Sapporo to Furano in May - Drive or Train?

Hi there,
My family and I are heading to Hokkaido in mid-May for a vacation. I am hoping to spend 2 nights in the Furano, Biei, and the Daisetsuzan National Park area to enjoy the weather, scenery, and some outdoor activities.

I hope you can help me with some questions I have;
1. Where in that area should we base ourselves at, Furano?

2. With 4 adults (and 4 pieces of luggage), which option would make better sense;
a. Rent a car from Sapporo,
b. Take a train to say Furano, and then rent a car from there?

3. How are the roads there in mid-May? Not still snow-covered I hope?

Appreciate your answers. Thank you!

Furano or Asahikawa

Does not matter the number of people, in Hokkaido if you can drive, Drive!
There are no shinkansen as of yet and some trains are rickety. In busy periods you can expect standing for hours.

Hmm... are there car rentals are Furano... Regardless getting to Sapporo from the airport is already horrifying enough. Please get the rental car from the airport if possible.

It is full blown summer. Well June is full blown. April should be snowless. May, the moutains are fine for driving about.

Hi Joshua,
Thanks for your prompt reply!

Allow me to share my tentative itinerary;
Day 1 (08 May): Arrive in Chitose, and proceed to Sapporo
Day 2 (09 May): Day trip to Otaru & Yoichi (Nikka Whisky Distillery)
Day 3 (10 May): Drive to Furano
Day 4 (11 May): Water rafting?
Day 5 (12 May): Furano, Biei, Daisetsuzan Park
Day 6 (13 May): Drive to Noboribetsu or Toya?
Day 7 (14 May): Noboribetsu or Toya?
Day 8 (15 May): Noboribetsu or Toya?
Day 9 (16 May): Return to Sapporo
Day 10 (17 May): Return home via Chitose. Perhaps a few hours at the Rera outlet shopping if it's worth the visit?

I wasn't planning to drive around while in Sapporo. Thought it would be easier to to just move around via public transport. Hence I planned to rent the car only from Day 3. Still not sure about the rest of the itinerary though. Appreciate your feedback on it.

Q1. Would 3 nights in the Furano area be too much?
Q2. What are your thoughts on Noboribetsu or Toya? Which would be a more interesting stay?
Q3. Would 3 nights in that area be too long? Anywhere else I should consider?

Sorry to trouble you with more questions. Thanks again.

Furano is a popular flower destination but May is not the best of time. If you go there aim for Farm Tomita which does maintain some flower fields even during May and they also have a greenhouse where lavender can be seen year round.

Which part of Daisetsuzan National Park are you planning to explore!? The most popular destination there is Sounkyo and indeed it is quite scenic although autumn is a better time to go for koyo. Sounkyo can be done as a day trip from Asahikawa but ideally spend a night there with a relaxing onsen experience.

On a tight schedule some people manage to cover Toya-ko and Noboribetsu in a 2-day 1-night stay. If not after an in-depth exploration 1 day each should be quite adequate. Noboribetsu is complex enough to be explored on foot whereas sights in Toya are more spread out and driving around is a good idea. For overnight stay Noboribetsu is a top onsen destination in Hokkaido whereas Toya has the bonus of evening firework.

If you are willing to free a couple of days from your original plan and don�ft mind a longer drive, consider going further east for some seasonal highlights. Your time of visit is a good time for tulip and pink moss in Eastern Hokkaido, Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park for tulip and Takinoue Park & Higashi-mokoto Shibazakura Park for pink moss.

Hi William,
Many thanks for your feedback and suggestions!

1. For our time in the Furano, Biei, Asahikawa, and Daisetsuzan area, I was hoping to base ourselves in just one location, and explore from there. This way, we needn't be packing and moving from hotel to hotel. What do you think? And if so, where would you suggest our ideal base should be?

2. Daisetsuzan, thanks for the Sounkyo idea. I'll do some research on it.

3. Tulip and pink moss in Eastern Hokkaido - Yes, I did think about visiting those parks as a day trip. I realised it's quite a long drive out though. Might have to stay an extra night to do this. Haha!

