Japan is one of my favourite countries to visit, and after my last year’s trip to Osaka, I was all ready to plan another trip there! My family and I booked a trip to the Northern island of Japan - HOKKAIDO - this Spring (early May) 🌹. The peak seasons for Hokkaido are actually either Summer (Jun-Aug) to view the lavender fields and other summer flowers, or Winter (Dec-Fri) for the thick carpet of snow.
Especially if you have watched the Netflix series ‘First Love’, Hokkaido will be a romantic place to visit in the winter. (*Cues music track*)
My family did not enjoy the summer heat nor the winter chill, and by peak period, I mean the crowd during these seasons are really crazy!!! So we decided to visit in spring, when the temperature was just right and we could travel at our pace without having to beat the crowd 😊. Even though it was spring, the temperature fluctuations were still quite great, with some nights falling to 15°C, while the day temperature was around 25°C. We were basically freezing on some nights in Sapporo as the wind was so strong 🌬️, so yep definitely bring more layers of clothes/scarf just in case!
There were no direct flights to Hokkaido from Singapore and visitors usually transit in Tokyo. But my family chose to transit in Seoul, South Korea as there was a cheaper flight by Korean Air, and also we preferred the shorter duration of the first leg. Our flight was 6h 45min + 3h instead of the usual 8h + 1.5h if flying to Tokyo.
Overview
Day 1: Flight to Sapporo 🛫
I think that our flight was quite well planned, as we took a red eye flight to Seoul, then had a 3h layover so that we did not have to rush. We had a relaxing Korean meal at the airport for lunch, before continuing our flight to Hokkaido. There were certainly more movements and turbulences on the second leg as the plane was smaller, but the view was amazing! We even spotted the peak of a mountain among the clouds! 🌤️🗻☁️
From the airport, we took the Rapid airport rail from New Chitose Airport station to Sapporo station, then transferred to the Local Namboku line to Nakajimakoen Station (link). By evening, we arrived at our hotel Ibis Styles Sapporo, which was 5 minutes walk from the nearest metro station! There was a beautiful park beside called Nakajimakoen which we unfortunately did not have time to visit despite staying at the hotel for many nights 😩 - major regrets because the park is actually a highlight of Sapporo too! The hotel was really affordable (~S$100/room/night) for its size and convenient location!
It was within walking distance to the Susukino district, famous for the billboards and bustling nightlife! There was certainly no need to worry about finding food here~
After settling down and resting a bit in the hotel, we went to have our first meal in Sapporo - SOUP CURRY, a must have when in Sapporo. Instead of going to the famous Soup Curry Garaku, we went to Soup Curry King instead! (Note: this restaurant only accepts cash)
After the hearty meal, we grabbed some supplies from Mega Don Quijote along the Tanukikoji Shopping Street and returned to rest.
Day 2: Hokkaido Shrine & Shiroi Koibito Park
We left around 10am to avoid the morning crowd on the metro and I was pleasantly surprised to see a row of trees with blooming flowers near the station 🌸.
Hokkaido Shrine is located inside Maruyama Park, which was within walking distance from the Maruyama Koen station. After exiting the station, there were many signs guiding you to the park and shrine, so it was easy to navigate the way there. Besides the shrine, there is also a zoo and hiking trail to Mount Maruyama.
The park was decently sized with many tall trees, and there were even some preschoolers having school outings on the day we went. We were lucky to spot many flower beds with blooming tulips - look at how vibrantly coloured they are 🌹!
Deeper in the park is the shrine, which has a vastly different architectural design from the shrine we saw in Osaka. There was even a signboard of the different birds that could be found around the shrine. (Fun fact: In Japanese culture, crows are actually symbolic and a mark of rebirth!)
Located near the shrine is Jingu Tea Room 🍵, a store that sells some snacks, where we bought a fortune cookie to share. (Note: you are required to consume the food you purchased within the store, likely to prevent littering in the park and shrine.)
Our lunch was at a nearby mall, and I had a bowl of rice with crab meat and scallop - a seasonal special!
In the afternoon, we continued our way to Miyanosawa station to visit the Shiroi Koibito Park, which houses a themed park and chocolate factory.
It was actually quite educational and interactive inside the factory, and it was so huge that it took us about 2-3 hours to finish touring.
Outside the factory is a mini garden with the iconic clock tower 🕰️ and there was even a musical performance by the figurines around the park.
If you want to purchase the biscuits and chocolates as souvenirs, this place also has the full collection of their products 🍫. The prices were the same as other places or even the airport, so it may not be as convenient to buy from this location, which is slightly away from the city center. The only advantage I would say is that there are some store or seasonal exclusive products which may be out of stock elsewhere. Besides the food souvenirs, the soft-serve ice cream is a must-try! My family bought a cup of ice cream with both the original and chocolate flavours, and it was really smooth and thick!
We returned to our hotel to rest, before heading out again for food. Our dinner place was Ebisoba Ichigen, which was a 15-min walk from our hotel. It specialises in prawn stock ramen 🍜, which I thought was quite unique. When we arrived around 6.30pm, there was already a queue with local office workers. We were pleasantly surprised to see English on the menu, which made it much easier for us to order.
