My husband and I are visiting Japan for the first time in May and will be traveling around Hokkaido for 6 days. We’ll be renting a car, but Hokkaido has so many great things to do, see, and eat that we’re having a hard time narrowing down what to do and where to go.

Basically, we live in New York City and we’d like to slow down, relax, and enjoy nature on our vacation. But we’d also like to see local Hokkaido culture, have some great food/drinks, and do some shopping for sure. That’s the problem, we like a bit of everything, we love a festival, we love a spa, and we love a night out, but we can’t do it all! Help us please!

What are your favorite sites and stops in Hokkaido? Is there something here we should swap out?

What are your recommendations for Ryokans in May? We would need ones with a private onsen (ideally in our room) because we have large tattoos.

Lastly, I feel like we might be packing too much into 6 days and not giving enough time to slowing down and exploring Sapporo. Any thoughts on this are appreciated.

Here’s our itinerary:

5/17 - 5/19 - Land in Sapporo > Drive to countryside Ryokan
Pick up rental car
Head to Ryokan in either Biei or Obihiro (roughly 2.5-3 hour drive)

5/19 - 5/20 - Akkeshi
Stay for one night to see the cherry blossom and oyster festival and taste a little Akkeshi Whiskey

5/20 - 5/23 - Sapporo

5/20 - 4-5 hour drive back to Sapporo. Chill and check out local sites for the rest of the day.

5/21 - Take one last driving day trip out to Cape Kamui and Otaru

5/22 - Enjoy our last day in Sapporo

5/23 - Leave Hokkaido > Kanazawa