Geneva to Sapporo

Hi,

I previously lived in Japan however never saw the Sapporo Snow Festival. I'm planning to visit Japan again and I wish to see this festival; I will of course also want to visit friends and spend some time in the Tokyo area too.

Flying straight from Geneva to Sapporo is awfully expensive and involves a lot of changes, so this idea does not appeal to me so much. It does leave the question of the best way to do this however.

For the return journey all is fine, I am looking forward to a slow train journey with many stops down southern Hokkaido and Tohoku, though to do this same journey both ways does not appeal, even a non-stop journey will take me 8 hours. However....the price does appeal here if I get a JR pass.

There is also the possibility of taking a low cost flight from Tokyo to Hokkaido. Though here I worry about having a lot of baggage and the sheer annoyance and time spent of going to Narita and taking another plane.

I've heard about night trains where you can sleep also. This appeals greatly, I've never done this before. Though I hear they sell out quickly and can only be booked in person at the station once I have collected my pass. So its unlikely I would get space.

Any ideas on the best way to make this journey?

You have listed all possible options. Pick one.

There are no overnight trains for your journey. They stopped 2 years ago.

So Shinkansen to Hakodate and then Limited express to Sapporo.

Or low cost airline.

There are low cost flights from Haneda as well, and maybe you don`t need all your luggage in Hokkaido. It would be quite inconvenient in the train return trip as well, wont it? So maybe you can leave it with friends in Tokyo or, if you need it in Hokkaido, you could Takkyubin it to Hokkaido and back.

Specially if you go on a weekend (during snow festival), reserve the hotel in Sapporo early on. If you have more time in Hokkaido, I guess that the drift ice on the sea must be a spectacular sight and February should be the right season for it.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

Your other option is to fly with e.g. Korean Air, or Cathay and change planes or have a stopover in e.g. Seoul or Hong Kong before flying to Chitose

I recently purchased the ANA flight from Mel-HND-Nemuro all on the same ticket.
HND-Nemuro was based on the special fare 10,000
There's also special air fares within Hokkaido for around 5400\ which is really inexpensive.
These fares are for foreign passport holders.

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2364.html