Hokkaido itinerary Nov 26 - Dec 10

Hi All,
We (family of 4 adults) are planning to visit Hokkaido for the first trip.

Would appreciate if you can share your expert advice on our itinerary. We would like to see Snow and visit local places/food/activities that are less touristy. We would also like to see real Japan this time away from cities.

We have not decide to take transport or self-drive, however, we had already booked our accommodation.

26 Nov – 30 Nov 2018 : Sapporo
30 Nov - 5 Dec : Otaru
5 Dec - 10 Dec : Sapporo

We're slow traveler because ever since once we experienced local fruit picking in osaka, we're in LOVE with local culture/places. Less touristy places food were so good.

Please kindly advice :)

Love,
Singapore

I would recommend taking a day trip from Sapporo to Noboribetsu. Hell Valley is a unique sight with all the steam coming out of the ground and the boiling lakes, and the town itself is very nice too. Although it's a resort town, it still feels small townish. The demon statues along the streets are pretty cute.

Would appreciate if you can share your expert advice on our itinerary. We would like to see Snow and visit local places/food/activities that are less touristy. We would also like to see real Japan this time away from cities.

I am sorry to say that November/December is not a good time to visit Hokkaido. Yes, it's winter so you might be able to see snow, but sometimes you don't see any snow in the city area (Sapporo and Otaru). Still it should be very cold and windy. Can you shift the date to February when snow festivals are held and you can see drifting ice at Abashiri?

That's a lot of time to spend in just two places...and it's going to be pretty cold and the days will be very short. I think that you will get bored quite easily.

If you're restricted to those dates, I'd at least make sure that you travel around to a few different places. You've got two weeks, and it seems that basically your plan is to stay in Sapporo, with a side trip to Otaru - which is only about an hour away.

To be honest I don't think you have chosen the best time to visit Hokkaido. I do however understand that some people cannot easily choose when they can visit Japan and this needs to be taken into consideration.

As a person who has travelled around Japan a fair amount, I would honestly consider Hokkaido and Okinawa as not what many people consider the 'real Japan' with old temples and the like. Due to this, getting out of cities is much more inconvenient than any location in Japan.

The amount of time you are planning to spend is also a lot in two main locations. I do understand that people like to travel slowly and saviour the location. My strong reccomendation would be to complete the following - but please take this with a grain of salt

Location 1: Sapporo - visit the Sapporo Beer Museum (have lunch at the Ghengis Khan Restaurant there), visit the Historical Village which is one of the better ones in Japan.

Location 2: Side trip (2 nights) at Otaru. Otaru is pretty and reasonably close to Sapporo. It's also worth taking a side trip to Yoichi which shows a different part of historic Hokkaido

https://www.japan-guide.com/community/mfedley/report-3064
https://www.japan-guide.com/community/mfedley/report-3063

Location 3: Noboribetsu - close to the best place to soak in onsen in Japan (when talking about the quality of the water).

https://www.japan-guide.com/community/mfedley/report-1118

Location 4: Hakodate - this is a great little town with heaps to do around. Onuma Koen was nice but might not be worth visiting this time of year.

Stopping at Lake Toya on the way back to Sapporo might also be another option.

Note that these are just a suggestion and would be travelling at a reasonably slow pace. Others will have other suggestions.

mfedley has a good point about finding traditional Japan in Hokkaido. Hokkaido didn't become a part of Japan until the mid 1800s, and when it was developed it had a lot of European influence. It doesn't look like Kyoto.
Hokkaido and Okinawa are like Alaska and Hawaii. Technically part of the country, but very different.

Sorry, but I agree with the others. At best, Otaru can be done in a day. Half a day was more than enough for us as we found it to be very touristy and the merchant buildings were covered in advertising. It was not what we'd expected. If it were me on a slow paced trip, I would spend a couple of nights at Noboribetsu Onsen and Hakodate. In fact, I'd probably catch the shinkansen south to Tohoku and experience Nyuto Onsen.

Here are some of the events in Nov/Dec. The dates are in 2017.

1 Nov- White Lovers Park Illumination
3 Nov- Sapporo Factory Christmas Illumination
24 Nov- Sapporo White Illumination
25 Nov- Sapporo Christmas
8 Dec- SWEETS Dream Illumination

11 Nov- Otaru Snow Story
11 Nov- Yoichi Snow Story

1 Nov- Blue Pond Lightup and Shirahige Falls Lightup
11 Nov- Asahiyama Zoo
2 Dec- Asahikawa Machiakari

11 Nov- Toyako Onsen Illumination Tunnel

Your itinerary is good for some of the big festivals in Sapporo and Otaru. Most are rather focused on illumination. It might be better to consider to go skiing or skating in the daytime.

Here are some of the nearby ski resorts. The opening dates are in 2017.

17 Nov- Sapporo Kokusai
21 Nov Sapporo Teine
23 Nov- Kiroro (day trip from Otaru)
25 Nov- Rusutsu (day trip from Sapporo)

23 Nov- Niseko Gran Hirafu
25 Nov- Niseko Annupuri
1 Dec- Niseko Village

22 Nov- Furano

8 Dec- Mt Racey (JR Yubari)

Both Sapporo and Otaru are well connected with Chitose airport. In this regard, you had been better to place these two at the two edges. Just I think of a kind of a sandwich itinerary, such as Otaru-Biei-Sapporo or Sapporo-Niseko-Otaru.

For more local information, take a look at bus timetables in Sapporo and Otaru cities and restaurants there.
http://www.hokkaidox.com/en/hokkaido-bus-pass/
https://tabelog.com/en/hokkaido/rstLst/?utf8=✓&maxLat=43.107313...
https://tabelog.com/en/hokkaido/