Eastern Hokkaido - Driving February 2019 (1 Viewer)

Hi,
We plan on visiting Sapporo and then traveling by train to Kushiro. We are staying at a ryokan near Lake Akan. The big question is, what are the road conditions in the Kushiro to Akan area? We would take a bus if we go to other cities/towns but we would like our own transportation so we have our own schedule in the Akan-Kushiro area.

We plan on viewing the Tancho crane at different spots as well as canoeing in the Kushiro Marsh and maybe ice fishing.

I have driven in snow and would rent an AWD with snow tires and stick to main highways and streets.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. Also, any recommendations for guides would be great. I have browsed the forum as well and have some ideas.

Hi,

Did the trip in 2016 and it all worked very well. It was my first time to drive on snowy roads and i did very well. The trip report can be found here.

The road conditions were excellent, and it was a very pleasant driving experience including couple of hours in blizzard. Even during blizzard conditions, the main highways are kept cleared of snow. You might have trouble with small villages especially around Nemuro where the roads will be blocked for several hours to clear the snow.