Self Driving in Sapporo

Will appreciate if someone can advise is self driving in Sapporo during December period dangerous. I'm planning F&E trip with my 2 kids and with big lugguages is inconvienient to travel on public transportation.

Driving in Sapporo in winter is not dangerous. All the locals drive, but you should be cool with driving in snow.

I'd guess that you are not bringing along your luggage every day through Sapporo, so you could also consider a taxi e.g. from Sapporo station to your hotel on day 1 and a second taxi on your last day back to the station, if driving in snow isn't something you are comfortable with.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

Depending the period in December you go, driving in Sapporo would be possible in the winter. Main roads are accessible but the smaller roads or outside Sapporo would be another thing.

My advise is, If you have never driven in winter conditions, is simply don't. When a snow storm dumps a foot of snow, the roads and visibility will be treacherous. It's not worth the risk. And this will happen in the winter period.

Of course locals also drive in that period because they are used driving in snowy weather. But many accidents happens during that period.

I hope it helped you .

Thank you very much!

I drove in different areas of Hokkaido last December and January, the roads were icy and slippery with sometimes a lot of snow to plow through. However, if you adjust your driving style it was not very difficult to drive, the rental car had 4WD and winter tires.

We shot this video so you have an idea what to expect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jNIRH8KKVs

We drove in January two years ago . It was our first time driving in the snow being from the tropics. We found the roads and expressways were mostly cleared of snow so not much of a hazard. We did encounter snowy roads in Northern Hokkaido towards Furano. Just drive slowly and carefully and ask for snow tires and know where the defroster is!

Thank you all for sharing your experiences, appreciate