Sapporo, a “Winter Wonderland,” during the winter months, is Japan’s 5th largest city and by far Hokkaido’s most populous city. Sapporo hosted the Winter Olympics in 1972 and is one of Japan’s most popular destinations for winter activities. Compared to other cities in Japan , Sapporo is fairly new, being established in the late 1800’s. One of Sapporo’s most famous winter events, where visitors from around the world flock to is the famous Ice Festival. We had plans on visiting the Ice Festival in February 2022, because of COVID-19, the festival was cancelled for a second straight year. We still planned on visiting Sapporo and spent a weekend exploring the city, here is our weekend itinerary for Sapporo.
Sapporo is the capital city of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. If you look at the map of Japan above, Hokkaido is the large oddly shaped island above the main island (Honshu) of Japan.
The easiest way to reach Sapporo is by plane although rail is also an option if coming from northern Honshu. The main hub for Hokkaido is the New Chitose Airport. This airport is located south-east of Sapporo. To reach Sapporo’s city center from the New Chitose Airport visitors have a few options. There is the obvious and more expensive taxi. But Buses and Trains are the recommended and cheapest modes of transportation. Visitors can hop on the JR Line directly from the airport, or take the Express Bus. The JR Line is the quicker option and is about ¥100-¥200 more expensive, in my mind, totally worth it!
Word of advice. Once again we learned the hard way. Since Sapporo does receive massive amounts of snowfall, the JR Line does cancel its services if the weather is bad. On our last day, we headed to the train station to head back to the airport only to find out that the trains weren’t in service. We were told to take the subway to Fukuzumi Station, head to the bus station there and hop on a bus toward the airport. It seemed everyone had a similar itinerary for Sapporo and were headed back that same day. With all the trains shut down, everyone scrambled to the bus station. The line literally wrapped around the building and then some.
Prior to this, we met a nice military family on our flight to Sapporo and ran into them again at the bus station. Our flight was due to depart in two hours and the line for the bus didn’t move an inch after several minutes. The military family mentioned taking a taxi and left the line. After a few minutes of debating, Jill and I both opted to catch a taxi as well to the airport. The taxi was actually quite memorable as we shared the cab with a Japanese couple and had a great time talking to them the hour-ish cab ride to the airport. We made it to the airport with only a few minutes to spare. Luckily, we made it on board. There was no way we would have made the flight if we waited in line for the bus. Our flight was half full, meaning there were a lot of other not so lucky travelers that were most likely still in line at the bus stop as we flew off. So my word of advice is have a plan when heading to the airport and leave several hours prior. Also, if staying at a hotel, the staff might be able to inform you on travel delays.
Climate and Snowfall
Sapporo has a semi-continental climate consisting of long, cold, and snowy winters and warm weather and rain during the summer months. Temperatures and weather can change drastically here, so always do your research and come prepared.
Sapporo is considered the second snowiest city of its size in the world. It receives around 15 ft. of snowfall a year. During winter, the cold winds come from Siberia which collects moisture over the Sea of Japan dumbing massive amounts of snow on the city. I read that Sapporo gets more then double the snow of Buffalo, New York which is The United States snowiest city.
Surprisingly enough, the amount of snow Sapporo receives doesn’t really affect daily lives of the local residents. Everyone was out and about doing normal daily activities. Honestly, everyone here is so used to it. The sidewalks and roads were nicely cleared. If the sidewalk couldn’t be cleared, they still cut out paths within the snow. I was so surprised by the drivers here, especially the little Kei cars (Kei cars are small Japanese passenger vehicles with tiny engines). Not one fender bender, heck cars didn’t even slide around or have problems going after being stopped at a light. In America, this amount of snowfall on the roads would cause mass chaos!
Itinerary for Sapporo
Since the Snow Festival was yet again cancelled, we still decided to fly to Sapporo and check out the city and enjoy the snow. We basically had a full weekend here with two travel days. Each day, we really had one set plan. Saturday we would go to Sapporo Brewery and Sunday we had plans to visit the Ishiya Chocolate Factory. Everything else we did was based on location from our hotel and access to and from our main plans. Without having set plans, we still found ourselves out and about exploring pretty much all day. Our itinerary for Sapporo and what we saw and ate is outlined below. Like Jill jumping into the snow, Let’s dive in!
Day 1
The only set plan for our first day was a visit to the Sapporo Brewery. The brewery was about a 30 minute walk from the hotel. Of course, our travel days usually start off with pastries and coffee. We found a Vie de France, one of our favorite bakery chains on mainland Japan.
After breakfast and along the way to the brewery, we stopped at the Nijo Market, which is a large fish market in the middle of town. Sapporo is famous for its seafood especially the hairy crab. I’ll be honest, I didn’t try it this time around. I do love local markets, especially seafood markets, so I enjoyed walking around looking at the fresh seafood being sold.
After browsing Nijo Makert, we walked through local neighborhoods eventually ending up at Sapporo Brewery. I’ll be up front, I’m not a huge fan of Sapporo Beer, but I do like visiting older breweries and sampling beer during the tours.
Sapporo is Japan’s oldest brewery and was founded in 1876. Seibei Nakagawa, considered to be Japan’s first “German-trained brewmaster,” (according to information read at the brewerymuseum). He traveled to Germany in his teen years and learned how to brew beer the right way. With his new knowledge of brewing, Sapporo Beer was born!
Today, visitors can tour the brewery. There are two tour options, a Free tour and a Premium Tour. Currently because of Covid-19, the Free Tour is the only option available. Additional information regarding the museum and tours is below.
