Car Rental in Hokkaido

We didn't intend to drive in Sapporo. But on our second day there, Adamson's good friends Jo Anne and Jimmy stopped by to visit us on their way up to Niseko ( they holiday there to ski). 

They drove from the airport. And wah, it's really so much easier to get around with a car. Public transport - trains and taxis are fine when you're not with young kids. But with 2 kids and stroller, piles of winter wear... it's so much easier to load a car and get around.

The roads in Sapporo are quite calm and orderly too. And drivers are polite, not assholes. The reason why we chose not to get a car at first, was because we were worried about getting around on snowy roads and we have the kids safety to think about also. But their roads are not too bad even when it snows.

So the next day, we rented a car too. We were left with very few options, because of the peak season and it was so last minute. It was around sgd400 for 3 days for a toyota axio 4 wheel drive... bear in mind, this is very last minute pricing. You get much better prices if you have the time to scout around and book early.

 Myla loved cleaning snow off the car every morning before we could head off. Next time we return, we will get a car that we can pick up straight from the airport so we don't need to pay for expensive airport transfers. And also if direct from airport we will book a larger SUV type vehicle so can load all our luggage and stroller.

Plan your itinerary ahead so when you head down to rent the car, you can buy like season passes for the road tolls. Very cost saving if you’re driving Long distances. Other use it will just be individual tolls which will be kept on tab and you can pay for it all one shot when you return the car.

When pumping petrol, their system is different from Singapore. You have to go to the cashier and pay for a specific $$ of petrol before you actually pump it into your car. So example 1000 yen, 5000 yen etc. If you want to fill it up to full tank, the key is to over pay.  Then with that receipt, you go fill the tank, whatever value is leftover because your tank is full already... you then go back to the cashier with that receipt and they will refund you the difference. 🤷🏻‍♀️

There's a Budget Rent a Car counter at New Chitose Airport's Domestic terminal. Or if you Google, there are loads of car rentals. Ours was a car rental called Orix in the city close to Odori park area. DO NOT FORGET to get an International driving permit before you leave Singapore.