4. Noboribetsu or Toya - If you think 2 nights are sufficient in this area, perhaps I will devote more time in the Furano/Biei/Daisetsuzan area (4 days instead of 3).

After rethinking my initial itinerary, perhaps I should go to Sapporo only towards the end of the trip. Again, less packing/unpacking.

Day 1 (08 May): Arrive in Chitose, and proceed to Furano
Day 2 (09 May): Furano, Biei, Daisetsuzan Park
Day 3 (10 May): Furano, Biei, Daisetsuzan Park
Day 4 (11 May): To be decided - Furano area or Noboribetsu/Toya?
Day 5 (12 May): Noboribetsu or Toya
Day 6 (13 May): Noboribetsu or Toya
Day 7 (14 May): Drive to Sapporo
Day 8 (15 May): Day trip to Otaru & Yoichi (Nikka Whisky Distillery)
Day 9 (16 May): Sapporo
Day 10 (17 May): Return home via Chitose. Perhaps a few hours at the Rera outlet shopping if it's worth the visit.

How's this look? Thanks again for the advice!

Different people have different priority. For us we don't mind changing hotels if it can avoid or at least cut down travelling back and forth. Packing and unpacking is not a problem for us and with a car there is no luggage moving between hotels and stations or getting in and out of trains and buses. If you must use just one base for Furano, Biei, Asahikawa and Sounkyo in Daisetsuzan it should be Asahikawa.

As I said on my first response I have doubt about Furano during May. We did spend 3 full days in Furano and Biei during summer months and loved those colourful flower fields but in May there may not be too many flowers except in Farm Tomita, so I suspect a couple of days may be already sufficient. If you really want an in-depth exploration of the region spend a bit more time in Biei and go for Shirogane Onsen with a couple of beautiful waterfalls. Enroute between Biei and Shirogane Onsen is the lovely Aoiike Blue Pond.

Again it depends on individual preference but for us we tend to go for some seasonal highlights whenever we can, so with extra time we would choose to go further east to those tulip and pink moss parks. Higashi-mokoto Shibazakura Park might be a bit too far away, but Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park and Takinoue Park aren't. The tulip park is just slightly above 2 hrs from Asahikawa whereas the pink moss park is 2 hrs from Asahikawa. The drive would even be shorter if you use Sounkyo as your base.

Put Sapporo and Otaru either at the beginning or the very last and do not use a car for the 2 places. Not only can you save a couple of days' rental fee you need not worry about parking and city traffic. Sapporo has an excellent subway system and Otaru is best explored on foot. The two places have direct and frequent rail link.

Hi,

Well considering the extra day there are a number of opportunities.
You could drive to Hakodate. There is some nature along the way for side detours.
Or going deeper into daisetsuzan or lake Kushiro are options.

With regards , to noboribetsu onsen, it is an onsen town. Although there are many walking trails and such it is not enough to warrant a full day. People go there to relax and not to sweat it out.

Lake toya is beautiful and has fireworks at night. That said, the fireworks aren't too flashy. Aren't bad, just Is not good enough to be a deciding factor. Toya is really a charming (dead) town that is nice to walk about. Mostly residential. Dead in the sense of lack of activities. Do note that lake kuttaro near noboribetsu is also a nice albeit smaller lake.

In my opinion, going to either one is good enough. Or since they aren't too far from each other. You could spend the day in toya and night in noboribetsu. Noboribetsu is a pure onsen town and has some night activities so unless you plan to do a few hours hike, there isn't much else to do in the day besides seeing bears!

I would seriously consider heading further east
Hokkaido east is really wild meaning much pure nature.
Kushiro Akan etc are some places you might be interested in with nature is your thing

Hi Willaim,
Thanks for your feedback!

If it were travelling alone or with my wife, I would be alright with staying at more locations. However, with children, I figured it would be a bigger hassle doing so. Gotta find the right balance.

