japan - recommendations for site seeing in November

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

Travelling with a friend to Tokyo late October and enjoy Halloween in Shibuya.

Plan is to spend a week travelling up to Sapporo with a JR pass. Love some recommendations on where to visit along the way. Would like to go to Kanazaw but not sure if it will flow well with needing to make it to Sapporo.

Once in Sapporo we have 5 days before flying back to Tokyo and back to Australia.

We're thinking to rent a car for a few days to drive around Hokkaido, so if anyone has some tips on the best places to visit will be greatly appreciated.

There's plenty of listicles on things to do, but I'll take a personal recommendation any day

 

[Himeno]

It depends what you are interested in.
If I was heading to that part of Japan, I'd likely stop in Sendai, Niigata and Hakodate.

 

[AIRwin]

My partner and I are thinking of travelling up to Sapporo around the same time so we're also looking for similar advice and we may just bump into you somewhere...

 

[rbjhan]

I did a somewhat similar trip a while ago, Oct 16 iirc...
Fly to CTS from HND, then Otaru - Jozankei Onsen - Sapporo - Noboribetsu - Hakodate - Morioka - Kakunodate - Tokyo.

I did the above in two weeks....​

Sendai would also be a great stop. Kanazawa is probably not for this trip.
Also, be careful with the rugby world cup...start booking hotels asap.

 

[goldenhorn]

I'm following this thread - have booked 2 weeks in Japan in Jan 2020. We plan to catch trains everywhere. Not sure you need a car when the trains are so great?

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

I'm following this thread - have booked 2 weeks in Japan in Jan 2020. We plan to catch trains everywhere. Not sure you need a car when the trains are so great?

Friend's were in hokkaido earlier this year and said it's much easier to get around in a car

 

[Himeno]

I'm following this thread - have booked 2 weeks in Japan in Jan 2020. We plan to catch trains everywhere. Not sure you need a car when the trains are so great?

The trains are excellent in, around and between the major cities. If where you are going is not on a main line between the big cities, the train service is... lacking.
A number of rural lines have been shut down in recent years. Other rural lines might only get 2 or 3 return services a day.