Hokkaido Summer Trip

[Alamakcom]

Hello,

I'm thinking of spending 9-10 days this June in Hokkaido (another 4-5 days in Tokyo after) with my dad and bro (hope it isn't too late to get accommodation and air tics). This will be a self-drive trip. Despite having read through some of the summer Hokkaido threads, I still have some doubts. So, at the risk of being repetitive, I'm going to ask some questions.

First, this is our first trip to Hokkaido and we want to see flowers (nothing in particular though) and pink moss! Which part of June would be a better part to do so?

Second, we would like to do a bit of walking (around 1 hr) per route in the national parks. Would Shiretoko and Asashidake be good places to do that?

I attached my rough route. Please let me know how it is. Thank you!

 

[evilerniex]

pink moss (shibazakura) is usually around late may for Takinoue park, so if u are going in june, make it early june
Takinoue Pink Moss Park - Asahikawa Tourism Recommended Destination

 

[cheefarn]

Bro you do realize that Hokkaido is a big place... your iternary will make sure you spent a lot of time driving on the road as you sprint from one place to another. Although most roads on the east part of Hokkaido are toll free, their speed limit is low, 100km/h is all you can pull on their highway, and their highway police are super efficient...you may get pull over just for going at 110km/h. And obviously you dont want to drive like you did on the NS Highway in Bolehland la

Do take note of this. And car rental for 9-10 days can be very expensive.

Also June is a very busy month for Hokkaido... for once, it is sch holidays for most countries in SE Asia, and 2nd there's a few sch holidays in Jap at that time. Hotels will be very expensive.

Also if its is pink moss you wanna see, I suggest mid to late May instead. And since you're near Mombetsu, why don't you stop by Yubetsu town and see the 2nd largest collection of tulips outside of Holland
Kamiyubetsu Town- Tulip Park - Asahikawa Tourism recommended site

I suggest mid May (ard the week of 18 May) to have better chance in catching tulips and pink moss at the same time... and the weather will still be pretty cool (ard 10-14c during the day, <10c at night) at that time.

Hello,

I'm thinking of spending 9-10 days this June in Hokkaido (another 4-5 days in Tokyo after) with my dad and bro (hope it isn't too late to get accommodation and air tics). This will be a self-drive trip. Despite having read through some of the summer Hokkaido threads, I still have some doubts. So, at the risk of being repetitive, I'm going to ask some questions.

First, this is our first trip to Hokkaido and we want to see flowers (nothing in particular though) and pink moss! Which part of June would be a better part to do so?

Second, we would like to do a bit of walking (around 1 hr) per route in the national parks. Would Shiretoko and Asashidake be good places to do that?

I attached my rough route. Please let me know how it is. Thank you!

 

[Alamakcom]

pink moss (shibazakura) is usually around late may for Takinoue park, so if u are going in june, make it early june
Takinoue Pink Moss Park - Asahikawa Tourism Recommended Destination

My brother may have some school trip in early june that he wants to go for. In the event I'll only be there in late june, say 16th-26th, what flowers can I expect to see and what other events are there? Thank you!

 

[Alamakcom]

Bro you do realize that Hokkaido is a big place... your iternary will make sure you spent a lot of time driving on the road as you sprint from one place to another. Although most roads on the east part of Hokkaido are toll free, their speed limit is low, 100km/h is all you can pull on their highway, and their highway police are super efficient...you may get pull over just for going at 110km/h. And obviously you dont want to drive like you did on the NS Highway in Bolehland la

Do take note of this. And car rental for 9-10 days can be very expensive.

Also June is a very busy month for Hokkaido... for once, it is sch holidays for most countries in SE Asia, and 2nd there's a few sch holidays in Jap at that time. Hotels will be very expensive.

Also if its is pink moss you wanna see, I suggest mid to late May instead. And since you're near Mombetsu, why don't you stop by Yubetsu town and see the 2nd largest collection of tulips outside of Holland
Kamiyubetsu Town- Tulip Park - Asahikawa Tourism recommended site

I suggest mid May (ard the week of 18 May) to have better chance in catching tulips and pink moss at the same time... and the weather will still be pretty cool (ard 10-14c during the day, <10c at night) at that time.

