My Sapporo 5 Days Itinerary

This time I like to share my Sapporo traveling itinerary. We actually spend a week in Sapporo, but the first and the last day was the departure and the arrival day. Here is the post of my five awesome days in Sapporo.

DAY 1

The places I visit:

Sapporo TV Tower, Odori Park, and Sapporo Beer Museum

On day one we went to the Sapporo TV Tower. We took a taxi from the Sapporo station to Sapporo TV Tower, it took about 10 minutes. Sapporo TV Tower and Odori Park are very close to each other. You can see Odori Park preview from the Sapporo TV Tower. The TV tower looks like an old tower compares to the Tokyo Skytree Tower. Sapporo TV Tower is not as tall as the Skytree tower. There was no crowd in the Sapporo TV Tower. We enter relatively easy and no queuing at all. There was a small souvenir shop near the Sapporo TV Tower ticket booth if you are interested in buying a souvenir. There are restaurants on the lower floor to have lunch or dinner. The restaurant area actually more crowded than the tower.

When we arrive at the designated floor, it was quite small. You can enjoy the view from above and there is a telescope you can use to see far objects which require 200 yen to use. To be honest, there not many things you can do at the Sapporo TV Tower, but it is worth a visit once.

Then we continue to Odori Park, it is located in front of Sapporo TV Tower. The park is large, there were a few food stalls along the way.

I have been reading that if you come to Sapporo, you must try Sapporo Beer, Ramen and soft serve ice cream. The next place we visit is the Sapporo Beer Museum: http://www.sapporobeer.jp/brewery/english/s_museum/index.html

There are two types of the tour in Sapporo Beer Museum; free tour and premium tour. The differences are for the premium tour you will get a tour guide and must pay 500 yen for adults and 300 yen for children. However, the premium tour guide is Japanese so it will be practically useless for us since we can’t speak Japanese. It was a short tour of Sapporo beer history; by the end of the tour, you can purchase the beer on the Sapporo Beer Museum star hall.

If you want to try some beers, the vending machine offers a beer package called 3-variety Beer Flight for ¥600. I choose to taste 3 different flavors of the beer. I definitely can tell the variation of the beer flavor. I am not really into beer, so I do not like all the beers.

 

Day 2

The places I visit: 

Otaru Canal and Moerenuma Park 

We finally settled down to our amazing Airbnb house. For the second until the fourth day, I booked a tour to go around Hokkaido with my family. It started at 9 am to 7 pm. This second day we were going to the Otaru Canal.

After Otaru Canal, we went to Moerenuma Park which is located in Moerenuma-koen 1-1, Higashi-ku, Sapporo. It took about 50 minutes to get there by car from Otaru Canal. Moerenuma Park is an artsy and comprehensive park with hills, a small forest, glass pyramid, and nature view. I will make a separate post about our visit to Moerenuma Park and Otaru Canal.

We were also planning to go to Mt. Moiwa, unfortunately, on that day Mt. Moiwa cable car is under maintenance so it is temporarily closed.

Day 3

The places I visit: 

The Blue Pond and Furano

On day 3 we went to Biei – Furano. Both places are a bit far away from Sapporo, around 2,5 hours driving. First off, we went to Blue Pond. Our tour guide said that the blue pond is considered as a new tourist attraction. It is basically a lake with a blue reflections view. Don’t get me wrong, the blue pond is pretty, it is just not that appealing to me. It was a little bit muddy and it was a good thing I wear my boots.

Snow in Sapporo is mostly melted by the end of April. If you are still looking for snow, you can still find it in Furano Ski Mountain. I thought in this trip there is no chance for my son to play with snow, so when we found he is excited. I love the view in Furano, with a large snowfield and the mountain behind us. My son enjoys playing snow with a spoon (he does not bring his toy shovel), as a mom, I have to be creative LOL.

 

Day 4

The places I visit: 

Noboribetsu and Lake Toya

The fourth day of the tour, we went to Noboribetsu and Lake Toya. 1,5 hours driving from Sapporo.  That day was super cold about 4-degree Celsius plus raining for the whole day.  In Noboribetsu there is a volcanic crater Jigokudani (Hell Valley). Our tour guide said it is also famous for the onsen. The sulfur smell there is quite strong.

At lunchtime, we eat in this lovely barbeque place called nobojin, and the food is delicious.

 

Then we head to Lake Toya, unfortunately, due to rain, the lake is covered in fog. We could not see the beauty of the lake. Instead, we went on a shopping spree at a store near there. There is a lot of interesting product like horse oil-based skincare and lavender pillow. They also have a delicious dairy product like pudding, yogurt, and string cheese.  The store seems to be quite popular because it was packed with tourist.

After that, we went to the bear park. The rains fade a little and give us a chance to look over the bears. There is also a cable car to go up, but we did not ride it. Upon the entrance, we were given cookies that we can give to the bears. The bears are so cute, they know we bring cookies then they stand up waiting for visitors to feed them. We did not spend too much time there; it was freezing cold and the rain starts to fall. Again.

 

Day 5

The places I visit: 

Maruyama Park, Hokkaido Shrine and Susukino Shopping Street

The last day of holiday in Sapporo we went to Maruyama Park and Hokkaido Shrine. It was still cold, cloudy and drizzles. Maruyama Park is a huge park with kids playground and sakura trees. Even though that day was raining; I saw a lot of people having a picnic and barbeque at the park. There are only a few sakura trees that bloom.

We visit a few shrines in the Maruyama Park, the sakura garden and Hokkaido Shrine. The best part of Maruyama Park is the Hokkaido Shrine. Before entering the shrine there is this water place for you to wash your hand, face and mouth.

Usually, in Japan shrine, I do not know what it called; it is a place where you can purchase an amulet. They offer amulet for traffic safety, children, marriage, health, business, money, etc. I purchase money amulet as a souvenir and it cost ¥800. I like it because of its golden color design. Will it bring me money? Who knows, I am not counting on it.

I do not know whether there is a festival or not that day, or it was usually like that on the weekend, but there were food stalls along the way. I am so happy to see it. all the street food look so tempting. I tried some of the street food.

Happy with all the street food we tried, then we went to Susukino shopping street around 06.30 pm for shopping. This shopping street had a long connected pedestrian walkway crossing about 7 perpendicular roads. If you want to shop here, they got everything; restaurants, coffee shop, fruit stall, souvenirs, pharmacy and beauty products. Prepare your feet for a long walk from the first street until the last one.

There are some places I wanted to go to but did not have the chance or because of the place is on maintenance. The places are Mt Moiwa ropeway, Shiroikoibito chocolate factory and historical village of Hokkaido. Well, maybe next time I can come back to Sapporo again. And I hope my Sapporo Itinerary can help your holiday plan to Sapporo 🙂