Hokkaido Expressway Pass (HEP) vs NEXCO tolls (2026)

Eligibility and how you buy it

• DrivePlaza: foreign visitors (non-Japanese passports). Japanese nationals with permanent overseas residency also qualify.
• Present a passport or equivalent proof, and a licence that is valid in Japan. The English terms also mention an international driving permit among the documents you must carry.
• Rent the car and a designated ETC card from a designated Hokkaido rental desk. Apply at that counter. JapanTolls does not sell HEP.
• Terms (effective 1 October 2024): ordinary passenger cars and light vehicles only, on ETC wireless communication.

Days

You choose 4 to 8 consecutive days. The terms count from 00:00 on the start date through 24:00 on the end date. The period cannot be extended midway. For more than 8 days, DrivePlaza’s example is to buy two plans back-to-back (for example 7 days then 4 days). NEXCO East has run the product from 1 October 2024 until a date it will announce separately.

Official pass price

Official price table (NEXCO East DrivePlaza; checked 2026-08-19. JNTO table updated 2026-01-22).

DrivePlaza — Hokkaido Expressway Pass

• Vehicle rental and ETC card rental are not included.
• The period of use cannot be extended midway.
• Only ordinary passenger cars and light vehicles under expressway class rules.

Coverage, in words

There is no map image on this page. The English terms list these designated sections: Hokkaido Expressway from Onumakoen IC to Shibetsu-Kenbuchi IC; Sasson Expressway from Otaru IC to Sapporo JCT; Shiribeshi Expressway from Yoichi IC to Otaru JCT; Doto Expressway from Honbetsu IC / Ashoro IC to Chitose-Eniwa JCT; Hidaka Expressway from Tomakomai-Higashi IC to Numanohata-Nishi IC; Fukagawa-Rumoi Expressway from Fukagawa JCT to Fukagawa-Nishi IC.

Onumakoen is the southern E5 interchange in that list. It is not Hakodate. JapanTolls skipped Sapporo–Hakodate because NEXCO master v144 has no Hakodate IC; we do not quote a stand-in fare.

When it beats pay-as-you-go

• Several days of looping on those listed roads — New Chitose, Sapporo, Otaru/Yoichi, Asahikawa, eastern Hokkaido via the Doto — so the unlimited fee replaces many IC-to-IC bills.
• A kei rental billed in the light-vehicle column, if the desk will sell HEP for that car.
• A single leftover Sapporo–Asahikawa drive. Our ordinary estimates are ¥3,560 one way and ¥3,560 back. The cheapest ordinary HEP plan is ¥7,700 for 4 days, so one hop (or even that round trip) does not beat the pass.
• Any day outside the registered dates, or any interchange outside the designated sections, still bills as a normal toll.
• Urban or non-NEXCO East roads that are not in the terms.

Worked example (our routes + official pass price)

Estimate, labelled as such: JapanTolls ordinary Sapporo–Asahikawa ¥3,560 (dataset pair; leftover origin, not a full Hokkaido mesh) versus official HEP ordinary 4-day ¥7,700 (DrivePlaza price table). ¥3,560 is less than ¥7,700, so pay-as-you-go wins for that one hop.

We do not add a Hakodate leg. DrivePlaza publishes its own example IC-to-IC tolls on the HEP page; those are operator examples, not JapanTolls city-pair pages, and we do not reprint them here.