10 day Hokkaido driving Sept / Oct

We plan to land in Hakadote and fly off from New Chitose and will be very grateful to receive any tips on a itinerary. At present we hope to spend 2 days each in -
Hakadote
Sapporo (day trip to Otaru)
Biei - then visiting the Disetsuzan NP
Akan NP
perhaps a fishing village near Shibetsu or Nemuro
then driving back to New Chitose.

OUR INTERESTS are seafood, culture, natural beauty, some hikes . Any suggestions are much appreciated, thank you!

Mid to late Sept is autumn foliage season in the mt region of Daisetsuzan National Park. Sounkyo serves as a base for side trip to beautiful Ginsendai and Daisetsu Kogen Onsen. Koyo in Sounkyo itself is also nice during early Oct, so do consider staying a couple of days there.

If you are into hiking from Sounkyo take the Kurodake Ropeway and chain-lift up the mt and for some serious hike from the top you can trek all the way to Asahidake.

My initial thoughts:

The trip is doable, but Hokkaido is bigger than people realise and you will doing a lot of driving - not NOT use Google map time estimates, they are totally unreliable and journeys invariably take far longer than Google maps tell you.

Skip Nemuro area - its totally uninteresting. Rather, head south from Akan and do the Kushiro marshes. From there, its a fairly easy drive along r.38/r.392 to the motorway for your drive to Chitose.

Given what you seem to like, the time of year and your schedule, I'd recommend skipping Sapporo. Others may disagree, but to me, its a rather dull, big city, and you could see plenty of other amazing sights instead.

If you are doing Biei/Furano, make sure to take in the Senbotoge pass coming into Kamifurano - the views are great.

As the previous poster said, Soungyo Gorge is a MUST, but chances are you'll be going through it anyway on your way to Akan. I'd recommend taking the cablecar up, then hiking the last bit up to the summit.

If you are approaching Akan from the north via r.39, I'd recommend taking r.243 to Kussharo lake. The views from the top of the pass on the approach are fantastic. When you hit r.52, turn left and follow the lake round and then onto lake Mashu - again great views.

Btw, just before the turn-off to r.52, there's a small peninsula jutting into lake Kussharo that has a couple of free mixed bathing onsens where you can enjoy some nice views while you wallow...

On the road south to Kushiro, off r.1040, there are fantastic 360 degree views be be had from the viewing tower at Tawadaira camping ground.

For pix and reports on my trip round Hokkaido last year, visit the pages round here:
https://myjapantravels.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/usuzan-volcano-memoria...

...oh, and a word of warning...Hokkaido people drive very fast by Japanese standards and rarely pay attention to speed limits (largely because there are few cops on the road, the distances are big and the roads are among the best in Japan), but I'd STRONGLY advice you to not go more than 12kph over the legal limit (apparently 12kph is the leeway the cops give you), however frustrating you find it - the fines are very hefty and far more importantly, the hassle and bureaucratic nightmare involved will see you waste hours and hours of your time at the copshop if you do get done. (Cops in Japan are very by-the-book and being a foreigner, playing dumb, or giving a friendly smile will not get you off the hook.)

Thanks very much Andy and Will for your comments. Will skip the Nemuro area - my husband is (was) keen to see that because it was featured in an Australian food TV programme, and we thought it would be unspoilt.
WE will now head for Kushiro instead and spend a night at the Noboribetsu Onsen for a treat before leaving.
For the Daiset....NP - it looks like both of you are agreed that Sounkyo(sorry I am misspelling a lot of Japanese names) is a better base than Biei. Am I correct in reading this?
Note suggestion on Sapporo - will spend one night only.

Your time and expertise are much appreciated!

Be warned that Kushiro-Noboribetsu is close on 400km...

Depending on what time your flight out of Chitose is, I'd recommend from Noboribetsu taking r.2 north (some great views along the way) up to r.453, turn right and follow r.453 until you join r.276. Turn right.

About 17km on, turn left onto r.78 to do the west side of lake Shikotsu (which is a spectacular shade of royal blue and in my opinion, much nicer than lake Toya - and far less touristy), then turn right when you hit r.453 to do the northeast side of the lake until you reach the junction with r.16.

From there, its a straight run into Chitose along r.16.

The speed limits in Japan are ridiculously low. Hokkaido is largely 40-50km/hr (even 30km/hr!!!) and the motorways at best are 80km/hr. Though I wouldn't admit it publicly, I went along with everyone else in doing much, much faster, such as 100 in a 50..... I would never do that in my home country but here the speed zones are actually reasonable. Whilst you "shouldn't" speed, if you're going to be the good little law-abiding driver please pull over frequently and let everyone else pass. It's infuriating and you feel so much more tired driving at 40km/hr behind some slow poke..... And believe me, I was getting overtaken just as often as I was overtaking. I consider that I was driving to the conditions and I felt it was worth the risk of being fined and lectured by a police officer for an hour.

Thanks for warning on speed limits. I tend to keep to them when roads are unfamiliar and coming from Australia, not used to driving on the right side of the road.
Will sit down tonight and reconfigurate plan taking into account the distances and speed. Cheers everyone for your brilliant comments.

They drive on the left hand side in Japan.

Kushiro is nice and if you are into food go for the popular kattedon in Washo Market.
http://www.washoichiba.com/kattedon.html
Another food destination in Kushiro is the Fishermanfs Wharf MOO with its yatai stores.
http://www.moo946.com/yatai/
You are also in time for the summer outdoor robata grill in a big tent by the dock.
http://www.moo946.com/robata/

Kushiro is also a good base for a side trip to the Kushiro Shitsugen National Park.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6792.html

Between Kushiro and Akan-ko worth a visit is the Japanese Crane Reserve where you can see those graceful birds year round.
http://kushiro-tancho.jp/

As mentioned earlier Sounkyo is indeed worth staying a couple of days for beautiful autumn colour, but Biei is also worth staying especially if you want to take in neighbouring Furano. Although your time of visit has past the peak flowering season in Biei and Furano you can still see some colour flower fields in the region and Biei has the best countryside scenery in the whole of Hokkaido, IMO.

One night stay in Sapporo is a bit of a rush especially if you are doing a day trip to Otaru from there. Besides some interesting sites in town you donft have to look elsewhere for all kinds of Hokkaido cuisines, especially those yummy Hokkaido crabs.

Are you planning to start driving upon arriving in Hakodate!? Note that by picking it up in Hakodate and returning in either Sapporo or New Chitose Airport there is an additional drop-off charge for the rental car. Also a car is of little use in Hakodate and Sapporo as you will face city traffic and parking issues. Consider using public transports in Hakodate (tram + bus) and Sapporo (subway). Otaru has frequent and direct train link with Sapporo and is best explored on foot, so again there is no need to drive there. Rent a car from Sapporo for the rest of the trip and return it in either Sapporo or New Chitose Airport with no additional drop-off charge.