Oh. Air Asia is cancelling KUL - CTS route? Before this have direct flight from KL to Sapporo.

The flight fare is more expensive about RM1.6k++. Is there any different transit at BKK compare to DMK?

I've been monitoring the prices from KUL-CTS, it's about 2.5k on JAL or ANA for roundtrip (time to start praying for promos). Made my trip to Hokkaido during Summer and stayed 9 days in Sapporo. Used the trains and buses to travel to places.

We went last December (1-6Dec) in Sapporo. It already snowing but not daily (lucky).
Before we went there, thinking to experience snow. But now I can tell you, we hate snow.. wakakakaka.
Coz when it snowing.. those flakes just love to hit your face (too light). When not snowing, walking is a big challenge. Trying to put on the spikes but inconvenience as when you walk into shops, it seems only you having spikes on and the kok kok sound irritating. Probably snow not that heavy (alternate day) yet, the local prefer to slip around on the street.

We flew in from Tokyo (stay 4days in Tokyo) and flew out to Osaka (stay 5days osaka), not direct from KL. In Hokkaido, we only focus Sapporo (1 day Otaru.. freezing..as forget to gear up). Lazy move around due to snow-melting floors. So the trip mainly focus on eat eat and eat. We stay next to Sapporo Nakajima Park, so my son gets to play some snow there.. The snow is thick enough to throw snow balls around, the lake frozen hard already.. thats early Dec. During that time, if 2 days didn't snow, basically no more trace of snow anymore.. but if 1 midnight heavy snow falls, the park will be fully white. When we left for Osaka on 6Dec, is almost like stormy snow and our flights got delay.

I believe is around 2.5k for round trip during end of the year. Never try JAL before. Since the price is not much different with AA, i should take JAL, right?

Thanks for the info. I havent finish gone thru thread V11. So far had identified 3 places to visit. Sapporo, otaru and lake toya. Could not find onsen on the map. Most of the travel places seems like on the west south of hokkaido. Not much people talking about north or east side of hokkaido.

Yes. My personal experience was MAS to CTS then JAL back to KUL. The difference was noticeable. I especially liked the seat space, no knees bumping on the seat in front (Hagen Daz icecream for dessert compared to cold apple pie yeah i'm petty )

I just checked the JAL. Flight on 14/12 is RM1215 and on 15/12 is only RM 975. Return flight on 22/12 is RM 1450 and on 23/12 also only RM 975. Since my duration is flexible i can pick the lowest fare. Is it difficult to book the flight coming back from hokkaido to KL? I am thinking to purchase one way first instead of purchase round trip. Maybe to come back early if my children cannot stand the cold weather or maybe to enjoy few more days if they love the weather. Btw what is the different between economy and premium economy?

Return ticket is usually cheaper than you buy single trips. And if your time is flexible and not bind to return trip ticket, maybe consider visit other part of Japan too. The kids will sure like it, no matter there got snow or not. But do prepare well, our lips and skin peeled, once we sort of a bit lazy to put extra moisturiser. Everyday is like a skin specialist apply many times of lip gloss and lotion. We never expect that as we thought Dec not that terrible, thought it could be similar to UK. Hence, we were catch in surprise.

If you are not familiar with DIY, it is better to survey and check properly on your travel arrangement. Since is first experience of snow, self-drive is definitely not good. And don't forget child at 12yrs old consider adult, no kids fare.

Thanks for your advise bro

Hi guys, parents want to go to Osaka next week for a very short trip (Feb 18 to Feb 23).

I'm tasked with booking the flight and accommodation as well as the activities.

Since it's pretty last minute, I'd like to leverage on you guys for the following

1. recommended accommodation near train stations for 3 pax with ensuite bathroom preferred. I was thinking something like the APA hotels would suffice but I'm unsure on which part of the city the parents should be based in.

2. Can they do a day trip to kyoto or would it be much better for them to stay there for 1 or 2 nights?

How many people are you traveling with? Sometimes it make sense to get a car than to ride on trains across Hokkaido. In winter buses run on shorter schedule. If you miss the bus you are likely to end up with a hefty taxi bill.

Case in point this is the bus schedule in Winter.



and this is your fare if you happen to "miss" your bus.



Onsen you can visit Noboribetsu, it's an Onsen town. I'll suggest you to stay in Noboribetsu Grand hotel because it's within walking distance to the Donan bus station and you can walk to Jigokudani as well. The hotel provides dinner buffet and has multiple Onsen in the premise.

North and East side of Hokkaido you can do the ship tour that breaks the ice. But most people don't do is because it's far from Sapporo. If you have the time you can spend a night there.

