nippontiger 8 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 A few freinds and myself are planning a trip to Zao onsen in mid feb. We are talking about driving up there from Ibaraki but are a bit worried about the road conditions - we drove to Fukushima the other week and it took us quite a while on snow covered roads. We were thinking of heading up the coastal motorway (joban?) and then cutting inland to Zao. Im guessing the Joban motorway should be clear, but Im not sure after that. If anybody has some experience of driving up there, I was wondering how long we might expect to be driving on snowy roads where we'd have to use the snow chains and how long it would roughly take from the Kanto area? Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I had no problems the few times I have been. The road up to Zao - the one from the main fast roads, route 13 I think it is - is, I would guess, about 10-15 minutes from the base to Zao village in decent conditions. I would guess the main roads are not a problem at all unless you are in the middle of a blizzard. http://www.snowjapan.com/e/resorts/resort_map.php?resortNo=82 There was snow on the small road going up both times I went (14 on the above map) but there weren't any problems. I can imagine if you don't have 4WD it might give you some grief if you go when there is a queue (weekends?) but I didn't encounter problems. I went on weekdays so I don't know what it will be like on a busy weekend in snowy conditions. Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Thanks - it looks like driving up will be a better option than shinkansen - especially with the weekend ETC discount. On the subject of ETC discount rate, last time we were delayed on the way home due to snow - it was 11.55pm when we came of the expressway and I was wondering if we were a few minutes later and came off just after midnight (just turned Monday) we'd have lost the ETC discount? Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 You would have still gotten the discount. Link to post Share on other sites
andylaurel 3 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 If you get on the motorway on say... a sunday evening at 11pm, and drive 5 or 6 hours, do you still get the discount? Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Whenever you bridge over two different 'time discounts' whichever one is cheaper is the one that applies. For example, two summers ago I drove from Numazu to Kochi (its like 900kms I think). We left on Friday at lunch time, stopped twice in parking areas for a few hours and arrived Saturday morning at like 6am. We paid 3000Y total. 1000Y for the min. fee, 1000Y because we used the highway around Osaka and 1000Y for the Seto bridge. Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Cool - that's one less thing to worry about if we get stuck in snow! Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Driving up there was simple for us, but the roads were fairly clear of snow and ice when we went. Link to post Share on other sites
ILoveZao 8 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 The road just outside the village is often queue on weekend as people enter the village it is sometimes quite congested esp. if icy condition. I highly recommend snow tyre & 4WD. Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Thank you. Looks like we'll need to allow a little extra time in case we get stuck in the queue. Link to post Share on other sites
ILoveZao 8 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Just timing really with weather conditions. Depending on when you come you might be able to drive up quickly in less than 15 minutes and drive right through the village without problem. Have fun. Hope you get good views too and you can share here. Link to post Share on other sites
2pints-mate 0 Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 I think you'd have to be unlucky to have big problems. Roads were clear and not at all busy when we went. Link to post Share on other sites
Zaoman 0 Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 As people have said. I think you need to be unlucky to get a real problem going up there. As you might expect 8-10am on a Saturday you can expect it to be busy as people try to squeeze into the small village. Once I had a 1 hour wait about 500m from the village - people stuck on the icy road unable to start and causing blocks. It wasn't fun. Link to post Share on other sites
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