I am planning to go for winter holiday in asia by end of this year during school holiday (2 adult + 2 kids aged 7&12) and decided to go to hokkaido to enjoy the snow after considering yongpyong and hokkaido. Can any one recommend good tour company? School holiday stars from 23 Nov 2019 until 31 Dec 2019 and i believe i should travel start from mid Dec if to enjoy thicker snow, right? This is my first time to enjoy the snow. Ha Ha

I just did my Hokkaido trip just last month. Was there for 5 days and went to the following: Hakodate, Noboribetsu, Lake Toya, Sapporo, Susukino and Asahikawa. If you're going on December you will miss all the snow festivals (Jan - Feb). Lol I probably only spend RM 1k+ when I'm there since I spent RM 3.6k for my 13 days trip in Japan.

No English.....I just came back from Osaka/Kyoto.  Very little English is spoken on the streets
Google.

I just did a 10 day trip to Osaka/Kyoto on our own. Google will help you lots to prepare you. Use trip advisor. It's very useful
I was very confused by the train passes before I got there.

Can bring children to Lake Toya, Onsen (noboribetsu), Asahiyama Zoo and Sapporo. I think they will love it.

Can bring children to Lake Toya, Onsen (noboribetsu), Asahiyama Zoo and Sapporo. I think they will love it.

super expensive...might as well go for full service airline

transit in DMK you can try Thai Airways. (transit in BKK)

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.

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 )

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.

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.

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.

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?

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/

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.

Hi, i just come back from my hokkaido trip few days ago. I encounter train delay due to heavy snow fall from Otaru to Yoichi and i heard few train being cancel due to heavy snow fall from Otaru to Sapporo. Like my case the train delay make us wait and queue in the platform more than 30min with heavy snow fall under -13 c. Luckily i travelling in couple i can't imagine how child to stand for this kind of weather.

I stay in toya and noboribetsu each 1 night. Traveling to Toya by JR Express from Sapporo station is very convenience. The transit buses to the lake toya just in front of the Toya JR station only. February they only have 2 Schedule from toya to noboribetsu 9am & 3pm. Travelling by bus between lake toya and noboribetsu is more convenience compare you by JR train.

Is not easy while you walking on the snow and you may need more careful some solid ice may hide below the snow layer.