Visit: Why Tobetsu is great for tourism and short/long stays.
Tobetsu is a great place to go during your time in Japan. It is a typical Japanese town, with rustic charm, friendly people and beautiful surrounding nature. It is easy to get to, has low prices compared with the rest of the country, and has good transport links with the rest of Hokkaido, so from a practical standpoint it is very convenient.
Whilst it is popular to use Tobetsu as a cheap basecamp from which to go and visit Sapporo or other parts of Hokkaido, the town is wonderful in its own right. It has luscious parks, temples and shrines everywhere, artwork on its manhole covers, and above all a great sense of community.
To try local produce and interact with this community, it is great to come along to local festivals; from the Shōkōkai (local produce fair) to the fireworks festival, from Midsommar to winter’s Snow Festival, they are all events which allow you to see the authentic Hokkaido.
How to get to Tobetsu
A regular train service runs between Sapporo and Tobetsu which takes under 40 minutes. It is pleasantly air conditioned and tickets cost 800 yen each way. Unless you’re staying in the countryside around Tobetsu town, all accommodations are likely to be walking distance from the station. All the station ticket machines can be used in English.
There are also regular (around one an hour) buses which connect Tobetsu town to the surrounding countryside. They are air conditioned, quick and only cost 200 yen. However, if you do plan on exploring around Hokkaido more broadly with Tobetsu as a basecamp, it is probably best to rent a car for convenience’s sake.
From New Chitose Airport, Sapporo, there is a regular train service to Sapporo from where you can get the train to Tobetsu. There are also rental cars.