Table of Content
Sapporo | Introduction
Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido and has the largest airport in Hokkaido, New Chitose International Airport, which has many flights to and from the city, so most tourists who want to come to Hokkaido will spend a few days in Sapporo, and it is often the main base of their Hokkaido trip. Sapporo is a city rich in natural resources, with hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter, and many sightseeing spots in and around the city. Sapporo is also blessed with Hokkaido's fresh seafood and has inherited the exotic cultures of the Meiji era and beyond. After visiting the city, I really feel that it is one of my favorite cities in Japan.
Sapporo is very easy to get around, so we spent most of our two days in Sapporo around Odori Park, using our suica card to take the train, and the other day we used Sapporo Electric's Weekend Holiday One Day Pass for the entire day to ride the train to our full capacity and visit a few other interesting sights that were a bit farther away.
Recommended accommodation to live in the beaver trail neighborhood, although it gets dark early in the winter, there are many places to shop in the evening, buy souvenirs and trip time does not conflict, dinner is also very easy to find a good restaurant in the neighborhood. More importantly, Beaver Trail is close to major attractions, convenient transportation, even we want to go to Tateyama skiing have a car to pick up and drop off nearby hotels.
Beaver Trail Accommodation Comparison
Sapporo Attractions
Sapporo Attractions | New Chitose Airport
New Chitose Airport is the largest airport in Hokkaido, and because it is so easy to walk around, some people say you can spend half a day in New Chitose as a tourist attraction. Inside New Chitose, there are Hokkaido food such as Hokkaido Ramen Dojo, and a variety of Hokkaido's famous souvenir stalls, but after actually strolling around, I found that the planning is like the underground street of a large department store. In addition to shopping, there are also hot springs and a chocolate museum, so I accidentally strolled around for three hours.
Sapporo Attractions | Beaver Road Shopping Street
Beaver Road is a busy shopping street with 130 years of history in Sapporo, and it is also the location of the hotel where we stayed on this trip. There are many stores and restaurants along the street, and many tourists visit the area, making it a good place to buy souvenirs and go shopping. It intersects with Sapporo's Ekimae Street, and the escalator leads to the Sapporo Underground Street, so you can go shopping without worrying about the weather even when it snows in winter.
Beaver Trail Accommodation Comparison
Sapporo Attractions | Odori Park
Sapporo's main attractions are actually quite concentrated. If you don't know where to go, you can start by looking for Odori Park. Odori Park, which was the baseline of Sapporo's original urban planning, is like Sapporo's central park, spanning 13 streets from east to west, and is a must-see attraction in Sapporo. The old Sapporo Main Hall, the TV tower, and the time station are all located around Odori Park. Another good thing about visiting Odori Park in December is that you can see the White Tree Lighting Festival with Christmas decorations and music, and it is very romantic to walk around the area after dinner in the evening.
Sapporo Attractions | Sapporo Old Main Hall
The Sapporo Old Main Hall is a red-brick baroque building, and the interior of the building is free to visit, with exhibitions on the history of Hokkaido.
Sapporo Attractions | Clock Tower
The Clock Tower is an interesting place to visit, with a detailed introduction to the history of Sapporo. When you come to Sapporo, you will find that the architecture is very westernized, and this is due to the history of Sapporo. Hokkaido was a desolate area until the Meiji period. It was not until the Meiji government decided to set up the Hokkaido Expansion Mission in Sapporo to open up new lands and bring in foreign experts to develop agriculture and animal husbandry. For example, Dr. Clark, who established the Sapporo Agricultural School, introduced Western technology and food habits that had a profound impact on the city. Buildings such as the old Main Hall and the Clock Tower (the former martial arts field of the Sapporo Agricultural School), as well as food and drink such as Sapporo's famous soup curry, are all cultural legacies of the time.
Sapporo Attractions | Sapporo TV Tower
The Sapporo Television Tower, located on the east side of Odori Park, is a landmark of Sapporo. The building itself is more than 90 meters high, and visitors can go up to the observation deck at the top to see the night view of Sapporo.
Another good thing about coming to Chase Park in December is that you can see the White Tree Lighting Festival, with Christmas decorations and music, and it's very romantic to walk around the area at night after dinner.
Sapporo Scenery | Hokkaido Shrine
Hokkaido Jingu is one of Sapporo's most famous attractions. Take the Municipal Electricity Tozai Line and get off at Maruyama Park Station, then walk for 15 minutes to get there. If you don't want to walk that far, you can take a bus to the Omotesando gate.
Hokkaido Shrine is dedicated to the Three Gods of Development. There was no event at the time we came here, so there weren't many people or stalls along the Omotesando Road, but I did see some workers preparing for the upcoming New Year's event. It's not a big shrine, so you can take a walk in the nearby Yuanshan Park after visiting the shrine.
Sapporo Attractions | Shiraito Factory
Even if you don't know much about Hokkaido, you should have eaten White Love Chocolate. Shiroi Koibito is a famous souvenir in Hokkaido, and Shiroi Koibito Park is located near Miyanosawa Station, not far from the center of Sapporo. Just follow the signs after getting off the train and you'll be there in no time.
