Recommended time for Shimokita, driving

Hi there peops.
I wanted to check out the Shimokita peninsula staying at least one night and renting a car.

I would like to see the Ozoresan area, the wild horse area in the north east and the Cape Oma to the northwest. According to Google maps driving it would take around 3 hours to visit all these places, but I guess more time would be needed.

Would a full day be too little to explore these places? Or should I add another day or so?

If you want to stay overnight check out if you can stay in the shokubo on Mt Osore. This was an incredible place where to stay. I have done the places you do EXCEPT the horse part on bicycle last year and 2 days were enough. So by car plus the horse part 1,5 days should be sufficient.

http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.nl/2017/10/day-13-hakodate-to-oma-a...
http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.nl/2017/10/day-14-osorezan-to-nohej...

I assume that you go AFTER all the snow has melted away.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

Hi,
Thank you for the interesting blog you shared.

I intend to go somewhere around mid-late May actually. I do hope the snow has melted away far enough to go by then, as I would rather not drive in slippery roads...

I intend to go somewhere around mid-late May actually

The weather ought to be pleasant at that time of the year in Shimokita.
We were there early May a few years ago, the timing coincided with the cherry blossom season, and regretted not allocating at least 2 days for the visit. We rented a car near Shimokita station, managed only to visit Osoresan, Yagen valley and Oma.

I will be staying mostly in Tokyo, so I will probably go by train all the way up and down. I think I would arrive around 11 in Shimokita, and the last train leaving around 18 or 17-ish.

I had intended to vitit Shimokita by going from Hakodate by ferry to Oma and using buses, but the ferry would take too much time and the bus timing and so and I couln't find any possible rental car outlet either (meaning I would have to use Oma as a base).

Oma seems a bit cozy though with the peninsula tip and all.

If you want to go from Oma, you could rent a car in Hakodate, bring it on the ferry and give it back in Aomori Prefecture. It’s not the cheapest way how to travel as you’ll need to pay for the ferry and the fee to give back the car in an other prefecture, but it is a possibility.
Oma is really small, so I would be surprised if there were a rental car outlet.

I think I would prefer to not go by car ferry as I believe it is rather expensive.

Apparently there is supposed to be an Orix rental car outlet in Oma:

http://car.orix.co.jp/shops/?shops_pk=41

But the next closest outlet is in Aomori and I don't really fancy driving all the way there from Mutsu (I think it is around 2,5 hour drive and 110 km from there). I feel driving on the roads around Oma, Sai, etc would be more than enough.

I drove from Kagoshima to Sata and back once in the same day several years ago. The temperature was so hot and I was exhausted when returning in the evening...

I found an alternative route from southwest Shimokita by a ferry from Wakinosawa to Kanita, with another 30 minutes drive from there to Shin-Aomori station. But the ferry website seems down so I am not sure if it is running anymore.

This old thread mentions another ferry from Wakinosawa directly to Aomori, but the site seems down as well. Maybe they stopped running both of them?
https://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+57301

Maybe anyone can confirm this?