Sapporo Beer Museum
Open – 11:00 am to 6:00 pm
Premium Tour – Approx. 50 minutes. ¥500 per adult.
Premium Tour Hours begin at 11:30 am until 4:30 pm, and tours are offered every half hour. The Premium Tour is in Japanese only.
We did the free tour. It was a bit underwhelming, I would say the museum can be covered in about 10-20 minutes. The free tour is on one floor and has information on the history and beer. Some of the signs had English explanations. After the museum, visitors exit through the tasting room. Here, you can order a single beer or flight. We ordered a flight which included three samples, Sapporo’s Black Label, Classic, and Kaitakuchi Beer. The Sapporo Classic is a limited edition Hokkaido beer and can’t be purchased anywhere else. The Sapporo Classic tasted just like the regular Sapporo Beer and was nothing to write home about. I found the Kaitakuchi Beer to be the best out of the bunch.
After exiting the museum, Jill and I headed next door to their restaurant for more drinks and bar foods. The restaurant serves up a Genghis Khan style all-you-can-eat. In Japan, they name all-you-can-eat Genghis Khan or Viking. Either way, it was yakiniku style which means grilled meat. Each table had a small grill placed in the center, and you can order meat and vegetables using a tablet for an unlimited time. We actually didn’t do the Genghis Khan here but it looked delicious, so next time. We just ordered a few appetizers and more beer. The best feature about this restaurant was the waiter. The waiter was a robot (picture on the right) that served food directly to our table!
After a visit to the Sapporo Brewery, we stopped at the Hokkaido Shrine Tongu and it started to snow pretty heavily. We briefly made a pit stop here before the brewery when it was still sunny out. Below is a fun before and after photo.
Prior to the trip, we knew we wanted to have ramen. After all, ramen is the perfect meal for a cold wintry day. There is a spot near central Sapporo known as Ramen Alley.
Apparently, Ramen Alley is where Miso Ramen got its start and made Sapporo a “Ramen Destination.” Ramen Alley started in 1948 with 8 small restaurants, now there are at least 17 different ramen restaurants that are currently open.
Assuming all the restaurants are good, we kind of just picked one and went inside. These restaurants are small, maybe room enough for six people max. I don’t even know the name of the restaurant we went to but the ramen was delicious, filling, and extremely satisfying!
Day 2
The heavy snow from the previous day never let up. Day two, started off with a wintry walk to a bakery called Dominique Geulin, which was located in one of Sapporo’s underground walkways.
After breakfast, our plan was to visit the Ishiya Chocolate Factory, located north-west of Sapporo. From Sapporo Station, we took the subway line to Miyanosawa Station which was a short walk to the chocolate factory. Ishiya Chocolate Factory was part of Shiroikoibito Park. Upon arrival, we noticed the beautiful building that housed the chocolate factory, it was very European looking.
Tickets to take the tour and visit the factory were ¥800 per person. Honestly the experience was a bit underwhelming. We got a few free chocolate snacks and got to see the actual factory. Their little minions around the factory were little cats, that we enjoyed looking at, they were everywhere and very cute.
The museum had a very nice café on the second floor and gift shop on the first floor. I don’t know why, but I expected more, I guess it’s probably a lot more fun for couples with children. The Shiroikoibito Park itself was pretty fun, small but fun. There was a tiny village set up. Again, more for kids, but Jill had fun peaking inside the little houses. Oh, and there were cute snowmen set up around the park. Their seasonal decorations change, so there is always something new. We were probably here for an hour or two before moving on.
I was pretty fascinated by the Tongu Shrine being blanketed by snow and wanted to check out more shrines. The Chocolate Factory wasn’t far from Maruyama Park and the Hokkaido Jingu Shrine. We stepped off the subway at Maruyama Koen Station and walked 5 minutes to the park. To be honest, visiting this park was probably my favorite stop we did in Sapporo. During the winter months, Maruyama Park is a true “Winter Wonderland.” There are several walking trails here leading toward the Hokkaido Jingu Shrine. The trails were snow covered yet walkable. On either side of the trail were several feet of snow with tall pine trees scattered throughout.
After meandering through the park, we eventually made it to the Hokkaido Shrine. Hokkaido Jignu Shrine is a Shinto Shrine that was established in 1871. Seeing the shrine covered in snow was breathtaking.
After a visit to the shrine, it was time to head back to town and find some place to eat. Soup Curry is becoming popular in Sapporo. There were three soup curry restaurants just a block or two from our hotel. I mean both curry and soup are excellent food dishes to keep warm during those cold winter months, so it only makes sense. We went to a restaurant called Soup Curry Treasure. I got fried chicken soup curry with fresh vegetables, it was on point. The flavors all complimented each other well, and it was the perfect meal for our last night in Sapporo.
Sapporo, Until Next Time
We had an incredible weekend exploring Sapporo. I believe most sites and attractions can be done within a couple days in Sapporo. But we still want to experience the Ice Festiavel in Sapporo, so we will be back!
In the mean time, with a visit to Sapporo out the way, we want to explore more of what Hokkaido has to offer. Hokkaido is a volcanic island with natural beauty. We want to come back in the summer months, rent a car, and drive around the island.
We haven’t seen “REAL” snow in years, in fact, I’ve never seen as much snow as I did here in my whole life. It was incredible seeing the snow around the city. I’ll leave you with some more fun pictures of the snowfall around Sapporo.
Comments (5)
that’s a thick layer of snow, a friend said Sapporo have the finest snow. I havent been to this part of Japan. Great pics.
I’d have to agree, I’ve never seen snow quite like this. Thanks for reading and looking at the pictures!
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