheers,

Sounds better, indeed.

I realise you have some things already "booked", although maybe you can cancel those?

I would have considered trying to use one of the air passes and fly Tokyo - Hakodate and then Hakodate - Kansai/Itami Airport.

Maybe you are on a budget and trying to use a bus pass or something but it is probably not going to cost a huge amount more if you fly (if anything) and will probably save you a ton of time.

Discount Air tickets:-
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2364.html

Even at normal pricing AirDo from Haneda to Hakodate seems pretty cheap to me.

Doing Hakodate to Aomori to Tokyo to Kyoto seems like such a waste really. How are you getting to Kyoto from Tokyo and what is booked?

Enjoy your trip!

Hi,

You're right. I AM on a budget and at 12,000JPY for 4 days, the BUS pass was an attractive option, compared to the JR pass at 28k!
So all my buses ( That is Tokyo-aomori-tokyo) and (Tokyo-Kyoto-Tokyo) are covered by this pass.
Now at an additional cost of about 8000JPY I also get to travel to Hakodate for the cherry blossoms for a day. Seemed like a good option, considering that all the buses are overnight and so I also save on accommodation on those nights. I checked the flights and each flight is at least 12,000JPY one way which is a LOT more expensive than what I'm paying right now. So I think expenses wise, the bus+ferry option seems about right. Would you think otherwise?

My itinerary is like this.

May 11th, 12th, 13th- Tokyo sightseeing. (Western, Southern and central Tokyo respectively)
13th night- Overnight bus to Aomori
14th day- Spend at Hakodate
14th evening- Leave for Tokyo
15th morning- leave for Hakone. Come back to Tokyo the same evening.
15th night- Leave for Kyoto overnight bus
16th & 17th- spend in Kyoto
17th evening: Leave for Tokyo
17th-Tokyo