side trip to hokkaido from tokyo

Hi my family and I will be traveling Japan in Dec and we plan to side trip to Hokkaido for 7 days. Here's the plan
21/12 take early train from Tokyo to hakodate.
Stay here
22/12 take train to noboribetsu, stay here
23/12 take train to Sapporo, stay here 4 nights
24/12 ??? Please advise what to do on this day
25/12 visit otaru for Christmas celebration ???
26/12 ??? Please advise what to do?
26/12 take train to hokadate, stay here
27/12 take train to Tokyo

For the 4 days at Sapporo, where should we visit?
will this planning OK?
Should I buy 7 days JR pass?

How about Asahiyama Zoo?
http://www5.city.asahikawa.hokkaido.jp/asahiyamazoo/

You will be bale to access there by bus.


I used to refer the itinerary site below.
http://www.gojapango.com/travel/japan_itinerary.htm
http://visitjapaninfo.weebly.com/
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2400.html

Should I buy 7 days JR pass?


You'd definitely safe money by purchasing 7day JR pass.

Check this out: http://www.hyperdia.com/en/cgi/en/search.html?dep_node=TOKYO&arv_node=...

Sorry, meant to say " save money "

You can ski in the mountains near Sapporo. That is a half to full day.

You can go to Lake Toya or Sounkyo Gorge for some nature and hot spring to warm yourselves.

Go to Otaru from Sapporo. This is the only must do Sapporo Side Trip. In fact, since Tokyo far outweighs Sapporo as a major city, you can skip having 4 full days in Sapporo

Hi all, thank you for the reply.
I have look up Sounkyo gorge and it's very beautiful which we decided to travel there.

May I know is it possible to do a day trip to Sounkyo Gorge?

We will also like to take the Kurodate ropeway to Mount Kurodate, however as we will be there during end Dec, will it be closed due to snowing?

According to Japan guide, we need to take bus to Sounkyo bus terminal, Are there any web site which I can access to see the bus timing?

Thank you

If you are thinking of a day trip to Sounkyo from Sapporo it is do-able only if you don't mind a long day of about 6 to 6.5 hrs round trip on train + bus. Ideally spend a night in Sounkyo for the additional enjoyment in one of its onsen ryokans/hotels. At best for a less rushed trip spend the night in Asahikawa and do Sounkyo as a day trip from there. Asahikawa itself is worth a visit for the popular zoo and the best ramen in Hokkaido.

Below is the bus schedule to Sounkyo from either Asahikawa or Kamikawa.
http://www.dohokubus.com/13s-kamikawa.pdf

Under normal condition the Kurodake Ropeway operates year round and from the following schedule even the chain lift is also operating during the coming month of Dec although I think they have wrongly labeled the year from Dec onward
http://www.rinyu.co.jp/modules/pico01/index.php?content_id=1