After a hearty meal, we strolled to the Tanukikoji Shopping Street, a sheltered street filled with various stores and even arcades. We continued our way until we reached the Sapporo TV tower, which was found at the end of the Odori park. The tower was beautifully lit at night, and the park was still filled with people chilling even at 9pm.
Day 3: Day trip to Lake Toya & Noboribetsu
We booked a day trip on Klook (link) that included transport from Odori park station in the morning. Even though we had to arrive at the meeting point early at 8am, we managed to catch some sleep on the bus ride 😴. Along the way, we were introduced to Mount Yotei, known to be little Mount Fuji and had a snowcapped peak.
We reached the first location at Fukidashi park, a really tranquil place with drinkable spring water.
After another short ride, we arrived at the Lake Toya observation deck, where there was an unobstructed panoramic view of the lake. It was even possible to take a paid helicopter ride to further enjoy a tour around the lake 🚁. It was slightly windy at the deck but the pictures turned out beautiful!
Then, we proceeded to Lake Hill Farm, an ice cream shop🍦with an amazing view of Mount Yotei behind the store.
The guide also brought us to the Showa Shinzan Bear Ranch. We had to pay additional fees to enter as it was not covered in the tour package. However, I would not really recommend the bear ranch as I felt that it was more of a prison for the bears. The ranch had a small compound, and the bears were just surrounded by concrete walls. (I am not sure if this is a typical enclosure for bears.)
The final stop of the tour was Jigokudani in Noboribetsu. Jigokudani is a valley with orange-yellow covered surface due to nearby volcanic activity 🌋. The moment we walked into the valley, we could smell the sulphur in the air. Noboribetsu is also famous for its hot springs and visitors usually stay for a few nights to enjoy the hot springs.
By around 3pm, the tour had ended and we were brought back to Sapporo station. We had an early dinner at Nemuro Hanamaru, a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. The sushi 🍣 were all so fresh and reasonably priced! We had 20+ plates of sushi for the four of us and it only cost around S$50+. We walked around the area (there were multiple shopping malls near Sapporo station) and even had a crepe to end our day!
Day 4: Day trip to Otaru
Otaru is a small city located about an hour from Sapporo. We took the train 🚃 and arrived in Otaru by 10am.
Our first stop was the canal, which had a stretch of walkway on one side and a row of buildings on the other side. Visitors could even pay to take a boat ride along the canal.
Then, we walked to the nearby Bank of Japan museum. It was an educational tour about the history of the Bank of Japan in Otaru and the development of the Japanese currency 💴. Even though the information was mostly in Japanese, we managed to translate them using google translate.
Being a port city, the seafood in Otaru was a must try! 🦐🦪 For lunch, we ate at Otaru Poseidon Main Shop along Sakaimachi Hondori street, as we met a Singaporean who recommended this restaurant to us. Compared to other seafood restaurants, this store was really affordable! We had our fill of fresh seafood here 😊. There was even a kids’ corner for them to play after their meals.
Besides the canal, Sakaimachi Hondori street is also the highlight of Otaru. Most of the food souvenir shops are concentrated here, making it so convenient for tourists!
We proceeded to the Otaru Music Box Museum, which had a free exhibition of music boxes. There were so many types of music boxes inside that it would take at least an hour to appreciate them all!
By around evening, we returned to Sapporo and had a simple omurice for dinner at the malls near the station.
Day 5: Chitose Salmon Aquarium & Royce Chocolate Town
We took the train to Chitose station and walked about 15 minutes before arriving at the Chitose Salmon Aquarium. It is a small aquarium 🐟🐠 that introduces the Chitose river and the salmons that migrate here to spawn seasonally. We even had the opportunity to release some baby salmons into the river! Besides salmon, the aquarium also features other animals and fishes that could be found in the habitat, including minks!
There was a food center nearby, where we had a western meal at Grill Restaurant Salmon King while overlooking the garden 🌳 outside the restaurant.
In the afternoon, we took a 1h+ train ride to Royce Chocolate Factory 🍫🏭, which was situated in the outskirts of Sapporo. It even had its own dedicated JR station (Royce Town Station) because there were no attractions nearby besides the factory. While it was possible to walk to the factory from the station, they provided shuttle service every 15-30min (if I remember correctly).
When approaching the factory, you will first be amazed by the huge garden outside, and the size of the factory. Indeed, it took us the entire afternoon to tour the entire factory as we went from understanding the growth of the cacao trees to the processes behind making chocolate. Even though there was overlapping content with the Shiroi Koibito park, there were much more details in the exhibition here. Of course, with the end of every factory visit, there would be the display of all their products for sale. My family certainly spent quite a bit purchasing the Royce products here 🤭!
As we had planned a 2D1N trip to Asahikawa and Furano area the next day, we returned to our hotel early and had Macs for dinner. What we certainly noticed was that the size of each burger was smaller in Japan. Even their drinks! 🍔🥤
Day 6: Asahikawa
We checked out early in the morning and took a taxi to the hotel we booked after our return from Furano. Fortunately, they allowed us to store our luggages for free while we were away. By 12pm, we arrived at Asahikawa station and we transferred to the local bus to Asahiyama zoo.