Premium economy seats recline within their shell so you don't have to worry about the person in front and behind you.
The seat is 19 inches wide and has a pitch of 41.25 inches.
The food/drinks table is significantly bigger than economy.
You also get access to the business class lounge before your flight and all the other perks like priority boarding and priority luggage.
For me, JAL has one of the best premium economy cabin in the market these days.

Thanks for the info. Premium economy is few hundreds extra only. I should go for it.

Definitely... Why wanna cramp in AA with no food when you're paying about the same price for a better seat and with meal inclusive fare?

This is really a good info to me. super crazy expensive taxi fare. Rather find a nearby airbnb and stay. I still survey the tour itinerary from online source to fixed up the places to visit. Airlines and date almost there. I dont like to drive. Maybe feel a bit dangerous to drive on snowy road. I prefer to take train. Should i stay in one place or to change accomodation during the week? To stay about 7 nights.

Should split up your stays over several areas. Also you can check for train schedule at hyperdia.com and plan your itinerary carefully. Then calculate the costs and see if Hokkaido rail pass is worth it. Express trains in Japan are not cheap.

There are some places that are not accessible by public transport. One of the place I wanted to visit was the Ice Hotel but due to lack of transportation I decided to cancel my plan.

https://www.snowtomamu.jp/winter/en/topics/1701/

This post has been edited by Icehart: Feb 12 2019, 11:55 PM

Ok ok. Ha ha

I have not finalised my itinerary yet and have not compare the the cost of train and renting a car. Seems like DIY tour not that easy. Let me finish reading all the previous threads before firm up my itinerary. Thanks again

Come i help for fun

Sunday morning arrival - Go to Noberibetsu straight away for accomodation with onsen, preferably.

Monday - Day trip to Lake Toya.

Tuesday - Leave Noberibetsu in the morning for to stay in Sapporo for a night. (Visit Mount Moiwa, Beer Factory, etc)

Wednesday - Leave Sapporo in the morning to stay in Asahikawa for two nights (Visit Asahiyama Zoo)

Thursday - Day trip to Furano or Asahidake (with Asahikawa as your base)

Friday - Leave Asahikawa to stay in Sapporo for a night (Visit Susukino shopping district, Sapporo station shopping area, buy your snacks and stuff before going back)

Saturday - More shopping in Sapporo if you want. (Visit Odori Park). Leave Sapporo in the evening to stay in Chitose for a night (because of Sunday morning early flight - choose your hotels carefully because some provide free shuttle to the airport early in the morning)(Visit Aeon Chitose or Chitose Outlet Mall if you have time)

Sunday - Go airport

elifen, not sure bout you or your spouse packing skills. Do bear in mind that you have 2 young kids with you. Frequent change of accommodation means a lot of daily packing unpacking. We used to DIY all along, but basically for me.. the travelling/moving hotel day almost equal to a less active day, as we need to pack and unpack; check-out and check-in hotel. Or probably I am the "maid" of the family. I need to dig out clothing for them, pack stuff bk in and worst still when you bought something on the way.. and need to find the best space in the luggage to store it. Imagine doing it almost daily, it is hectic.

Yes, joining travel agency is the same, moving hotels daily. But don't forget that tour guide will discipline you with their timing, but DIY .. no matter how discipline you are on the timing, you won't willing to wake your kids up earlier (as in tour guide rules) and may end up daily get out a bit later than your planned time. Another thing is you maybe worry bout transportation, trying to catch buses/train and if this happen daily due to change of hotel, I don't think you will enjoy much.

My last Dec Japan holiday, I planned start our day around 9am. We have this timing in all our past vacation (Osaka, Kyoto, UK, HK, TWN, etc).. no problem at all. But this round really shock us, we were sandwich in the train terribly in Tokyo and Sapporo. Then we adjust our time much earlier til 7.30am (shake the kid up at 7am, he slept bout 12am daily) yet train still crowded.. move up to 7am then.. wah!!! end up we get out later at 10am unless we choose to walk escape the train (which we did actually). And we stay 6N totally in Sapporo.. no move hotel.. still alot to enjoy and see. But looking at the snowy weather, the thick clothing, the kids' pace, the public transportation..if possible avoid move around too much.

We expect crowded train during peak hours but never imagine that level or sandwich til kepit each other tightly. And the local are quite ignorant when it comes to the fighting their way to squeeze in the train. With kids, this is definitely dangerous. There were once my boy manage to squeeze in but not us. Lucky he know where we are heading and quite use to DIY trip with us.. so he waited us there. And he have h/p & $ with him. He is 11yrs old.

This post has been edited by cc980024: Feb 13 2019, 10:46 AM