Hokkaido Advice

[lionelred]

Hi There
I am curently bookin place to stay in Hokkaido for a holiday 18thJuly /3rd August.
The places that we have reserved seem very expensive and not really worth it.
Does this seem normal for this time of year.
I am currently trying to persuade my girlfriend to try camping in order to save a bit of money to be able to stay in other places, otherwise we may have to cut the trip short which is a shame.
Is it easy to rent camping equipment and are there suggestions for cheaper places?

Be very grateful for any tips
I have put places and prices below to give an idea.
thanks

Night 1
21-36 Kitanominecho, Furano, Hokkaido
JPY 14,000

Night 2/3

Area: Sounkyo Onsen
Facility Name: Mount View Hotel
JPY 35,620

Night 4
Dormy Inn Wakkanai
GBP 104.28

night 5
277-2 Kafuka-mura, Rebun-cho, Rebun-gun, Hokkaido
JPY 38,850

[Firebird]

Renting camping equipment is pretty difficult and might be expensive because camping is not so common in Japan.

I have been in Hokkaido around this time 2008, your price seem pretty high but that depends what you want. Im gonna list what i paid in these places

A note to start this: I could speak a fair bit of japanese so it was always easier for me, but don´t be scared if you just speak english, local people on the smaller villages will go out of their way to help you! Most placed i stayed during my hokkaido trip where so called minshukus (private homes renting out rooms) or ryokans. I usually found the cheapest ones on arrival asking at the tourist information,

Furano: On arrival i asked the local office if there are any cheap minshukus and was directed to one that cost me 5000 yen for a room with dinner and breakfast (you usually pay by room, so this would be 5000yen for both of you + extra fee for 1 person dinner and breakfast, guess around 1500-2000yen). I do not remember the name of this place, but im sure people will be helpfull if you as the tourist office next to the station.
Be sure to say that japanese style is ok and that you don´t need a western style hotel as this are more expensive! I think that place i stayed would be ok for a couple as well.
(japanese style just means you will sleep on the floor on a futon wich is quite comfortable)

I do not know about your night 2/3 but i think you should splurge once and an onsen town is always a good place to be!

Wakkanai: I did the same thing as in Furano, uppon arrival i asked someone in the station and there is a nice small place right next to the station (go out and turn right). The lady at this place was so cute and nice, i´d definetly recommend it! She doesn´t really speak english, but im sure you´ll be alright. I paid 3500yen for a small room, i guess you´ll have to pay a bit more but should stay under 5000yen. Its really right next to the tracks, but don´t worry about noise as there are only 2-3 trains a day and none at night. this is a picture of the place in wakkanai. Its the building on the right with the blue writing saying Ryokan saihate

Rebun:
I hope you are going to rebun for hiking because it is very beautifull.
Rebun became one of my facourite destinations in Japan because of the magical, crazy place i stayed. There is a youthhostel at the bottom end of the iland called momoiwaso (momo = peach, Iwa = rock, so = in). It is very close to the,... you guessed it: peach rock and to the catrock. It is one of the crazy places you have to visit when you are on rebun (crazy in a good way). Hm, where should i start: I guess it is more fun if you speak a bit of japanese but they welcome foreigners who just speak english as well (there were 2 when i was there. Sleeping is in dorm rooms and men and women are seperated (as far as i know). Price is 3050yen and you should book ahead than you can book dinner as well. So far to the "downsides"
If you book ahead you will be picked up from the ferry wich is the first crazy thing. They will wait for you with momoiwaso flags and scream Okaerie (wich means welcome home) even if you are there the first time. You can answer this with "tadaima" (i´m home). They will then put you in a truck and drive you to the youthhostel. While driving you will go through a tunnel wich is the "momoiwaso time tunnel". In Momoiwaso the time is 30min different from the rest of japan ( not really but they take it serious). After they drop you off you will be welcomed again by any noisy instrument they just could find and you have to say tadaima again. Then you check in and enjoy the scenery or do some smaller hikes. In the evening is a meeting with different characters talking about the hike and rebun. The next morning early the bus will leave and drive you to the top of the iland to start the hike. The hike takes all day but you can cut it short by taking the bus after 4 hours. This was one of the most beautifull hikes in Japan.
When you come back in the evening they will welcome you home again.
The place is also directly by the sea and in the sunset you can see the cat rock. They also have a special sond they will only play if you can see the sunset (if its not cloudy).
When you leave the iland they will bring you to the ferry and sing you and the other traveles a goodbye song.

So if you get the chance, stay 2 nights at this magical place and do the hike. I have posted 2 times on my blog about this and also it is in german, please have a look at the pictures post 1 post 2

I recommend to get someone to reserve the night on Rebun so they know you will be comming and you can eventually order food (there are no restaurant around). Also the bath in this place is a japanese style bath where there is 1 room with many showers and a bath tube. Shower first and than sit in the tub if you´d like (showers are to sit down). Men and women are sepperated.
I promise you you will have a good time at this place!

