7 days Hokkaido Self-Drive Trip May 2018
- Vincent Chan
- Dec 17, 2018
- 11 min read
Hello folks, finally the long awaited trip story for Hokkaido. Just wanna share with everyone what we did there and what to do if you are going there next!
So we were there on 20th until 27th of May, our ticket was bought more than a year ago in 2016 and had to reschedule during the course due to my sister was expecting. It was darn cheap at the beginning as we were buying it 1 year ahead of the trip, cost us only RM672 per pax return!!! However the changes we had to made for the flight had cost us nearly double the price of the original price! RM160 per flight change on top of the price difference of the 2 tickets.
Not to forget also the baggage fees for Airasia X now is actually very expensive, with 20kg starting at RM175, a return trip might cost you more than half of your flight ticket now! Guess not everyone can fly now. T.T
And with all the hotels and Airbnb booked, due are some plannings and research for driving in Hokkaido/Japan.
Here are some quick facts for those of you who wanna travel to and drive in Hokkaido:
1. For Malaysian's Passport holders, you don't need a Visa for visiting Japan up to 90days!
2. Japan had recently implemented a very strict law on B&B businesses among the Japanese Owners and they had taken a big blow in terms of the availabilities. This is due to a majority of them aren't certified to operate as a B&B under the new Laws. So please plan ahead and book early to avoid disappointment.
3. For those who had visited Japan before, Suica, Icoca, Sapica, etc all IC cards are accepted all around Japan in their public transport, just grab one of those with you and you can travel all around without hazzle.
4. Data Roaming in Japan are generally expensive across all the telco in Malaysia, so the best choice is to rent a Portable Wi-Fi dongle from vendor like Travelrecommend or Samurai Wi-Fi and surf the net as you like in Japan for up to 10 person!
5. Driving in Japan with Malaysian license require International Driving Permit, just walk into any JPJ, fill up the form, pay RM150 and woila, an International Driving Permit done. However, if you are carrying a large group of people more than 8, you are require to own a Class D International Driving Permit which in Malaysia, JPJ are not providing relevant conversion course. So what I did was to take the test for Public Service Vehicle (PSV) or in other word, mini-bus driver license, and go to JPJ to talk them into giving me the stamp on Class D. So take note on that.
Day 1 - Arrive at Shin-Chitose Airport
Shin-Chitose Airport was the largest airport in Hokkaido and most of the flight to Hokkaido landed here. It is located about 1 hour drive away from the main city of Hokkaido, Sapporo.
We flew from Kuala Lumpur the night before and landed at around 9am in the morning. Tired and looking forward to eating something in the airport! Rest assured, the Japanese had got us covered!
The infamous Hokkaido Ramen Street right inside the Airport Domestic Terminal!
The Ramen street gathered 9 of the most famous ramen shop around Hokkaido and put them together in a same small lot of area here within the airport!
Well the ramen was typically Japanese, nice as always, I had a Tsukemen, which was my first choice everytime it appears on the menu.
Moving on after the breakfast, I contacted my Car rental company to arrange with them the transport to their location to pick up our Big Toyota Hiace Grand Cabin Van. The Car rental company I engaged with was the Car Rental Hokkaido which located just 5 minutes away from the airport. The best thing about this company is that the person in charge and their staff are fluent in Chinese speaking and had no problem to communicate with!
They had a fleet of different sizes of cars and we took the largest of them all which required a Class D international license. Noted on the strict policy of the Japanese culture, they don't allow any sort of replacement license or things like that other than the recognised Class D driving permit. I tried to talk them into giving in but failed apparently.
We got our van and off we go straight to Furano!
The Journey from Chitose to Furano takes about 2.5 hours on the expressway. Driving on expressway in Hokkaido, you can opt for the expressway pass or the ordinary cash payment for toll. The expressway pass normally cost more unless you travel extensively on their expressway in the span of a few days. You can look for more information on the pricing here. By comparing the price of expressway and plotting out the possible route that you will be taking for the rest of your trip using their price chart on the right, you can decide on which works the best for you.
Furano is a small town at the south of Asahikawa, famous for its nature and most importantly flower farms. It is where to famous Tomita Lavender Farm located.
There isn't much accommodation available in Furano and Natulux Hotel is one of the largest Hotel in the town of Furano located just opposite of the Furano JR train station. Their staffs were great and helpful throughout the check in process and they also included a small maps of the Furano town for us to navigate.
