[Otaru & Yoichi] Lass uns mit dem Privatwagen zum Otaru-Kanal, zur Sakaimachi-Straße, zur Music Box Hall und zum Yoichi Nikka Whiskey fahren (Ankunft und Abreise in Sapporo).

We planned a roundtrip/all day car service with an English speaking tour guide. We added on an additional stop for an additional price. The tour company was accommodating and allowed us to add on to our trip because we wanted to stop at the Buddha and Moai statues. The car itself was clean, roomy, and stocked with umbrellas for the rain. The guide and driver arrived on time to our hotel for pick up. One of the stops on the tour was the Nikka Distillery. We were very excited to stop here and I reached out before our tour to make sure that we would be stopping at this location. When we arrived the distillery was closed. Normally, I would say this isn't a big deal, but this is something that should have been checked on before we arrived and spent an hour in the car between two locations. We got over it, but this was one of the reasons we booked the trip. The guide and driver discussed where to take us for lunch and they chose a very nice seafood restaurant that we enjoyed. Overall the Otaru Canal and Sakaimachi streets were an average experience. We were happy that we had an additional stop at the Buddha statue and enjoyed a fabulous lunch because we would have not felt the trip was worth it, if not for these experiences. It was beautiful to drive between the city of Sapporo and these areas. It was raining during our drive and our driver was a wonderful driver and we felt safe. Although friendly, our tour guide did not speak English fluently, he did translate for us at times. If you are looking for a fluent speaking guide that can provide information during your trip, this might not be the tour for you. It is definitely helpful to have someone who can communicate with the driver during your trip, if you don't speak Japanese yourself, but this tour does not provide more than that. We were happy with the tour overall, and would not have seen these sites on our own, so I would suggest it, but with the knowledge that you need to be aware that certain sites may not be available and it is not a historical or informative tour, even with a guide.

This was a very fun tour, even for my teen kids. After the whiskey museum, we spent a few hours exploring Otaru, discovering different foods, glass products and small specialty shops. Masaru is a great driver and very accommodating. He even took us to a sake brewery after we told him how much we enjoyed Japanese sake. Overall a very enjoyable day.

Otaru is a small town 30 minutes away from Sapporo and family enjoyed the short visit in there. The stop at the Nikka whiskey distillery was a good experience too. The van service was perfect and comfortable for our family’s getaway.