If you have more questions let me know. If you want i can look up the phone number for this place and eventually for 1 in Furano.

Please enjoy beautifull hokkaido!

Edit: the best onsen i stayed was in Tohoku just 1 hour south of Aomori. So if you trek through there you might wanna spent a night there.

[lionelred]

Hey
Thank you very much for the information.
We do not have lots of money and do not expect a lot but I have been using Japanican and agoda websites to book places as lots of the websites are in Japanese.
The mount view hotel said they had only smoking rooms and another would not cater for fish/vegetarian and said to book else where.
It just feels that we may spend a fortune on places that are not very nice
Here are the links

This is the place in Furano
B&B Furano | Asahikawa/Furano/Yubari | Hokkaido | Japan Hotels and Ryokan - JAPANiCAN.com

and the smoking hotel
MountViewHotel

Rebun
Rebun Mitsui Kanko Hotel Reviews and Photos, Rebun-cho, Japan - TripAdvisor


My girlfriend knows someone who is japanese who could help us maybe translate.
That telephone would be very handy

Thanks again

[Firebird]

Ok, so here are 2 links to the place in Rebun, i can really recommend it, also its far from fancy and dorm room style. link 1 and link 2 The phone number is on the HP, don´t forget to add the country code. I found a short video from someone who stayed there, see hereYouTube - Hokkaido Cycling Tour 2009 - Part 3/4

I think the B&B in Furano looks kinda nice. (the one in your link) here is a little bit cheaper place (6000yen for 2 person), its about 10 min walk from the station. More info to Furano here

The price for the mount view hotel is just to high and it looks like a huge resort hotel... i prefer small traditional places, ill have a look if i can find something.

Ther is a YH in SOUNKYO Onsen as well, if you call ahead you might be able to get a private room there paying around 6500yen for both without food. Eventually they can arrange fish/vegetarian food for you or you could cook. They have some english on their homepage and there is also a phonenumber written down. Note that you can stay here for the same price as a member even if you aren´t one but you cannot rent a private room together (male and female) if you are not married (thats the problem with some youth hostels...)

Like said before, for rebun i definetly recommend the Momoiwaso. The place you choose looks quite huge as well and surely isn´t as cosy as a smaller place.

I was also wondering if you really have to stay at Sonkyou Onsen. Why do you want to go there? Because it is an Onsen or because it is in the national park? I have only been to Asahidake wich si around 1 h by bus from Asahikawa. That is a small collection of Hotels and there is a ropeway to the top where you can do some hiking. You can see the pictures in this post at the end

hope this helped a bit. if you have more question feel free to write again.

[lionelred]

Hi There
Thank you very much for the info
I have tried booking t the youth hostel in sunyuko but it says 3 month in advance. So I am not baking on it.
We just want to stay near the park and we are having trouble finding places.
Is it no good?

Also regarding rebun I think it was the cheapest place on that website not particularly out of choice!

[Firebird]

Originally Posted by lionelred

Hi There
Thank you very much for the info
I have tried booking t the youth hostel in sunyuko but it says 3 month in advance. So I am not baking on it.
We just want to stay near the park and we are having trouble finding places.
Is it no good?

Also regarding rebun I think it was the cheapest place on that website not particularly out of choice!

I think it means you can reserve the room maximum 3 month in advance, you should be ok.

Yeah usually you will only find western style hotels on english websites, so i recommend one of the 2 youthhostels on rebun. Rebun is quite small as well, so there is not lots of accomodation (you can walk the length in around 8 hours). The youthhostel in asahidake is also quite nice and close to the peak itself. I stayed there and they serve quite nice food. You can get there by bus from Asahikawa in around 1h30min and the Hostel is in walking distance from the cablecar. If you fancy a nice onsen you could ask around the hotels, as they will mostly be happy to let you use the Onsen for a small fee. this is all i can find for the hostel now, ill have another look for links when im home later.
Oh, here is another link.

I generally think as long as you book 2weeks or more ahead you should be ok. Its only difficult during Obon or Golden week, but the area you are going to is not so touristy. Good thing about youth hostels is that mostly at least a few staff members speak reasonable english.
There is a small hike up on Asahidake wich is quite nice!

[GoNative]

Rebun is awesome for walking but if I were you I'd try and get a day or two on Rishiri as well. I love mountains and Mt Rishiri is a very beautiful peak.

In Sounkyo there are many accomm options. The one you are looking at is a bit out of the main village itself though and so is the youth hostel. Do a search for Black Mountain Lodge, some friends of mine own it. It's pretty basic but cheap and situated right at the base of the ropeway.

I would also recommend the youth hostel at Asahidake, I've stayed there in winter a couple of times and it's a nice place close to the ropeway. The walk to the top of Asahidake only takes a couple of hours from the top of the ropeway allowing easy access to the top of Hokkaido!