Four Days in Sapporo, Japan During The Snow Festival
Now that Japan has opened its borders again, I jumped at the chance to see a city that’s been on my bucket list for years - Sapporo. We left Seoul around 10am and surprisingly the flight was only 2 hours so we touched down around noon and were ready to go! At the arrival gates, representatives from Hokkaido Milk were giving out milk cartons to every visitor so we started our trip with the island’s famous dairy. As someone raised on skim and nonfat milk, this tasted like someone just melted butter and called it milk. It was so rich!
We picked up our wifi at the airport’s post office and then jumped on the train. We opted to get reserved seats which are in car 4 but for a cheaper ticket you can stand or try to get the subway-style bench seats. Be sure to keep your ticket with you because that’s how you get out of the station (Kurt forgot his so I had to explain to the gate agent why he should let my husband out lol)
Sapporo is pretty small so later we learned we could have walked to our apartment but for our first trip we grabbed a bus from the station. Google Maps is incredibly reliable in Japan including times that buses, train, and subways will arrive and their correct platform numbers. Trust your Google Maps!!
We opted to get the Kitaca card which works on all forms of transportation and can be purchased at the JR station ticket machines. It was 2,000 yen and we didnt need to refill it at all during our stay. When we returned it to get our 500 deposit back, we still had enough for one trip left on the card. It’s great for a 4 day trip.
Our AirBnb was located right next to Nakajima Park and was on the 33rd floor so we had a stunning view. We took a brief nap to recover from travel (and from waking up before 6am) and then we were off!
First stop - ramen. Hokkaido is famous for its miso paste which they ferment a little longer than normal so the special miso ramen at Yamaokaya (a chain all over the city) had such a deep, rich flavor. The noodles are also really thick so it filled me up and warmed me all the way to my toes. Definitely a must if you’re traveling in winter. If you’re a ramen fan, also check out all the shops in Ramen Alley - though most of them had lines out the door so be prepared to wait!
The city was getting ready for the snow festival that would start the next day (we arrived on Friday afternoon) and the art already looked stunning. There were lots of people with chainsaws somehow making a block of ice turn into a dolphin and it was fascinating to watch! This was the first festival in three years due to covid :’)
We wandered around the city to get our bearings and ended up stopping in Brown Books Cafe for some tea. Something to note in Japan - for cafes you will often have to wait a while for your drinks and food. In the US or Korea you typically get your drinks a few minutes after ordering, but be prepared to wait ten to fifteen minutes for your order here. Cafes are places you should be relaxing and staying for a bit so the baristas don’t exactly rush :)
We went home one more time to get warm and rest before heading out for dinner. We started at Tako and Highball which is a small spot serving takoyaki, yakisoba, some other bar snacks, and highball. You had to order one food and one drink per person so Kurt got to drink my highball too lol.
Then we stopped at Kushidori (multiple locations in the city) which serves kushiyaki - basically anything skewered and grilled! Kurt enjoyed all the meat offerings - he recommends any of the chicken ones! - and I enjoyed their vegetarian choices. They had eggplant, edamame, onigiri, and best of all their potato kushiyaki. It was just a hunk of potato with a slice of famous hokkaido butter. Kurt ordered extra for himself because they were that good! The atmosphere was really casual and it seemed like locals stop here too for afterwork drinks.
We ended the day going to the convenience store for ice cream and then knocked out!
The next morning we took the subway over to Maruyama Park to see the Hokkaido Shrine. There were lots of little shrines throughout the park as well as some great snow art (I’m still not over the snow squirrel I found) but it does have a few hills so be careful not to slip!
We passed by but didnt go into Jingu Tea House but it looked beautiful in the snow. When we finally reached the shrine the snow was coming down like I’ve never seen before so we did a quick walkaround and then headed for a Sapporo staple - soup curry.
The restaurant we found was hidden in the middle of a neighborhood and was filled with locals. There was only one other non-Japanese party there and we took that as a good sign! We ended up waiting an hour for our meal but Kurt and I agree it was worth it. The restaurant was called Okushibashouten and was run by a crew of jolly old women who stood at the bar and chatted with customers. Our soup curries were incredible. I had the vegetable one and I couldn’t believe how much food they gave me. Kurt had a pork curry and he devoured it too.
We went back home and promptly passed out into a lovely food coma.
Dinner was Genghis Khan (aka Mongolian BBQ) which is also famous in Sapporo. We went to and again, waited a very long time. But it was a fun experience and they had a lot of vegetable sides and rice options so I left with a full stomach too :) Kurt and I can’t remember the exact place we went but there are so many! The chain called Daruma typically has huge lines so again, be ready to wait!
We spent Sunday in Otaru - a city just 40 minutes by train from Sapporo. The town has a lot of old architecture and it felt like it was frozen in time. We were very tired so we ended up just walking around and taking it all in but there is a lot you can do in this little town! There are museums like the Stained Glass Museum, Music Box Museum, there’s even a beer warehouse for beer lovers!
We got omurice from a tiny spot hidden away from the main road and then wandered until we needed coffee which we found at Freelance, a little spot of jazz lovers run by a old man who sat in the corner with his newspaper. Otaru is also famous for glass so we stopped in a few shops where Kurt got a cup and I got a necklace with a glass bead :)
We headed home and grabbed some more soup curry near Sapporo Station at a chain called Suage+ but the curry was definitely more soupy and less delicious than the Maruyama spot. Still packed with veggies though, which I appreciated.
The next morning was Monday and Kurt had a video call with his team so I took the subway up to Odori Park to look at the snow art now that the festival fully started. It was nice to walk around and look at the creations, some of which were bigger than my house back in the US, but it was a little lackluster due to the missing food trucks. Usually, the snow festival also has a ton of amazing food but due to COVID, the food trucks were put off for at least another year. We’ll have to come back - darn! ;)
On the way home I grabbed a latte at Coffee and Wine which was filled with mostly non-Japanese foreigners lol!
For lunch, Kurt and I got ramen at the same place again then walked slowly over to Nijo Market. Kurt is very much not a fan of seafood so we didn’t wait in the huge lines for bowls overflowing with sushi, but they certainly looked good! I got a hot coffee from one of the stalls and was tempted by the melon slices. Definitely fun to walk by!
We walked around a bit more and then took a street car home for a bit of a nap.
Our last night was spent eating more kushiyaki and then taking part in a Sapporo tradition. Apparently its common to have a night out, get drunk, and end with a nice ice cream parfait from one of Sapporo’s thousands of parfait joints. Until visiting, I had no idea what a party town Sapporo is. It was filled with host bars and girl bars, and tons of nightclubs. Who knew!
We didn’t do the get-drunk part but we were definitely all in for ice cream. The first place we stopped in had a 40 minute wait, but right next store was another spot that was empty! It did fill up after we got there though, these parfait are in high demand! It was Alice in Wonderland themed and had the most gorgeous illustrated menu. I got a sesame matcha parfait that had a surprise of orange slices at the bottom, and Kurt got a pistachio chocolate masterpiece and he wouldnt stop talking about all night.
In the morning we took the train back to the airport and said goodbye to Hokkaido. We will most definitely be coming back and we can’t recommend this little city enough! We didn’t even scratch the surface so here are a few things we didnt do: