Before you arrive at Day 6 of Hokkaido Itinerary at Sapporo, you may want some other information:
–8-Day Self-Drive Hokkaido Itinerary: Pre-Planning
–8-Day Hokkaido Itinerary: Day 1 at Noboribetsu
–8-Day Hokkaido Itinerary: Days 2 and 3 at Lake Toya and Hakodate
–8-Day Hokkaido Itinerary: Day 4 at Niseko
–8-Day Hokkaido Itinerary: Day 5 at Otaru
–Where to Stay in Sapporo and How to Get Around Sapporo

DAY 6: SAPPORO ITINERARY

9.30 a.m. Check out of your Otaru hotel, breakfast at Sankaku Fish Market, and take the JR train to Sapporo (an hour’s journey, about ¥640, S$8). At the JR station in Otaru, you can buy the Kitaca card (see previous entry on “How to Get Around in Sapporo”).

11.30 a.m. Leave your luggage at your Sapporo hotel and make your way to Sapporo Beer Museum where you can sample “Fukkoku Sapporo Bakushu”, a unique beer brewed according to the methods used back in 1881. There is also a buffet beer garden beside the museum, serving Jingisukan (“Genghis Khan” BBQ).

Beer hall inside the beer museum

If you’re not in the mood for bbq mutton and beer for lunch, go to the shopping mall, Ario Sapporo, beside the beer museum. Shop and eat here.

3 p.m.: Return to the hotel and take a short nap.

4 p.m.: Shop around Sapporo JR Station where all the huge shopping malls are: Esta, Daimaru, Sapporo Stellar Place, PASEO, and an underground shopping mall, Apia. If you want, you can visit the Deck T38 at the JR Tower for a fee.

For dinner, go to ESTA 10th floor which houses Sapporo Ramen Republic (Sapporo Ramen Kyowakoku), a selection of 8 top ramen restaurants in Sapporo. If you don’t want ramen, there are other famous chains on the same floor, chains such as Shisen Hanten (which receives Michelin star in Singapore but it came from Japan) and Fugetsu okonomiyaki (which opens an outlet in Suntec Singapore recently). There is also Rakkyo soup curry, which had a long queue.

We ate Tonkatsu Tamafuji which is not bad, and the service is phenomenal.

NEXT DAY: 

9.30 a.m.: For breakfast, make your way to either Nijo Fish Market 二条市場 or Sapporo Central Wholesale Market Curb Market. The former is more convenient and historical, thus attracting more tourist; whereas the latter is biggest wholesale market in Hokkaido with a bathhouse. I recommend Nijo Fish Market because the food is cheaper and you get to walk past Odori Park which houses the Sapporo TV Tower (pictured below).

11.30 a.m.: Leave the market and make your way to Shiroi Koibito Park (pictured above) also known to Singaporeans as the immensely popular 白色恋人. You need to make an online reservation first if you want to design your own cookies at the Cookie Craft Studio in the park. There is also a cafe here where you can have your lunch.

2.30 p.m. Make your way to Fushimi Inari Shrine (pictured above). It’s really nothing to see at the shrine but it’s a photoshoot location and it’s on the way to Mount Moiwa. So after the visit to the shrine, climb a short hill up to the Mount Moiwa Ropeway to take the cable car.

Alternatively, if you want to skip the shrine and go directly to Mount Moiwa, there is a free shuttle bus. Take the free bus from Ropeway Iriguchi tram stop. The tram is very fun: it’s those old-fashioned kind with electric rail embedded in the road. (The actual shuttle bus stop is about 20m from this tram stop.)

Lovers can bring a lock up to Mount Moiwa.

6 p.m. After you have seen the sunset and the night scene from Mount Moiwa, take the free shuttle bus down to Ropeway Iroguchi tram stop. Here is your chance to ride the tram if you haven’t previously. Take the tram to Susukino (すすきの), which is a red-light district, and walk around.

There are many restaurants here but we recommend the yakiniku restaurant Hormone Ginga ホルモン 銀牙 (which requires reservations) or Ramen Alley (we had Ramen Shingetsu).

After dinner, shop at Tanukikoji Shopping Arcade. There are many shops here, including Don Quijote, also known to Singaporeans as Don Don Donki.

NEXT DAY:

Option A: Check out of your hotel and shop at Mitsui Outlet Mall Park and fly home in the evening.

Option B: Shop at Mitsui Outlet Mall. Return home the next day.

If you want to see other attractions in Sapporo, click on their tourist site here.

This concludes the Hokkaido Itinerary. But we’ll definitely be back in summer to see the lavender fields and write another itinerary.

You may be interested in…
–10 Must-Eat Food in Hokkaido
–Matsunomi 松の實, Sapporo Hokkaido: Bib Gourmand Awardee, Famed for Duck Soba 🦆🦆🦆 Not a Quack
–What to Eat at Niseko Hokkaido
–Hilton Niseko Village Review, Hokkaido: Naked in Nature! Wild Wild Wet!

Written by Dr. A. Nathanael Ho.