1. Asahikawa - I will choose this location as my base, and find a suitable hotel. Any suggestions on which ones I should consider?

2. Sounkyo - I love the idea of spending a night there. Likewise, do you have any hotel suggestions in that area?

Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park, Takinoue Park, and Aoiike Blue Pond are now on my to-do list. :-)) Perhaps a day trip to check out the Shirogane waterfalls as well.

I plan to visit Sapporo towards the end of our stay. Hence we'll return the car once we arrive at Sapporo. So yes, we will explore Sapporo and Otaru via public transport.

Hi Joshua,
Personally, I'd much rather explore nature than visit man-made structures. But since I am not travelling alone, I need to ensure the right compromise, and keep everyone happy. Haha!

1. Hakodate - I like the idea of driving along the coast for a day visit, but do you think it's worth a night's stay there? I get the impression it's not.

2. Akan - I like your idea of heading east. and visiting say the national park and lakes in that area. However, I would only have one night's stay there. Plus, I think the drive from there to our next destination at Noboribetsu may be a 5-hour journey? Might be a stretch.

3. Would renting a car from Chitose airport and returning it in Sapporo be a problem? Which car rental agency would you recommend I check out?

I appreciate your taking the time to respond to my questions. It has been very helpful in my planning (which I hope to finalise this weekend).

Ah, children! Sorry for overlooking this vital factor, it indeed may complicate thing a bit. How lucky children nowadays having all the caring consideration from loving parents. Back in those good old days we didn't have that luxury and couldn't afford to travel until we started working.

In towns and cities like Asahikawa and Sapporo we mostly opt for uninspiring budget business hotels. Popular chain hotels like Toyoko Inn, Super Hotel, Route Inn, Comfort Hotel or Dormy Inn are mostly on our list. In Asahikawa we had stayed in Hotel Leopalace Asahikawa and Asahikawa Washington Hotel, both are good and conveniently located. In Sounkyo we spent a bit more and went for Sounkaku Grand Hotel, fully enjoying its meals and lovely onsen.

For rental car, provided they have outlets in both places there shouldn't be any additional drop-off charge if you pick it up in New Chitose Airport and return in Sapporo. Toyota rent-a-car is very good and for a few times we manage to get a full English GPS from them with both audio and monitor screen in English, just that their rental rate is sometime more expensive. ToCoo is a popular and reliable budget rental agency and in Hokkaido we got a Toyota through ToCoo. Another agency which has an even more competitive rate than ToCoo is Kakuyasu rent-a-car. The only thing is that you have to pay in advance rather than upon arrival. Check with them which car company under them can let you rent in New Chitose Airport and return in Sapporo.
http://shiretoko-t.com/en/

We have just driven around northern Hokkaido and rented in Sapporo and will drop off at Kurisho with Nissan. We asked for snow tyres which I think may be standard but even the Shiretoko Pass was free of road snow and moisture. We used the northern road navigator calculator to work out driving distances. We found it extremely difficult to keep to the (low for spring) 50 kph particularly as we were passed by every other vehicle on the road. Whilst I don't advocate speeding, projected driving times appeared to be very generous!

Hi William,
Thanks again for your prompt feedback. After all the helpful advice from everyone, I have decided on the following itinerary;

Day 1 (08 May): Arrive in Chitose, and proceed to Asahikawa
Day 2 (09 May): Asahikawa
Day 3 (10 May): Sounkyo
Day 4 (11 May): Sounkyo
Day 5 (12 May): Noboribetsu
Day 6 (13 May): Noboribetsu
Day 7 (14 May): Sapporo
Day 8 (15 May): Sapporo
Day 9 (16 May): Sapporo
Day 10 (17 May): Return home via Chitose.

Lots to explore from each of those 4 bases. Now to find myself an appropriate vehicle to get us around from 08-14 May. Will check out Toyota and ToCoo. I agree an English GPS is a definite must have since I don't know Japanese!

If I've missed anything, or if anyone has further suggestions, please do share. Thanksabunch!