Day trips from Sapporo: volcano country, flower hills or harbor

The tour this site sells covers the volcano country in one 10-hour day from Sapporo, from $47. Its listed stops are Jigokudani, Cape Chikyu, the Shikotsu Toya National Park Silo Observation Deck, Mt. Usu-Shinzan, Showa-shinzan and a closing break in Shikotsu-Toya National Park, and the guide speaks English or Japanese. The rating is 4.30 from 323 reviews, the most of any Noboribetsu listing we compared, though not the highest score.

The highest-rated rival is a Lake Toya and Jigokudani Valley day with a 4.66 rating from 193 reviews, from $54, with guides in Chinese and English. Another rival, the Hell Valley and Lake Toya day trip, runs 10 hours from $45 with a 4.52 rating from 45 reviews. A fourth, covering Noboribetsu, Lake Toya and Mt. Usu, is from $56 and rated 4.24 from 76 reviews.

Do the sums on what the fare covers. The listing for our tour says the price covers transport only, with lunch and every entrance fee paid separately, and that infants aged 0 to 2 travel free without a seat. Jigokudani and the viewpoints are outdoors, so the extras are modest unless you add the optional Mt. Usu ropeway. If you want the bears and the Edo village, plan them yourself using the guide to those parks.

Otaru is the one trip that works better without a tour. The train is short, the canal is a short walk downhill from the station, and the food counters are close together.^1,10 The canal was first completed in 1923, and the old bank row behind it gives the town its nickname, the Wall Street of the North.^11,12 A day by train fits comfortably in an afternoon and an evening.

Coach tours that include Otaru add the coast. The Cape Kamui coast and Otaru day runs 10 hours from $47 with a 4.37 rating from 65 reviews, and the Kamui, canal and Blue Cave day runs 9 hours from $52 with a 4.73 rating from 79 reviews. The highlights day, 10 hours from $56, has 87 reviews at 4.55. These give you a headland, a canal and a park in a single day.

The honest trade is that tours spend much of the day on the road and at the cape, with less time in the town. The full guide to the town covers the canal, the food, the February candle event and the summer festival. Choose a tour if the coastline matters to you, and the train if you would rather have hours in the streets and a long lunch without a bus waiting.

If you have a single free day, the volcano country gives the most variety, since it combines steam vents, a crater lake and a young volcano in one outing. If you have two, add Otaru as a slow half day by train, because it asks for no planning. If you have three and it is summer, give the hills a full day of their own, with a very early start.

Think about the order, too. A long coach day is easier to enjoy when you are fresh, so put it early in your stay and keep the easy train day for when you are tired. Whatever you choose, keep one day with nothing booked, because a weather change can push a trip back, and a flexible day lets you move without losing a fare.

Whichever trip you choose, book the day you are sure of the forecast, and read the meeting-point details after you pick a date. The guides in this site go deeper on each trip, from the train to Noboribetsu and the Date Jidaimura and bear park tickets to the Biei light-up and the Otaru canal. Use them to turn a general idea into a plan with times and a budget.