Article Trip to Hokkaido

Our original destination on the way to the northernmost Japanese island was to climb Mount Yōtei (1,898 m above sea level), which is nicknamed Ezo Fuji for its conical volcanic shape, so strikingly similar to Japan's most famous highest mountain, Mount Fuji. The ascent is comparable in terms of altitude, because there is no bus available that would bring you closer, as is the case with him on Fuji. The ascent begins with a pleasant forest path, where we unfortunately also ended due to bad weather, because the journey from after 30 minutes. she turned the endless foundry into a small river. This ascent can be a pleasant and quieter alternative to the more famous tourist Fuji.

Instead of the ascent, you took a small trip to Lake Tōya, which has a mountainous island in the middle. On the lake you can take a boat or pedal boat, or take a ferry to the island, where you can walk.

On the island, in addition to the capital Sapporo and a few larger cities, you will find mainly smaller quiet towns. Their visit contrasts their tranquility with hypermodern Tokyo, people are in no hurry and just enjoy walks along the city's water canal or the local delicious cuisine in one of the restaurants.

Japan is famous for its fast train transport using Shinkansen high-speed trains. We also used this transport around the island with a weekly Rail Pass (a special ticket only for foreigners at a discounted price, must be purchased before arrival, because it is not sold in Japan). The high-speed trains helped us a lot in the long journeys, but on the way to the northern island of Hokkaido you can only get to the capital Sapporo, which is in the very south. Then only „ordinary“ trains follow. This was one of the reasons why we limited our visit to the island to its southernmost part. Nevertheless, I recommend visiting this part of Japan as well, because it provides an interesting contrast and proof of the diversity of Japan as such.

During our 10-day trip to Japan, we arranged accommodation for the first 2 nights in Tokyo using the internet on site. We always chose according to the location where we had just moved, between accommodation via the Airbnb service, which is very widespread, especially on the central island and large cities. On the island of Hokkaido, due to lower occupancy, the frequency of this type of accommodation is lower, but we still found very nice Airbnb accommodation at a reasonable price in the town of Otaru in the south of the island. The advantage is both the low price and the traditional Japanese style, where you usually sleep on a tatami (low madračka on the ground). Another type of accommodation we used was hotels via Booking.com, where when booking a hotel at the last minute you can often get a very reasonable price.