The park is decorated like a fairy tale and is popular with children and adults, so there are a lot of visitors. The White Lovers Park is free to visit, but the building next to it is actually a factory, divided into three floors. The factory on the first floor is where you can see the chocolate-making process, and you have to pay a fee to enter, while the second and third floors are the sales department, where you can find a variety of White Love products. On the souvenir floor, you can also see a small part of the candy-making process.
Sapporo Attractions | Sapporo Beer Garden
Sapporo Beer Garden is also a must-see in Sapporo. The Sapporo Beer Garden is the only beer museum in Japan, and admission is free, but most people come to enjoy a beer tasting or a Mongolian barbecue, both of which require reservations, which are best made in advance on the Internet. We chose to book the Mongolian barbecue, and in addition to the all-you-can-eat barbecue, you can upgrade to the Premium Beer Drinking, which allows you to drink all the beers you are interested in.
The museum is very large, and the exhibition explains in detail the entire process of beer production and the history of beer in Sapporo over the past 100 years. If you've never had Sapporo's beer, you've probably seen the five pronged star logo. If you take a closer look at other tourist spots in Sapporo, you will find similar star symbols in many places. This is because it is actually the symbol of the Hokkaido Expansion Envoy, and Sapporo's predecessor actually came from the brewery established by the Hokkaido Expansion Envoy in the Meiji period. The brewery was later bought by the Chamber of Commerce and became the Sapporo Beer brand, merged with Asahi Beer and Ebisu Beer, and then spun off after World War II due to anti-monopolization, so it is said that some of the most famous beer breweries in Japan today are related to Sapporo Beer.
Sapporo Attractions | Nijo Market
Nijo Market is a famous seafood market in Sapporo. Like Hakodate, it has a large number of seafood stalls and many famous restaurants, but if there is a difference, Nijo Market seems to be the most crowded.
Sapporo Skiing Tips | Teidosan Ski Resort
On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, almost all the stores were closed, so we arranged a ski trip. We didn't want to change hotels this time, so we went to and from the hotel on the same day, and booked a ski bus from Tateyama to pick up and drop off at a nearby hotel, which was very convenient. The bus arrived at the ski resort at around 8:00, and we skied until 5:00 in the dark, and we still had time to eat a bowl of delicious ski resort ramen.Tateyama Ski ResortThe facilities and services in Hokkaido are very satisfactory. I heard that the powder snow in Hokkaido is very comfortable, and it is really true to its name. Powder snow quality is good, we all the way from the green line red line accidentally skied on a section of the black line, skiing comfortable and even skills have improved a lot. Not to mention that the food at Japanese ski resorts is much better than that in the U.S., so skiing in Hokkaido is like being in paradise.
The restaurants at the Tateyama Ski Resort are also good food. In the U.S. ski resorts, you can usually only buy expensive french fries that are too expensive to eat, and the best you can get is a bad burger, so usually skiing makes me feel like I've been to war all day. This time, I was able to choose from curry rice, ramen, and many other cuisines at Tateyama Ski Resort. The dining environment was clean and tidy, and I had a great time all day long. I think ski resort cuisine can be very good too.
Sapporo Gourmet
The Sapporo area offers a wide variety of food from seafood, yakiniku (grilled meat), soup curry, sushi to beer.
Genghis Khan's barbecued lamb is a specialty that should not be missed in Sapporo. Genghis Khan's lamb is grilled over charcoal, and the meat is served on an iron plate with chopped onions and scallions. It is said that if you have never eaten Genghis Khan's lamb, you have never been to Hokkaido, so be sure to try it.
Since we're in Hokkaido, there's certainly plenty of good seafood to go around. With the previous trip inHakodateWe are familiar with ordering seafood in Sapporo from our experience in the area. The seafood dishes we ate in Sapporo included a seafood bowl at Fish House Odaisho in Nijo Market, a crab dish at Ice Gate, and a sushi bar that we found on a whim in the middle of the night.
Sapporo Gourmet | Tatsuma-yaki (grilled pork)
Genghis Khan's Roast Lamb Restaurant among others.Genghis Khan Dharma Roast PorkIt is probably the most famous one. There are only 10 seats at the most popular restaurant, and reservations are not accepted, so if you want to eat there, you have to get there early and join the queue. However, there are five branches of this restaurant in Sapporo, all of which are not too far away from each other, so it's easier to queue up at the branches. We were originally lined up for the main branch, but we switched to the 5.5 branch when we realized there were too many people, and we were the first customers to enter the restaurant. The meat was all lamb, and we ordered three kinds of meat this time. In addition to the basic Genghis Khan Lamb, we also ordered Lamb Pho and Pork. The quality of the meat was excellent and there was no smell of lamb, and my favorite was the juicy top meat, which was cheaper than the basic version and also very tasty.