Hello cheefarn,

Thanks for the advice. Nice to hear most of East Hokkaido is toll-free! Well, japsfx has an itinerary whose route is rather similar to the one I've planned out and I like his itinerary. I'd have to ask him about the driving part then.

Also, walking in natural spaces is something we want to do too and I've read that Shiretoko has lots of that; plus, we want to see lake mashu. We're thinking of renting a car for 7 days to avoid the extra daily charge so the last three days will probably be spent in sapporo and its vicinity.

June is our only choice cus that's when my brother has his school holidays. ;/ I'll check out Kamiyubetsu too but it seems that the Tulip fair runs till early June. Argh

 

[cheefarn]

Hello cheefarn,

Thanks for the advice. Nice to hear most of East Hokkaido is toll-free! Well, japsfx has an itinerary whose route is rather similar to the one I've planned out and I like his itinerary. I'd have to ask him about the driving part then.

Also, walking in natural spaces is something we want to do too and I've read that Shiretoko has lots of that; plus, we want to see lake mashu. We're thinking of renting a car for 7 days to avoid the extra daily charge so the last three days will probably be spent in sapporo and its vicinity.

June is our only choice cus that's when my brother has his school holidays. ;/ I'll check out Kamiyubetsu too but it seems that the Tulip fair runs till early June. Argh

Well Shiretoko national park itself is already a big place. I believe you'd be visiting the 5 lakes? The time taken to drive from Lake 1 to 2 is almost an hour.... although the rest of the lakes are closer to each other.

Well my own trip to eastern Hokkaido has yet to take place See my itenary in another thread
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/j...trip-eastern-hokkaido-may-2013-a-3976660.html

well may I recommend you start your journey from Momambetsu Airport instead of Kushiro Airport. I mean if you take a look at the map you've provided earlier you're wasting alot of traveling time traveling up north to Shiretoko just to see Lake Mashu along the way

From what I can see from the various promo videos and pics, most of the lakes tends to look similar to one another. I suggest going to one of the more famous ones and spend the rest of the time for other attractions.

Tulips is a big attraction that I strongely recommend. Else you'd need to fly to Holland to see tulips plantation of such scale...

Try to rent a hybrid car to max fuel mileage. Jap gasoline prices is similar to SG... ard SG$2/L... not exactly cheap hor... In SG we LL got to pay if you're a car owner. but fuel $$ is something that dont recommend spending alot on overseas.

 

[cheefarn]

Anyway bro, whichever iternary you decide eventuallu, kindly make all the reservations now... and I mean by Mar 2013.

Esp the hotels. The $$ are going up almost weekly and it is virtually impossible to book any hotel rooms for <SG$100/night if you book in April or May

I already experienced this the hard way liao Thot of waiting a bit longer to book my hotel at Mombetsu...hoping there will be some sorts of 24hr super sale....in the end the $$ shot up by almost SG$50/night and I have no choice but to scramble to book at the higher price.

 

[Alamakcom]

Anyway bro, whichever iternary you decide eventuallu, kindly make all the reservations now... and I mean by Mar 2013.

Esp the hotels. The $$ are going up almost weekly and it is virtually impossible to book any hotel rooms for <SG$100/night if you book in April or May

I already experienced this the hard way liao Thot of waiting a bit longer to book my hotel at Mombetsu...hoping there will be some sorts of 24hr super sale....in the end the $$ shot up by almost SG$50/night and I have no choice but to scramble to book at the higher price.

Thanks for the heads-up. Wah how do u get <SG$100/night? Do u use some particular hotel booking website?

 

[Alamakcom]

Additionally, stupid question but since the 3 of us will most probably be in one room and considering the rooms in japan are tiny, do the hotels in japan provide for an extra bed in the rooms?

 

[cheefarn]

Thanks for the heads-up. Wah how do u get <SG$100/night? Do u use some particular hotel booking website?

I got all my hotel deals from the following

hotel.com
booking.com
japanican.com

The 1st 2 offers really good deal at times.. But like I said earlier, you need to be fast... no one can offer you any decent deals the closer you're to the peak season...which is what you're planning to go in.

