Nomad offer the option for a pet friendly campervan in Hokkaido. They operate a large fleet of campervans in Hokkaido. They focus more on the luxury end of campervans which suits us fine! We did find a few options which were very basic, some almost like sleeping in the back of your car. But we wanted to make sure our trip was comfortable. Especially the fact we would be spending 2 whole weeks in it.
Of course we had to make sure they were pet friendly. They only have 2 types of vans which have a pet friendly option. These are the ZIL520 (premium class), Corde Rundy (high class). Unfortunately no luxury class vans. There is an extra cleaning fee of ¥11,000 (approx. US$80) for bringing a pet with you. Which is pretty reasonable for a 2 week trip.
We were pretty lucky as we only started looking 2 weeks before our trip was due to start. When we first started looking every single van was sold out for all dates around when we were looking. Even though we can be super flexible with dates, August is high holiday season. Not one to give up, the humans wrote to all campervan companies asking us to let them know if they had any cancellations. Lo and behold the next day Nomad wrote to us and said they did! For the exact dates we wanted. How lucky is that?!
Nomad is one of the most expensive campervan rental companies. But this is mainly because they are offering high end vans. In total it cost us ¥617,000 (US$4,325) for the van rental. This included some extra we rented from them including bedding sets, cooking sets, table, outdoor chairs and a BBQ set. This worked out at US$332 per night. Which isn’t so bad considering a reasonable pet friendly hotel is usually at least US$250 plus $100 or so for car rental etc. We even ended up extending for another couple of nights as we enjoyed it so much! A campervan gives us so much more freedom and flexibility as well. It also means that once inside, I know this is my home and even though I’m moving around I won’t realise it like I would moving to and from different hotels. So it makes it so much easier with me.
The Van
We picked up the van from the Nomad office which is a short taxi ride away from Chitose airport. Nomad covered the cost of the taxi ride from the airport and the pick up process was very smooth. We had to sign a few papers and confirm about the insurance options. We then took a video of any damage that was already on the van so we didn’t get the blame for it. Then it was time for the off. Check out my video below for the full van tour.
To check out where we ended up going in the campervan, head over to my full trip report which can be found here.
Woof woof, Wylie x
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