Central Honshu Travel

Hi Misty,

1.) Hakodate is a nice place to visit, though 1 day is likely enough to see the city. Going up to mount Hakodate and visiting fort Goryokaku are the main sightseeing spots. Hakodate is also a harbour town and you can eat some really fresh Sushi and Sashimi there.

2.) I recommend learning to plan with Hyperdia this way you can find any route/time table and more. Its a great tool for planning with the JR Pass. We also have a useful interactive map with all JR lines included. Do you know where you will start?

3.) Certainly, a JR Pass will give you very good savings. Just a return to Hokkaido will pay for the JR Pass.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Hi Daniel,

Many thanks for your valuable advice.

1) For Hokkaido, we are planning to stay 4 nights at Sapporo (trying not to tag our two luggage around too much) with day trips to Furano/Biei and Otaru.

(A) We are still considering whether to make a day trip to Jozankei and/or Lake Toya - not sure these two places are suitable for traveling with our 2-year old or not. (B) We are still thinking whether to go and stay a night at Noboribetsu or not for the same reason before traveling from Sapporo to Hakodate (to stay a night here).

2) After Hokkaido, we will head to Tokyo. I guess the route can be like this: Tokyo > Ikaho (stay a night) > Takayama (stay 2 nights) > Matsumoto (day trip from Takayama) > Shirakawago (day trip from Takayama) > Karuizawa (stay a night) > Tokyo.

(D) Please advise if the above route is planned in a correct order. (E) We are only interested in visiting the castle in Matsumoto, so will it be feasible to visit it then move on to Karuizawa? (F) What kind of JR passes will be suitable for us for this travel? We won't be returning to Hokkaido for our flight out of Japan - will fly from Tokyo.

Thanks again,
Misty