We had our dinner at Kumagera, a famous Hotpot Sukiyaki restaurant that showed up on basically every search engine whenever u look for dinner spot in Furano.
Their menu comprised of a lot of different and they had English Menu available as well! However their staffs weren't well versed in English and we sometimes rely on some hand languages to get thing done! Haha!
We ordered a few dishes along with 2 big pot of Sukiyaki and their soup were damn nice! Flavourful and such a thick broth that it absorb all the meat and vegetable flavours in it.
We went for some groceries shopping at the edge of the town after the dinner and went back to hotel for some good night rest.
Day 2 - Biei, Asahikawa
Seeing Sunrise directly from our hotel room windows, the easiest way to enjoy a sunrise so far.
The second day started with some of the breakfast we bought at the supermarket last night and off we depart to Biei via the famous panorama road.
The famous panorama road on the way to Biei and Asahikawa
Biei Blue Pond
Biei Shirogane/Blue Pond located just 45 mins away from Furano and half way to Asahikawa. The view was absolutely amazing with the pond water being blue all year round thanks to some mineral from the Volcanic activities around the area.
No entrance fee were required and there are plenty of parking area just in front of the pond and a short walk of 5 minutes leads you to the blue pond and a whole trip takes only about 15mins if you don't stop for photos. But who don't stop for photos in a place like this?
The next station was the Asahikawa Ramen Village for our lunch. It was another hour of driving and the Ramen village located just opposite of a big Uniqlo and a big outdoor parking lots. The challenge of driving a Van this big is that we can generally only park at outdoor carpark.
Asahikawa Ramen Village
Similar to the Ramen Street in New Chitose Airport, the Ramen village in Asahikawa gathered 8 of the famous Ramen shops around Asahikawa and placed them under a roof to simplify your tasting process!
After we had our lunch, we departed to Asahiyama Zoo, one of the busiest Zoo in Japan famous for their Penguin Parade during the winter season.
With over 800 type of species, Asahiyama Zoo attracts more than 3 millions visitors a year.
With entrance fees at only 820 yen per pax, we spend a whole 3 hours there until they closed at 5.30pm and we left to the City centre of Asahikawa for some shopping. The Largest shopping mall around there was the Aeon just beside the JR train station of Asahikawa and we had our dinner there trying out their food court and later back to hotel for some rest.
Driving at night in Hokkaido is kinda challenging for people who are not used to driving in dark environment. That is because most of the places in Hokkaido aren't well lit. Condition are even worse during winter according to them, snow might make the road slippery.
Day 3 - Tomita Farm, Furano Cheese Factory, Furano Winery - Sapporo
We started the morning with some fresh and beautifully aligned flower farm! Here we are in Tomita Farm in Furano.
Farm Tomita is a must go spot in Hokkaido during the spring season and especially the Lavender season in Late June to July, we were there sort of a month early and obviously their lavender weren't ready yet, in fact, they were still planting them all over the bare hill in preparation of the coming blooming month. Therefore almost all of the blooming lavender we saw was in the Greenhouse just up the hill in Tomita Farm.
And my dark luck strikes again! This time was the Tomita Melon house, somehow they chose to renovate it during my visit and yeah I didn't get to eat their Melon this time round.
Moving onto the next destination, we had our lunch at the second most famous spot in Furano, which is the Yuiga Doxon (唯我独尊) Curry House!!!
Just a small hut in the middle of the town and a few tables at the outside as well as inside.
Menu were simple, Curry as the base and choose your ingredients on top of either the rice or without the rice.
Needless to say, it was good, really good! One of the best Japanese Curry we've had in a very long time!
Furano Cheese Factory
We went for something sweet and cheesy after the lunch, just 10mins away to the south of Furano, there is this Furano Cheese Factory in the middle of some forest. They produced a few types of cheese including squid ink cheese which taste funny to us. However their fresh milk was really good and just next to the factory itself is an ice-cream hut that served soft serve ice-cream. Worth a try when you are there, nice place to take some photos as well.
Furano Winery
And before we departed to Sapporo, we made a visit to the Furano Winery just by the side of of the town with another 15mins drive up to the hill. They produced a few different types of wine there but we went for the Juice instead, the concentrated grape juice was good and we always go for them whenever we are at a winery that sells grape juices.
Then we depart to Sapporo through the main expressway of Hokkaido, and it took us around 3.5hours from Furano to Sapporo city.
