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Shiver me timbers !

 

Anybody taken the ferry from Niigata to Hokkaido ? The Higashi Nippon one from Naoetsu to Muroran or the ShinNihonkai Ferries one from Niigata to Otaru. Any advice appreciated. Is it worth paying extra for the first class, is one of the companies to be avoided etc. etc.

 

They're both 18000 one way for a 5m car and driver, btw.

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i took the ferry from aomori to anywhere in hokkaido (sorry i'm drunk too)

it was pretty funny, there where absouteley no chairs on deck, i could just sit in the parcells on the flor...

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I heard a rumour theres a ferry from Naotsu to Iwanai as well as Muroran. Iwanai is the town next to Kutchan and Niseko so this would be a lot more convenient than the Muroran ferry.

 

Does anyone know the score with this route?

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Nice one Matt.

 

Unfortunately that's a Higashi Nihon (not Nippon btw) Ferries route that was suspended ("unkyuu") as of January last year. Naoetsu is a lot closer than Niigata, so it's a real shame. The Naoetsu-Mururan boat only goes three times a week and is cheaper than the ShinNihonkai boat out of Niigata, esp. if you get the discount for JAF members. However, the ShinNihonkai boat from Niigata to Otaru gets in 4:30, which should get you to the slopes in time for a very full day. That one goes six times a week.

 

Current plan is Niigata-Otaru on the way there and Muroran-Naoetsu on the return. We should get four full days up there, though we're going to spend some of that time driving thru the countryside and stuffing ourselves with Hokkaido goodies, weather permitting of course. If we can't see past the side of the road, we'll probably just board every day. I've done a plane-bus-ski resort-bus-plane trip before, so hopefully we'll get to see more of Hokkaido this time.

 

You can get a quick lowdown of the long-distance ferries to Hokkaido on this page

http://www.fune.co.jp/L.CFerry/hokkaido.html

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