@icehart

Thanks again for the guides. Very helpful. I googled and found out asahiyama zoo operating hours in winter is from 10.30am to 3.30pm (last admission 3.00pm). I think i will take train from sapporo to asahikawa to visit the zoo and return on the same day. Can let my children to experience taking train also. I dont feel comfortable to drive 150km++ from sapporo to asahikawa. I intend to drive only in sapporo to the nearest attraction. Maybe i should plan something like this. First day of arrival to travel from chitose to noberibetsu or lake toya and stay there for 2 nights. The rest of the weeks i will just stay in sapporo and the last night in chitose. I will take the morning flight from new chitose back to KLIA.

I have not done much study yet about the JR Rail pass or Hokkaido Rail Pass and not sure where to buy, how to buy and how to top up. Before coming to that i wish to estimate the train fare i will need to spend. I could not find much information on google. I read there are no round trip fare from sapporo to asahikawa and 1 way ticket is 5000++ and is different by time. I attached herewith my planned train schedule. May i know approximate how much i have to spend on train fare? And also please recommend some good hotel to stay at Noboribetsu (2 nights), Sapporo (4 nights) and New chitose (1 night). Budget about RM300 to RM500 per night. Thanks

This post has been edited by elifen: Feb 18 2019, 04:44 PM


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@bryanhee

Thanks for your info. I did quoted to your reply but it was not shown up probably error when posting. I take your advise to take the morning flight instead of wasting another night in tokyo.

That are good option too. Will look into that. Thanks

Thanks for the info @icehart @lyc1982 and @sweet_pez (moderator)

Thanks bro. I just standby my IDP. After reading some advises here, i will take train for long distances and take taxi or bus for short distance. I will buy rail pass for convenient sake cause not need to queue to buy ticket. I had checked the hotel price and mostly around 1k. May i know what apps or website you used to book hotel?

Thanks for the info. I have a bit of idea now about the transportation in hokkaido. At first i thought JR pass can use for all trains, buses & taxis. LOL. Even Hokkaido Rail pass do not cover buses & taxis as well. I will work out again the cost for one way and round trip to take train before decide for the pass. I think i had read that JR pass cover Donan Bus, correct ? So for the transportation between these few towns, chitose, noboribetsu, Lake Toya, Sapporo & Asahikawa will be by train. I will need IC card to take subway and buses for the transportation within sapporo area. I do not need any pass for the transportation within noboribetsu and Lake Toya area ( to purchase ticket from counter). Please advise.

Very busy for the past few weeks and only done some study on train pass. It is not worth to buy Hokkaido rail pass for my trip. I had done the calculation as follows ;
CTS to Noboribetsu (1 way 3000 yen), noboribetsu to Toya (1 way 2700 yen), Toya to Sapporo (1 way 5920 yen), sapporo to Asahikawa (round trip 5080 yen). Total about 16,700. (Express train fare). Hokkaido 7 days train pass is 24,000 yen. So decided to use smart card IC but i am not sure which card cover the the train to the places i intend to go (chitose, noboribetsu, toya, sapporo & asahikawa). What i know is Sapica cover only sapporo for subway, buses and streetcars) and kitaca can use for Sapica area and also outside of Sapporo. Can anyone introduce which smart card IC to use ? Which cover the train to the places as mentioned above, subway and buses in Sapporo. Can the card also use for buses within noboribetsu, toya and asahikawa ?

Basically the date of visit to hokkaido is fix. Internet access will use Klook 4G wifi. I go for ANA instead of JAL cause cheaper. Accomodation not decided yet not sure to go for all hotel or mixture with airbnb. Still a long way to go before firm up my itinerary. Hope to hear some comments from sifu here.

Alright! Thanks bro.