We then checked into our Airbnb near the tram station Nishisen Juichijo, highly recommend for family from 4-6 person but the only downside was that they only had 1 toilet and 1 bathroom out of the 3 rooms that they had. Crowded in the morning but manageable.
The location of our place was very strategic with just 3 minutes walk to the nearest Tram Station and the trams lead directly into the city centre and some of the tourist attractions such as the Mt. Moiwa was just a few stations away. A Seicomart was just opposite of the apartment and 100m down the street was a Sukiya that operates for 24 hours. More surprises for us when Max Valu was just another 500m walk and the neighbourhood was as peaceful as you like.
We had our dinner at the Sukiya nearby and went ahead to do some shopping at the convenience store and the MaxValu for some basics and foods to stock up for the next few days before we called it the end for the tiring day.
Day 4 - Nijo Market, Odori Park, Tanukikoji Shopping Day
Our first morning in Sapporo started with a more relaxed style in Nijo Market.
Nijo Market located just east of the Tanukikoji street and it is one of the places where you can find fresh seafood stalls and restaurants around the city of Sapporo. The Outer Market spots most of the fresh stalls and the restaurants were hidden in the alleys.
Sapporo TV Tower (Sapporo Odori Park)
We had a short walk to Tanukikoji and moved on for a full day shopping around the city centre of Sapporo. Nothing much to talks about the shopping here, just wandering around on the surface and of course in the underground, 2 of the largest shopping street in Sapporo, the Aurora Town and Pole Town.
Lying perpendicular to each other, Aurora town and Pole town span across a few kilometres in the underground of Sapporo city near Tanukikoji and Odori Park. Just look for the underground staircases that appears randomly along the street and you'll be greet by hundreds of shops underground.
Day 5 - Otaru - Mount Moiwa
Otaru is a small historical port city about 1.5 hours drive away from Sapporo City. It has a traditional reputation of being a romantic town famous of Music Box, Glassworks and distillery.
We departed in the morning towards the port city in the north-westerly direction and our first station would be the famous Otaru Canal. Though it is not the usual romantic Autumn/Winter season and also lack of the setting sun, the canal was still full of tourist with even a big group of Japanese student taking Graduation Photoshoot there.
Otaru Canal
Otaru wasn't a particularly big city and most of the tourist spots are located just nearby to the main street - Sakaimachi Street of Otaru.
Had our lunch at Kito no Ryoba Seafood restaurant, a simple lunch full of seafood like Sashimi, and Sea urchin.
This green shop here sells almost everything related with Matcha and their icecream were definitely one of the highlight!
For those who are in love with Snoopy, they have something here for you as well!
Rokkatei, a famous shop selling confectionaries, perfect place for some souvenirs. Especially their chocolate with a whole strawberries inside and
We strolled around the Sakaimachi Street until around 4pm and we depart back to Sapporo for the last spot of the day-Mt. Moiwa. Located just 20minutes away from our place of stay in Sapporo, we opt to drive all the way up to the mid-hill cable car station instead of taking the Ropeway from the foot-hill.
Mt. Moiwa Nightview
There is a toll booth located at the entrance of the road leading up to the Mid-hill cable car station that will cost 660 yen per car, this is highly recommend for those who had a big group as the Ropeway for each person will set you back at 1700 yen and the cable car will only be 600 yen per person from the Mid-hill station.
The night view of the Mt.Moiwa was considered to be one of the best 3 night view around Hokkaido and just behind the famous Hakodate night view. It is considerably colder than Sapporo city and we stay there until the sun fully set and went for a dinner on our way back to Airbnb to end the day.
Day 6 - Shiroi Koibito Park
Shiroi Koibito Park, or the White Lovers park, was definitely one of the must go place in Sapporo city. The home to the famous Shiroi Koibito chocolate cookies was more than just a biscuit factory. It was everyone's dreamland!
The outer part of the park was full of places and fountains that were only found in the fairy tales and those are the perfect places to fill up your insta stories.
Shiroi Koibito park was the last place we visited for the trip and we later went back to the Tanukikoji Street in the city for the last round of shopping before we depart back to Kuala Lumpur.
P.S: Though we weren't in Hokkaido for the best season of the year, be it Winter or Autumn, Hokkaido was definitely one of the best place to be for a vacation and driving in Hokkaido was an absolute fun. Next trip to Hokkaido will definitely be in Winter!
Footnote:
Japanese Travel Info
Hokkaido Airbnb
Car Rental Hokkaido
Pocket Wi-Fi
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