FYI those rooms that cost <$100/night does NOT comes with any meals No breakfast nor dinner included. In Japan, or at least in Hokkaido, rates that includes half board (funny term but it means breakfast and dinner) are usually close to $200/night. Rem, they're serving you the freshest seafood or local delicacies in the hotel dining room... and most of them are buffet meals.

Your room rates can cost you say, $70/night without any meals. Add in half board and your total room rate can shoot up to say $180-200/nightIt's still reasonable considering you need to divide the extra cost by 3.

Consider yourself going for buffet in any 5-6 star hotels in SG... the cost per person will be more. That's the kind of food quality you need to compare with the Hokkaido hotels you're trying to book.

 

[cheefarn]

Additionally, stupid question but since the 3 of us will most probably be in one room and considering the rooms in japan are tiny, do the hotels in japan provide for an extra bed in the rooms?

In general they don't. You need to set your search criteria to 3 adults/room. In this way, only hotels that offers such rooms will be displayed.

As a rule, I'd recommend going for Ryokan (japs traditional style hotel) if you wish to have some decent room space. You sleep in futons on the floor so there's no beds to take up valuable room space.

And most Ryokans offers half board in the price... although they still cost ard SG$200/night. Ryokans will offer you the best experience in living in Jap

 

[darkmatt]

In general they don't. You need to set your search criteria to 3 adults/room. In this way, only hotels that offers such rooms will be displayed.

As a rule, I'd recommend going for Ryokan (japs traditional style hotel) if you wish to have some decent room space. You sleep in futons on the floor so there's no beds to take up valuable room space.

And most Ryokans offers half board in the price... although they still cost ard SG$200/night. Ryokans will offer you the best experience in living in Jap

last i heard, japan hotels are quite strict on "squeezing" one extra person?

coz they charge by person there?

 

[cheefarn]

last i heard, japan hotels are quite strict on "squeezing" one extra person?

coz they charge by person there?

Well I've never heard of any hotels charging by the number of persons. What I do know is that if you book your hotels via hotel.com , booking.com and japanican.com all rates are per room/night.

Whether the hotel is strict on the number of pple really depends on the said hotel staff. All terms and conditions are stated in the above URLs when you book. So you shd have a gd idea what you're buying...

 

[evilerniex]

last i heard, japan hotels are quite strict on "squeezing" one extra person?

coz they charge by person there?

yes, they are very strict on the number of people, so dun try to smuggle extra people in.

not all hotels charge by num of person. in fact, most charge by room. it is usually ryokans that charges by num of people.

 

[cheefarn]

yes, they are very strict on the number of people, so dun try to smuggle extra people in.

not all hotels charge by num of person. in fact, most charge by room. it is usually ryokans that charges by num of people.

Well obviously we can't smuggle a 3rd adult into the room without paying for him/her

But for young kids ard 4 yrs old like mine, many hotels stated young kids stays for free if they share the same beds as parents

 

[Alamakcom]

Thank you all for your advice and suggestions. I'm sorry cheefarn but I didn't heed your about making all the bookings by april because I've been busy with schoolwork and I had to wait for my brother to confirm his schedule. We've now decided that our Hokkaido trip will be from the 9th to the 19th of June. Since we will just miss the Shibazakura and tulip blooms and we are too early for even the earliest lavender blooms, what other flora and fauna might we be able to see? Sunflowers perhaps?

 

[cheefarn]

Thank you all for your advice and suggestions. I'm sorry cheefarn but I didn't heed your about making all the bookings by april because I've been busy with schoolwork and I had to wait for my brother to confirm his schedule. We've now decided that our Hokkaido trip will be from the 9th to the 19th of June. Since we will just miss the Shibazakura and tulip blooms and we are too early for even the earliest lavender blooms, what other flora and fauna might we be able to see? Sunflowers perhaps?

Hmmm from what I've gathered, the pink moss will prob still be ard. The tulips will prob be gone... or almost gone as the rising temp will kill the tulips.

You may be able to see some newly bloomed lavender in Farm Tomita at Furano for your traveling dates. Similarly 四季彩丘at Biei will prob be 80% ready at that time

Well bro, go get your air tickets and hotel bookings NOW. You may not be able to get 50% off deals, but standard 10-20% discount may still be possible if you book by April.