The ride took approximately 45min and we were in time for lunch at a small eatery inside the zoo.
Before coming to Asahiyama zoo, I already read reviews about how it was one of the best zoos in Japan 🐧🦭🐒🦒🦌. It really did not disappoint because the zoo was well maintained. There were many animals and also handwritten information about them! You could really tell the amount of effort they put in to educate the public about the animals!
We left the zoo around 4.30pm and took the bus to a stop near the Asahikawa ramen village 🍜🛖. The ramen village was not really conveniently located as we had to walk around 20min from the nearest bus stop. Fortunately, google maps was really reliable and led us all the way there!
To be truthful, I was disappointed when I arrived at the ramen village. It was in fact the size of a carpark with about 5 to 6 ramen stalls - not really what I would call a village. Moreover, when we were there, only half of the stalls were opened, and it seemed like only locals would come to eat, so even the stall owner was surprised to see tourists. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our local ramen. There was also a “shrine” inside the building, so that you could pray to a “ramen god”. However, this place is not worth the time considering how it is inconveniently situated.
To return to Asahikawa city area, we had to walk another 15min to the nearest JR station. We caught a beautiful sunset 🌅 as we were walking there. We even had our virgin experience of taking a one-man train, which only had one train carriage!
We returned to sleep at our hotel near Asahikawa station (Hotel Amanek Asahikawa), which was really small. It fit only two single beds with limited space to move around, but luckily we were only there for one night’s sleep.
Day 7: Furano
After a night’s rest, we were ready for another day to Furano! When we reached, the Furano train station had many trains parked, each with their own unique designs, and even the station was so welcoming!
As it was the low season in Furano, there were hardly any people on the streets. We proceeded to have lunch in a nearby restaurant (Teppan Okonomiyaki Masaya) and returned to the train station to hail a cab to Furano Cheese factory 🧀.
It was another small factory but a great escape from the afternoon sun, as there were many trees and even cheese ice cream! Visitors typically drive in the furano area but we were only there for a day, so we went with train instead. As a result, we were stranded afterwards and had to ask the cashier to help us call for a taxi back. (They were really friendly and helpful.)
Before returning to the Furano station, we stopped by Furano Marche, a small market selling local produce 🍅🥬. There were also food places and bakery here 🥐.
Then, we took the train back to Sapporo, and checked into our hotel for the last 2 nights (Sapporo View Hotel). It was near the Odori Park and we could even see the Lilac festival taking place in the park below. The hotel room was also as spacious as our first hotel and the lobby was huge! While we did not try their buffet breakfast, it seemed really amazing 🤤!
For dinner, we went to a nearby shabu shabu restaurant, where we enjoyed our hotpot and sake.
Day 8: Sapporo Clock Tower & Beer Factory
Our last day in Sapporo 😢 - we went to the Sapporo Clock Tower, where there was a functioning mechanical clock that would sound the number of times corresponding to the time. Inside the tower, there were detailed explanations about the mechanism of the clock and the history of its usage. There was a volunteer guide, who had already retired and he patiently explained everything about the clock tower to us.
When in Sapporo, you would definitely need to visit the Sapporo Beer Factory 🍺! It is one of the 3 most famous beers in Japan, alongside Asahi beer and Yebisu beer. The factory tour was not as extensive as the other chocolate factories but it was sufficient for us to understand the history of the Sapporo beer. There was even a tasting set that you could pay to sample at the end of the factory tour.
We had our lunch at the Garden Grill restaurant inside the compound, where we enjoyed Genghis Khan grill while sipping on some Sapporo beer. There are some Sapporo exclusive beers that are a must-try!
After the tour, we shopped at the nearby mall, before returning to Susukino area for a soup curry restaurant 🥘 that was recommended online - Soup Curry Yellow. Surprisingly, the taste was vastly different, and frankly, I preferred the first one at Soup Curry King. The curry seemed yellower, likely because tumeric was added.
We spent our last night at Tanukikoji Shopping Street, where we hunted for some food like the blended fruit juice from 7-eleven and Cremia ice cream.
Day 9: Return home 🏠
Our flight was at 2pm, so we arrived at the airport in the morning. Even though we were ready to leave, there were still so much more to view at Chitose airport! There was the Royce Chocolate World, a smaller scale of the Royce Chocolate Factory we visited, and also other themed stores like Sanrio characters and Doraemon.
Although we did not see the blooming lavender fields in Furano or the thick carpet of snow, it was definitely a wise choice to visit Sapporo in spring! But I would certainly love to return and visit again in summer/winter, maybe on a road trip!
For travelling without rental cars, I would highly recommend purchasing the 4-day JR pass for Sapporo-Furano area, which we had used for Otaru, Chitose, Asahikawa and Furano (link).
Not only did I enjoy the scenery in Hokkaido and countless factories we toured, I also loved the food (especially ice cream)! Look at the amount of food souvenirs we bought back! Looking forward to returning again~ 🤩
