Want to travel to Eastern Hokkaido on a budget without renting a car?
Sai, a good friend of mine from Thailand, just did that in January 2023. She kindly shared her travel experience with me so that you can get some ideas for your trip planning!
And you know what, she made her 5-day trip under $500, including accommodation and domestic flights! If you’re looking for an itinerary without renting a car, her trip is something you definitely want to check out.
5-Day Eastern Hokkaido Trip
Useful Resources
✨Traveling to Eastern Hokkaido? Grab my Eastern Hokkaido Travel Planner
✨Planning a winter trip? Check out my Winter Hokkaido Travel Planner
✨Stuck in your trip planning? Ask for my Local Expert Advice
Hi there! I’m Sai, a solo traveler from Thailand. In January 2023, I traveled to Eastern Hokkaido for 5 days, visiting Kitami, Abashiri, Onneyu and Akan by public transportation. This time, I decided to stay at a hotel in Kitami as a base, and made a day trip to nearby destinations each day.
So here’s how I traveled around. Enjoy!
Trip Budget Breakdown
My Eastern Hokkaido trip for 5 days cost a total of 62,970 yen (484 USD), excluding food and shopping.
Flights: 23,600 yen (Peach Air Multi-city, from Tokyo Narita to Memanbetsu and Kansai International Airport)
Hotel stay for 4 nights 5 days: 21,200 yen
Transportation: 15,680 yen (bus, train and taxi rides)
Admission fees: 2,490 yen (4 spots)
Memanbetsu Airport
Day 1 - Arriving in Kitami
I flew from Narita Airport to Memanbetsu Airport, which is one of the major airports in Eastern Hokkaido. An airport bus departing after every flight arrival took me to Kitami in 40 min. Easy!
I stayed at Toyoko Inn during this trip, which is an affordable hotel just a 3-min walk away from the station.
Airport Bus to Kitami
Day 2 - Abashiri Trip
After having breakfast at the hotel, I headed out for one day trip to Abashiri. A local train from Kitami takes one hour to Abashiri.
From JR Abashiri Station, I took a taxi to the famous Drift Ice Museum. There you can touch real drift ice as well as see Cliones, known as sea angels, mysterious creatures that show up with drift ice in the Okhotsk Sea. The admission fee is 770 yen.
Abasahiri Sightseeing Bus
You can also take a local bus to visit major tourist attractions in Abashiri, including Drift Ice Museum and Northern People’s Museum. Check the official timetable here. Note that they have different schedules in winter and summer.
After the Drift Ice Museum, I walked to the Hokkaido Museum of Northern People, which was my favorite spot in Abashiri! I highly recommend this museum to anyone who is interested in cultural anthropology.
The museum features the histories and cultures of from indigenous peoples around the world ranging from Japan, Canada, America, Russia, Finland, and more. The admission fee is 550 yen.
I was impressed by how they made pamphlets available in my native language, Thai.
Since I don’t want to spoil what’s inside the museum, let’s talk about my next destination, Lake Abashiri! By the way, the museum staff was kind enough to help me call the taxi to Lake Abashiri.
The taxi driver initially told me that winter activities on the lake haven’t started yet so I could change my mind. However, I was stubborn enough to still go there as I wanted to see the frozen lake with my own eyes. Here’s the beautiful Lake Abashiri!
Winter Tip
From January to March, you can try ice fishing on the frozen Lake Abashiri. A local winter festival takes place on a weekend in early February, featuring snow statues and local food stalls.
After enjoying the views, I took another taxi to go back to the train station. The taxi driver was so nice that he suggested a restaurant for me near the station. Heading back to Kitami, I took a Limited Express, which took only 50 minutes.
Day 3 - Onneyu Trip
Day 3 was for a one-day trip to Onneyu, including Kita Kitsune Fox Farm and North Earth Aquarium. I bought a one-day Kitami Bus Free Pass for 2,000 yen at Kitami Tourist Center located right in front of the train station. This ticket is very convenient, allowing you to take unlimited local bus rides operated by Kitami Bus.
Check the official timetable for Onneyu Line here. You can take the bus to the final stop, so you won’t get confused even though you have basic to no Japanese skills.
Once I got to Onneyu Bus Stop, I was welcomed by this wooden clock tower, which is one of the biggest cuckoo clocks in the world. It plays music and performs a wooden doll dance every hour!
Then I walked to Kita Kitsune Fox Farm, where you can see dozens of Hokkaido cute foxes in their natural habitat. These are some basic rules you need to follow in the fox area. The admission fee is 500 yen here.
After enjoying the fox farm and a quick lunch break, I headed on to North Earth Aquarium, which is just next to the clock tower shown earlier. Luckily, they were having an event on that day to celebrate the day of Ito, which is the biggest freshwater fish in the world that originate in Hokkaido. You can find many of them in this aquarium. One admission ticket costs 670 yen.
While I was waiting for a bus to go back to Kitami at the bus stop, a lady who was driving a car was kind enough to pull over and told me that I could wait for the bus inside a building nearby so that I didn’t have to stay in the cold. Her kindness warmed up my heart!
Day 4 - Akan Trip
On my last full day in Eastern Hokkaido, I made a one-day trip to Akan. I got a round-trip highway bus ticket bound for Lake AKan for 3,800 yen. Here’s the bus brochure for the winter season.
There is a souvenir shop you can take a look at while waiting for the bus :) They sell Kitami’s local products, especially using Kitami mints. If you have lots of time, you could visit Kitami Shrine, which is a 10-min walk away from the station.
I arrived at Lake Akan in just 70 minutes with the bus from Kitami. I walked around the lakeside and Ainu Kotan, which is a street with museums and craft shops of the Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaido.
Winter Tip
You will find many winter activities on the forzen Lake between mid-January and March, including ice fishing, ice skating, snowmobile, and many more!
Then I visited Akan Eco Museum Center which exhibits the nature and wildlife around the Akan Mashu National Park area. Here I rented a cross-country ski and walked around the area to finish off my visit to Akan before taking a bus to Kitami at 4:40 pm.
Day 5 - Last Day
I flew back from Memanbetsu Airpot to Kansai International Airport with Peach in the afternoon. Hope you enjoyed coming along with my 5-day trip to Eastern Hokkaido!
What I was most impressed with during this trip is that the local people there were so kind. From museum staff and station staff to taxi drivers and a random passerby, they were all helpful to me as a tourist. I hope you’ll experience their hospitality too when you visit Eastern Hokkaido!
Useful Resources
✨Traveling to Eastern Hokkaido? Grab my Eastern Hokkaido Travel Planner
✨Planning a winter trip? Check out my Winter Hokkaido Travel Planner
✨Stuck in your trip planning? Ask for my Local Expert Advice
THAT’S ALL!
Hope you enjoyed Sai’s travel experience in Eastern Hokkaido. I’d love to hear from you, whether it’s feedback or questions - Reach out to me on my Facebook page or Instagram. We also have Eastern Hokkaido Travel Group on Facebook where you can ask questions or share experiences about trips to Eastern Hokkaido. Join us!
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