Sapporo Gourmet | Sapporo Brewery
I also had roast lamb at Sapporo Brewery. The Sapporo Brewery is a great place to eat, with unlimited lamb and beer, and many different flavors of Sapporo's beer, so if you want to try the beer, it's a great value for your money. However, the lamb is just thinly sliced, not comparable to Dharma, but the good thing is that you can keep ordering both lamb and vegetables, which makes for a very enjoyable meal with beer.
Sapporo Food | Suage + Soup Curry
Soup curry is one of the must-try foods in Sapporo. It is said that curry became popular in Sapporo when the foreign headmaster of the Sapporo Agricultural School made it for the local students, and soup curry is a curry store that specializes in medicinal cuisine. Unlike ordinary curry, the soup of soup curry is made from chicken bone, beef bone, pork bone and vegetables with a variety of spices, and each soup curry is different from the others.
We came to Suage+ in the Beaver Road shopping district, in order to catch the meal is not too easy, because nearly New Year's Eve our trip only this one night can come to eat soup curry, in order to line up a little less we picked a little later closing time, the result should also be in line for forty minutes.
I ordered a chicken thigh soup curry and a fried chicken soup curry, the spiciness of the soup and the amount of rice can be adjusted, the spiciness can be assured that you can choose a little spicier, the amount of rice is also similar to the imagination of girls as long as the small portion will be enough. The first time I ate the soup curry, I felt quite surprised, the taste and texture were different from what I had imagined, the meat and vegetables seemed to be deep-fried, and I enjoyed every bite as if it was a main dish.
Dining in Sapporo | Seafood Dispensary Odaisho
Located in Nijo Market, this seafood restaurant is said to be the best seafood donburi in Nijo Market. We came in at around noon for breakfast, so there was hardly any queue. We ordered a sea urchin don and a sea urchin salmon egg don, which were great in all fairness, but we were still thinking about Hakodate's!MurakamiSome of the people at this place are pushing for a comprehensive seafood donburi. Some of the people here are pushing for a comprehensive seafood donburi, but we just didn't have the chance to eat it this time.
Sapporo Gourmet | Ice Gate
Ice Gate is a famous crab restaurant in Sapporo that serves almost nothing but crab dishes. I've heard people say that there are three major types of crab in Hokkaido, so of course I had to have a crab meal this time. Ice Gate is a very large restaurant with six floors. However, most of them require reservations, so it's not easy to queue up. We came here because we had reserved a private room.
The cheapest dinner set is the Matsuba crab set for ¥7,200, and the most famous one is the three crab set for ¥9,800, which includes Matsuba crab, hairy crab, and king crab. Since king crab is not in season at this time, we decided to order 400g of hairy crab. The Hairy Crab Set Meal actually includes both Hairy Crab and Matsuba Crab dishes. The appetizer that day was crab tofu, and the set meal also included Matsuba crab sashimi, Matsuba crab hot pot, Matsuba crab tempura, whole hairy crab and desserts. 400g was more than enough for me, and I was very satisfied with the whole meal. If you are a big eater, you may consider the 600g Hairy Crab Set Meal, which also includes Hairy Crab Sashimi.
Dining in Sapporo | Ichiban Sushi
Coming here for dinner was not part of my original plan. Since most restaurants are closed during the New Year's Eve, I found this sushi restaurant near the Beaver Trail for dinner one day. I thought there would not be many people there during the New Year's Eve, but it was quite popular that day, and there was a long line, and the people there seemed to be locals. The quality of the sushi is very good and I recommend it!
Dining in Sapporo | Ramen Nobutsuki
Ramen Nobutsuki is located in Hosono, a famous ramen store in Sapporo that specializes in Hokkaido salt and ginger ramen. We came here because we wanted to try Hokkaido's salt-flavored ramen. There are only about 10 seats in the store, so we had to wait in line a little bit even though we got there early. I ordered the Salt Ramen and Miso BBQ Ramen, the Salt is a refreshing soup, while the Miso has a slightly spicy flavor. I liked the Salt Ramen more than the Ginger Ramen, and it warmed me up after finishing it.
Sapporo Gourmet | Rokkanotei
Rokkanotei is a long-established dessert store in Hokkaido, and the main store is in Tokachi, which is the only place you can buy desserts in Hokkaido. In addition to sweets and souvenirs, the cake store inside is also very popular. We bought a chocolate cheese ice-cream and a lime grape cream sandwich ice-cream from the take-away section upstairs of Rokkatsu Tei, which went well with a latte for afternoon tea. The Lime Grape Cream Ice Cream is actually similar in flavor to the famous Lime Grape Cream Biscuits, but it's an ice cream version.
Sapporo Gourmet | Kinotoya
Kinotoya Cheese Tart was bought by half a dozen of them one day when there were fewer people lining up at Sapporo Station's underground street, which I often pass by. The cheese tart is delicious, with a half-cooked cheese filling and a biscuit-like crust, which I later found out is actually quite famous.
Sapporo Gourmet | Kama Sakuragao
Kama Ei is a long-established fish cake specialty store, and we lined up in New Chitose to buy a dozen of them before we left Sapporo. The fish cakes are handmade and have a short shelf life, so we ate them for breakfast on the plane.
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