Eastern Hokkaido self drive

Hi kindly advise if our self drive itinerary for 4 to 11 Jun is ok:

4/6 Sapporo - Furano - Biei - Sounkyo
5/6 Sounkyo Gorge - Takinuoe - Kamiyubetsu - Lake Saroma - Abashiri
6/6 Abashiri - Shiretoko
7/6 Shiretoko
8/6 Shiretoko - Akan - Takachi
9/6 Takachi - Sapporo
10/6 Sapporo
11/6 Sapporo half day before flying back

We have issued our air tickets so we will need to enter & leave Hokkaido via Sapporo. We are concerned the itinerary for 8/6 may be too tiring in terms of driving, but we will very much prefer to stay 2 nites at Shiretoko. We plan to return the rental car on 9/6 upon return to Sapporo.

4/6 Sapporo - Furano - Biei - Sounkyo

I think it is too much driving for a single day. If it were a single day, it would be okay, bit since there are consecutive days with so much driving, I don't recommend it.

5/6 Sounkyo Gorge - Takinuoe - Kamiyubetsu - Lake Saroma - Abashiri

I think it is too much driving for a single day. You won't have much time for actual sightseeing.

8/6 Shiretoko - Akan - Takachi
9/6 Takachi - Sapporo

Where is Takachi? Maybe Tokachi? The onsen? mountain chain? In any case, I assume it is somewhere along the route. And in any case, it will again be a lot of driving.

So, yes, I think it is too few days for too long distances. You could consider flying from Sapporo to Memanbetsu, hire a car from there and then drive back to Sapporo, seeing the places along the way (and maybe dropping one or two of the destinations).

Since there is no bus to Kamuiwakka river onsen in the Shiretoko National Park when you go(no cars allowed), you may want to cut back to one night & one full day for the Five Lake area(healthy deer & great ice cream cone). Oshinkoshin water fall is on the way to Utoro.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6851.html
There is a national lodge Keida with roten onsen. http://www.shiretoko-mura.jp/umi.html

I am thinking of doing roughly the same trip. Could you tell me apporx. how much your car rent will be. Thanks

Hi Uji san

Thank you for your advice. Sorry for the error, i meant Tokachi and not Takachi.

For reference, we have committed to the lodgings for the earlier part of our trip (which we do not plan to do self drive) as follows:
31/5 Arr Sapporo 9pm (overnite at Sapporo)
1/6 Morning at Sapporo then train to Hakodate (overnite at Hokadate)
2/6 Full day at Hakodate (overnite at Hakodate)
3/6 Train from Hakodate to Sapporo, hope to do Otaru if time permits (overnite at Sapporo)

How about the following itinerary:
4/6 Sapporo - Train to Kushiro (overnite at Kushiro)
5/6 Kushiro (pick up rental car) - Akan - To reach Shiretoko around 5pm (overnite at Shiretoko)
6/6 Full day at Shiretoko (overnite at Shiretoko)
7/6 Shiretoko - Lake Saroma (overnite at Lake Saroma)
8/6 Lake Saroma - Sounkyo or Biei (overnite at Sounkyo or Biei)
9/6 Sounkyo or Biei - Furano - Sapporo (return rental car)
10/6 Sapporo
11/6 Sapporo half day before flying back

Or is it better to do it the other way round? Sapporo (pick up rental car) - Furano - Biei - Sounkyo - Lake Saroma - Shiretoko - Akan - Kushiro (return rental car) - Train to Sapporo

Is there a farm along the above route whereby we can do fruits picking? We are a family of 2 adults & 2 kids (aged 10 & 14).

Thanks again!

Hi amazinga

Thanks for your advice! We plan to reach Shiretoko 5pm, and the next day do the 5 lakes area including a cruise. Any tips?

Hi mrkuro
Our local travel agent quoted us S$2,040 for 8 days rental of Toyota Ipsum. I have yet to try the online car rental.

You could probably save quite a lot of money by renting the car from Sapporo and drive to Kushiro instead of taking the train. While you would have to pay for the additional day of rental on the one hand, you would not have to pay for the drop off fee and the expensive train tickets. On the other hand, it would be a very long, tiring, but not uninteresting drive.

Alternatively, note that there is one daily flight between Hakodate and Kushiro. So if you could cancel that night in Sapporo in between, that flight could be a nice way to drastically cut down on travel times. It is not a cheap flight, though, unless you qualify for an air pass (it is operated by the JAL group):
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2364.html

Otherwise, I think the itinerary looks better now than before.

Hi Uji san
We do not have the air pass. We will most likely buy a JR pass to cut down the train costs. Thanks for your advice!