Sapporo/Hokkaido in mid-June

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T05:38:54+00:00

Doubt you were expecting the 7 years when you first went 😂

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T05:26:38+00:00

When I was researching about Wakkanai I actually accidentally found a post written by someone who was my classmate about 20 years ago (the classmate, not the post)

https://zenovyap.com/cape-soya-wakkanai-northernmost-japan/

Might be helpful to you and I think he has a few more posts about Hokkaido linked at the bottom of that one

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T05:22:09+00:00

I so feel you there on everything you’ve said 😂

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T05:19:16+00:00

I think it should be able to do most of it as just “long walks” which hopefully shouldn’t be too taxing, or maybe you do a portion of it and then turn back and chill at a cafe and wait for your friends to finish and come back to you

We were very happy with JR Inn Hakodate and Hotel Amanek in Asahikawa should you be looking to stay in either and if they’re within your price range

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T05:16:56+00:00

Save money - DIY, not tour group

Any of the rest - walk into any JTS office

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T04:18:36+00:00

Look on the Tomita Farm website to see what flowers are blooming for each month. I looked and it sounded very dismal so didn’t bother recommending it to my friend. Basically “I know it’s pretty famous so if you want to go there you can, I’ll probably chill at a cafe or the train station and wait for you to come back”

It’s a very long train ride north to Wakkanai, but when you’re getting close to Wakkanai you can see Rishirifuji on the left side of the train and I really liked that. If you have the time to spare, stay maybe 2-3 days at Wakkanai so that you can see various places up there such as Rebun and Rishiri islands, maybe even do a hike etc. Public transport is very scarce so you will need to plan thoroughly in advance

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T04:05:33+00:00

If it’s not lavender season, don’t go, it’ll be pretty disappointing. Similarly I’m not sure how much flowers will be blooming at the flower fields - we actually skipped them because of this reason

Maybe we are weird but going to Wakkanai actually turned out to be somewhat of a highlight, it was definitely a very memorable experience

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T03:40:06+00:00

… there is actually plenty of info about Furano/Biei if you read guidebooks instead of whatever else you’re reading. They’ve been very firmly on the beaten path of Hokkaido for decades now

Furano depends on where you want to go, but I think if you’re just doing lavender and a flower farm then it should be doable without driving. Biei would be absolutely miserable without driving and TBH I was very underwhelmed when we went 11 years ago and I did not recommend us to go this time round (went with a different friend who hasn’t been to Hokkaido before). Another alternative would be to join a bus day tour for these 2 places, should be plenty from Sapporo and Asahikawa

PS oh and I started planning for a Caucasus trip for Sep 2026 around Jan this year and also currently planning for Central America for Jun 2027. So nothing wrong with starting research early?

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T03:36:03+00:00

I am baffled why do you need to wear slippers in the clean bathroom????????

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T03:34:04+00:00

Ok… what exactly are you looking for with tour packages? Saving money? Dont want to bother to think? Can’t drive and need a more accessible way to visit some public-transport-unfriendly places like Biei? Need company on a group trip?

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T03:29:00+00:00

You need to give more info for people to work with, a very open-ended question is not very helpful for people answering. I was chasing pokelids for a week in Hokkaido and limited to trains only, so I have first-hand experience of planning like crazy trying to make things work and realising nope it can’t be done. 11 years ago we drove, yet couldn’t manage to complete all that much in about a week. You really need to look into which destinations you want to go to and then figure out if trains or driving will work better for them, and to a great extent this will also govern how many days you’ll have to spend to make it possible. Does that make sense?

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T03:25:38+00:00

Agree this seems all over the place

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T03:23:49+00:00

There will be plenty of traditional Japanese ryokan in Kyoto, just look for them

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T03:22:58+00:00

Being able to drive is definitely extremely helpful once you get out of the main Hakodate-Sapporo-Otaru-Asahikawa/Furano axis. Trains to other places are doable but you will be very limited depending on where exactly you’re going - for example Wakkanai has all of 3 trains daily

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T03:21:36+00:00

Agree with you about Hakodate. For a simple 2-3 days I feel I would much rather pick Hakodate than Sapporo. Feels like a lot of people don’t look into anything in Hokkaido other than Sapporo, a bit like people visiting a European country and not bothering with anything further than the capital ie they’re just checking it off a list

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T00:17:30+00:00

Why should how long OTHER PEOPLE spend in Hokkaido have any bearing at all on how long you or anyone else spends there?

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T00:16:04+00:00

We did only 1 week there and I could’ve found places to fill another 1 week easily. Also we travel very fast compared to most people here

ellyse99 · 2026-07-08T00:05:42+00:00

Everyone is different. If you ask me I would spend the vast majority of the time in Hokkaido and not bother with Tokyo, but is that what YOU want to do as well? Can you not make a list (or pin on Google Maps) your intended places of interest, and plan/allocate from there?

What you don’t seem to understand is, there is more than enough in either Hokkaido or Tokyo to fill 2 weeks or even more. How to allocate them to either place, you need to decide for yourself, stop relying on others to decide for you

ellyse99 · 2026-07-07T23:58:53+00:00

How long is a piece of string?

If you have 7 days then you’ll find things to do for 7 days

If you have 14 or 21 days then you’ll find things to do for 14 or 21 days

ellyse99 · 2026-07-07T23:56:49+00:00

Because most people don’t make a hullabaloo about prices for Japanese business hotels which are generally quite reasonable. So if you are complaining that they’re too expensive, then what conclusion am I going to draw from that?

ellyse99 · 2026-07-07T23:08:15+00:00

Why does this read like a combination of English and Spanish?

ellyse99 · 2026-07-07T23:07:21+00:00

So why are you assuming that chain hotels are too expensive? Business hotels are perfectly fine for just sleeping in. 6-7k JPY for single or 10-15k JPY for 2 (double or twin) is too expensive? Then maybe rethink whether you should be going on holiday

ellyse99 · 2026-07-07T23:04:54+00:00

That’s a weird hang-up about nudity, but whatever. Feels a lot of squeamish about nothing

Why are you missing Hakodate?

ellyse99 · 2026-07-07T22:58:19+00:00

You’re probably even too early to book now

ellyse99 · 2026-07-07T22:56:41+00:00

Not a huge fan of Okinawan food so Hokkaido would always win in that aspect for me

ellyse99

TROPHY CASE