Need help Hokkaido travel

Hi,

I and my family are planning to visit Hokkaido for first time. We will be there 26th July - 06 Aug this year. We are 5 adult & 1 year old baby.

Could anyone pls help with our plan below;

27th = Arrive: 08:30 - Chitose - Asahiyama (stay Asahiyama)

28th = Day trip to Furano & Biei (stay Asahiyama)

29th = Back to visit - Daisetsuzan National Park, Furano & Biei and take train to Hokodate ( stay Hokodate)

30th = Day trip to Lake Toya and Noboribetsu. (stay Hokodate)

31th = Hokodate (stay Hokodate)

01 = Train to Sapporo - Explore Sapporo

02 = Day trip to Otaru

03 = Sapporo
04 = Sapporo
05 = Sapporo
06 = Deaprt 10AM flight

What do you think about plan above?

Questions:

- Is it worth renting a car for the whole trip? Its quite expensive for car rental.

- Or should I rent a car when doing Asahimaya, Furano and Biei?

- If so, should I rent the car from the Airport or take train to Asahimaya and get the car there is cheaper?

- Is it easy to visit - Daisetsuzan National Park with 1 year old baby? Which area should we visit if we have limited time?

- Could one day cover Furano and Biei?

- Would there be anything in Asahimaya Zoo during summer or shall we pass it?

- Should we stay in Furano instead of Asahimaya?

- Can we do day trip to Shiretoko? Is it easy access with one year old baby to go in a pram?

- How many day would we need in Hokodate to visit attraction places?

- Is it possible for a day trip to Lake Toya and Noboribetsu with public transport and a baby from and back to Hokodate?

- Is 3& half days more than enough for Sapporo or should we visit somewhere else as well?

- Any cheap car rental company? Do they give English GPS? Map?

- Should we get JRpass or Hokkaido free pass?

Thank you everyone in advance :)

I assume when you said asahiyama you mean asahikawa? There is asahiyama zoo but it is located at asahikawa
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6890.html

My general recommendation is as follow:
Fly in new chitose, rent a car there, drive to asahikawa/furano/biei, return car at sapporo, spend your time in sapporo/otaru, take train to noboribetsu/toya/hakodate, fly out of hakodate.

For your specific questions:
Is it worth renting a car for the whole trip? Its quite expensive for car rental. Or should I rent a car when doing Asahimaya, Furano and Biei? If so, should I rent the car from the Airport or take train to Asahimaya and get the car there is cheaper?
I would recommend renting car for the part of the trip I mentioned above.

Is it easy to visit - Daisetsuzan National Park with 1 year old baby? Which area should we visit if we have limited time? Could one day cover Furano and Biei?
This really depends on your pace. You could just spend like 30mins on each field if you have flower or more if you like to enjoy the flower field. I would skip Daisetsuzan or put it as optional in case you have more time. It takes about 1.5hr by car depending which part of daisetsuzan you are going and more by bus.

Would there be anything in Asahimaya Zoo during summer or shall we pass it?
Not sure I understand your question. It is a zoo so there is animal all year round. If you like to see animal then it is worth it.

Should we stay in Furano instead of Asahimaya?
Probably better at furano but it is not terribly far from asahikawa (1.5hr by car)

Can we do day trip to Shiretoko? Is it easy access with one year old baby to go in a pram?
It takes 4.5hr by car from asahikawa to get to shiretoko so day trip is almost impossible.

How many day would we need in Hokodate to visit attraction places?
It depends on your pace but 1-2 days is the norm.

Is it possible for a day trip to Lake Toya and Noboribetsu with public transport and a baby from and back to Hokodate?
Again, depends on your pace but it s very tight as the transportation isn't very frequent.

- Is 3& half days more than enough for Sapporo or should we visit somewhere else as well?
Again depends on your pace, but I will recommend spend take out a night and spend it on noboribetsu/toya

- Any cheap car rental company? Do they give English GPS? Map?
http://shiretoko-t.com/en/
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2024.html
There are some links at the bottom.

Should we get JRpass or Hokkaido free pass?
Neither if you follow my recommendation. Sapporo-Otaru pass is recommended
http://www2.jrhokkaido.co.jp/global/english/railpass/welcome.html

A typo on furano question, should say hate flower instead of have flower.

Hi Guear, thanks for your help.

We have to arrive and depart from Chitose Airport because we already bought the ticket. That's why we leave Sapporo at the last place.

- Should we rent the car from the Airport and travel to Asahikawa, Furano, Biei and return back to the same place

or should we get the car at Asahikawa and return there?

- Is Blue Pond easy to access with baby pram?

- Is it worth visiting noboribetsu/toya? Are these easy access with a baby?

- You suggested we should stay a night noboribetsu/toya, is one day enough to explore both places?

Thanks again

With 5 people traveling, it will probably be cheaper to rent at new chitose airport and return it at sapporo. It cost about 4500yen per person one way Sapporo-Asahikawa. But if you want the convenience of not driving, then taking the train is fine too.

Blue pond, I am not sure about the path but it is about 5-10minutes walk from parking lot to the pond.

Noboribetsu/toya, this really depends on your interest. The main attraction for noboribetsu is the onsen and the hell valley while toya is the lake and ropeway. Access shouldn't be hard for baby pram since the road is paved. If you travel at decent pace, one full day should be enough for both if not add half a day.

Hi Guear,

Im back again and trying to finalise everything but just have a few questions.

- Is JR PASS & Hokkaido Pass are the same? Im still a bit confuse about this. We are going only Hokkaido so should we get the Hokkaido Pass? The concern is Hokkaido pass, they only sell 7 days pass max and we will be there 27 july- 6Aug (11days)

-We are thinking to activate pass on 27 from Chitos Airport - Asahikawa.

- 28 - we will rent one day car to Furano,etc

- 29 use pass to Noboribetsu and so on...

- Which means 7 days pass will last till 2nd August which is the date that we are going to Sapporo from Hokoadate.

- We are planning to visit Otaru for a day trip on 3rd, can we use Sapporo-Otaru Welcome Pass ? It said unlimited rides on JR Hokkaido trains between Sapporo and Otaru and on all subway lines in Sapporo for 1 day. So what about subways, bus in Otaru, do we have to buy it individually ??

- on 4, 5 August we will sightseeing in Sapporo, what ticket would you recommend?

- Do you know how much is the train ticket from Sapporo to New Chitose Airport? Is train the best way to use?

- We can use Hokkaido pass from Airport to any city?


Thanks for your help

Hi,

Could anyone kindly assist as the questions above?

Thanks so much