FamousDave

Hello All, It's been a while since the last time I have posted here... ( Hello kimJapan )

This time I'm planning to go back to Japan with my 9 year old son Brian.

So...

Dates:
Thursday - Nov 22nd to
Saturday - Dec 1st.

Airplain tickets:
I will redeems (delta) miles for a roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale to Sapporo.

Lodging:
I plan to stay at the Toyoko-inn Sapporo Susukino Minami. I had a great experience with this chain of hotels in Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, etc.. and you can't beat the price.. ($50 - $60 per night)

I know that as my planning gets deeper I will be having more questions, but in the meantime I'd like to get your opinion on the following:

- Are 7 days in Sapporo too much?

- Would it be worth it to spend 3 days in Sapporo, then fly to Osaka, take the train to Kyoto, spend 3 days in kyoto, then take the train back to Osaka and fly to the US from there?

Thank you very much!!

PS: I can't wait to go back to Japan...

lcuy

I would be tempted to spend maybe 5 days in Sapporo. Years back, I went in March. We planned to ski, so it was nice to have lots of snow.

I'm not sure what it will be like in Novemeber... a lot of the beauty of Hokkaido is in the national parks, so it depends on how comfortable you'll be wandering outside. Or are you visiting Sapporo for a different reason?

Definitely fly out of Osaka if you want to visit Kyoto.. I think Kyoto is a great city for kids.

FamousDave

Thanks for your help!
Yes, mainly the snow attracts us a lot...

Delta is having trouble booking me all the way to Sapporo, they can only get me to Tokio... so i'm going to have to find another way to get there.. Last time I checked it was quite a pain in the neck to cross to Hokkaido using JRpass, so I may look into getting a roundtrip ticket NRT -> Sapporo.. this of course would add quite some extra to my budget which is tight...

FamousDave

So, finally after 2 hours on the phone with the delta lady we got our tickets..

She routed us using Continental with the following itinerary: FLL - Newark - Tokyo and return: Tokyo - Newark - FLL, she said nothing else was available..

Any opinions on Continental Airlines?

Thanks!!

lcuy

Continental has very limited flights to Japan...from Hawaii you have to stop in Guam first!

but I guess if you're getting free tickets, you cant be as picky...

How about taking the train to Hkkaido? or fly one way and train the other. It really is a nice train ride, especially now that you don't have to take the ferry from Aomori.

FamousDave

Hi Icuy! Thanks for your suggestions.
The trip is non-stop newark -> narita (15 hours..)

I didnt know that you dont have to take the ferry anymore, I will definitely look into that

Thanks

hawaiiantraveler

You might check here for some discounted domestic Japan flights. You have to buy them before you get to Japan though....

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

Aloha!

KimJapan

We've used Continental between Narita and Newark. It's fine in economy, just fine. Individual TVs, programming on a loop though, not AVOD. About 9 channels, some games. Food...we special order fruit plates when in economy, as the regular food is too salty and fatty.

mrwunrfl

A week in Sapporo is too long but a week in Hokkaido is certainly not.

But with the air pass you could fly to a Hokkaido city and then to Osaka and then train back to NRT. There is a JR Hokkaido rail pass.

mrwunrfl

I spent four or five days on Hokkaido and didn't stop in Sapporo city.

FamousDave

So, Im going to end up landing in Tokyo and taking the train to Sapporo...

Can anyone recommend a good ryokan in Sapporo? I'm as I said before Im traveling with my 9 year old and I'd like to show him the traditional parts of Japan..

Thanks

mrwunrfl

I suggest that you broaden your view of your destination to be Hokkaido, not Sapporo. Sapporo is a big city and might have it's own character up there, but Hokkaido is much more than that.

5th largest, actually, after Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, and Nagoya.

FamousDave

Thank you for your reply mrwunrfl, I'm not so informed about what Hokkaido has to offer and mostly everything I have read is about Sapporo. Could you give me a quick overview about Hokkaido? What are it's highlights?
I was also taking Sapporo as a base city for taking day trips around the Hokkaido area.

Thanks, I really appreciate it.

mrwunrfl

Take a look at the Hokkaido guides here:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/rtg/index.html
They give an overview of the attractions in each region and good transport info.

I made stops at Noboribetsu, Lake Toya, and Hakodate. Those would be on your route north by train. Also spent a couple of nights in Otaru. Visited the Ainu village in Shiraoi.

It is going to be cold when you get there. I think that Hokkaido is to Japan as Alaska is to USA. Remote, less "traditional", a trip there would be more of an outdoors adventure or active pursuit trip, a character of it's own and not exactly in the mainstream (the mainstream being from the colonies, Lewis & Clark, the 49ers). There is a long history in both places but they developed quite later than in the southern part of the country.

What have you read about Sapporo that interests you? You mentioned "traditional" Japan and by that I think you mean Japan of the Shoguns and away from the big cities. You can find a lot of that in central Japan. See Matsumoto Castle, then Kiso Valley, stop in Gifu, then Takayama, Shirakawago, Kanazawa.

I think it will be cold in Hokkaido at that time. More of a late fall in central Japan.

But, what I am suggesting are multistop itineraries and perhaps you want to base in one place.

mrwunrfl

I am not now discouraging Hokkaido but trying to get a sense of what you mean/want in "traditional" Japan. At the link above you could look in the Chubu section for guides about Kiso Valley, Takayama, etc.

Do you think Brian would enjoy visiting castles?

FamousDave

Hello mrwunrfl,

Brian is a very mature kid for being only 9 years old, I'm sure that he would love the castles and small villages in nothern Japan.
One of the main reasons why we're going to Hokkaido is to Ski / Snowboard, this is something that him and I love..
And the other reason is because I got Delta to fly me from Sapporo back home ( Via Seoul ).

So, I have my airplain tickets already ( ).. The outbound is Fort lauderdale -> newark -> Narita and the Inbound is Sapporo -> Seoul -> JFK -> Fort lauderdale

It's funny that I leave Seoul at 7:30PM on Dec 01 and I arrive to JFK the same day at the same time 7:30PM

Thanks again!

David & Brian

mrwunrfl

Ok, I get it. You do actually have a specific interest in Hokkaido - winter sports. No castles up there, tho, that I know of.

A few minutes from lake Toya is a small mountain that grew out of a farm field and I think is still rising, steam coming out of it in various places. It's on the bus route between Toya and Noboribetsu, but I am pretty sure that if you were in Toya that you would be able to get there and back easily.

You might try another place, maybe japan-guide.com, for a forum where you can get feedback on winter fun in Sapporo.