summer vacation
can any of you seasoned travelers offer some advice? :) i live near tokyo (saitama) and am planning to go visit hokkaido from august 12-16(ish). i think i have narrowed my trip "plans" (or lack thereof) to one of two options (i think).
option one: sapporo (one night in a hostel in town and one night camping at shikotsu-toya national park and then two nights on the hamanasu night train to/from sapporo & aomori). if i do that, then i am going to get the hokkaido and higashinihon pass for the trains.
option two: take a night bus to aomori from shinjuku and then spend three nights camping at lake towada.
i think the two options would cost about the same amount of money, but the aomori option would give me one extra day of vacation time at the lake, and the travel would be relatively easy (overnight bus & then short bus trip from aomori station). the travel to sapporo on the hokkaido/higashinihori pass would be much more complicated (a full day of trains with several changes plus an overnight bus from aomori). however, i recognize the incredible value of this pass (10,000 yen for 5 days of unlimited travel on jr lines on the route, plus the hamanasu night train is included). however, i've heard much better things about sapporo/shikotsu-toya national park than aomori/lake towada, so maybe the extra traveling would be worth it? i don't really know, so i'm hoping that you do! :)
my questions are basically:
1) i am aware i have a short time frame and a lot of traveling to do. any ideas about which option would give me more bang for my buck and time? (or do you have other suggestions? i really want to see some of hokkaido but other than that have no real stipulations.)
2) have you camped at either shikotsu-toya national park or lake towada? can you tell me about your experiences? also, can i make reservations at either of these campgrounds?
3) have you traveled with the hokkaido/higashinihon pass? do i need to buy it at some major station like shinjuku? did you run into any difficulties figuring out what routes to take/which trains you could use with the pass? any other experiences you had that might be helpful or other things i should know about using the pass?
4) any other travel experience/advice/ideas i might find pertinent?
EDIT: 5) ok, now i:m also thinking bus/ferry/bus package (perhaps MOL ferry, pacific story package)....any experience with this mode of transport from tokyo to sapporo area?
thank you, and happy summer!! :)
option one: sapporo (one night in a hostel in town and one night camping at shikotsu-toya national park and then two nights on the hamanasu night train to/from sapporo & aomori). if i do that, then i am going to get the hokkaido and higashinihon pass for the trains.
option two: take a night bus to aomori from shinjuku and then spend three nights camping at lake towada.
i think the two options would cost about the same amount of money, but the aomori option would give me one extra day of vacation time at the lake, and the travel would be relatively easy (overnight bus & then short bus trip from aomori station). the travel to sapporo on the hokkaido/higashinihori pass would be much more complicated (a full day of trains with several changes plus an overnight bus from aomori). however, i recognize the incredible value of this pass (10,000 yen for 5 days of unlimited travel on jr lines on the route, plus the hamanasu night train is included). however, i've heard much better things about sapporo/shikotsu-toya national park than aomori/lake towada, so maybe the extra traveling would be worth it? i don't really know, so i'm hoping that you do! :)
my questions are basically:
1) i am aware i have a short time frame and a lot of traveling to do. any ideas about which option would give me more bang for my buck and time? (or do you have other suggestions? i really want to see some of hokkaido but other than that have no real stipulations.)
2) have you camped at either shikotsu-toya national park or lake towada? can you tell me about your experiences? also, can i make reservations at either of these campgrounds?
3) have you traveled with the hokkaido/higashinihon pass? do i need to buy it at some major station like shinjuku? did you run into any difficulties figuring out what routes to take/which trains you could use with the pass? any other experiences you had that might be helpful or other things i should know about using the pass?
4) any other travel experience/advice/ideas i might find pertinent?
EDIT: 5) ok, now i:m also thinking bus/ferry/bus package (perhaps MOL ferry, pacific story package)....any experience with this mode of transport from tokyo to sapporo area?
thank you, and happy summer!! :)