The Sapporo Snow Festival is an event that draws up to 2 million visitors every year. For six days during February visitors enjoy massive snow sculptures that have to be seen to be believed and we were lucky enough to attend the 2017 event. The Sapporo Snow Festival was the reason we came to Japan during winter and it did not disappoint.
This festival takes place on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido becomes a snow lovers paradise during the winter. There are multiple snow festivals, unique beverage experiences, and delicious foods all across the region.
Getting There
The easiest way to get there from Tokyo is to take a bullet train to Shin-Hakodate Hokuto Station. The bullet trains are an amazing experience all in itself but this trip takes you through one of the longest underwater tunnels in the world! These trains are so incredibly comfortable especially when comparing to airlines. The only downfall is you do lose signal when traveling through all the tunnels so make sure to bring something to read if you get easily bored.
From Shin-Hakodate Hokuto Station you will get on a slightly slower train headed for Sapporo Station. It will probably be packed so make sure to book your tickets before you get there. We booked ours in Tokyo about a week before.
For those flying into Hokkaido, the New Chitose Airport is a short JR line train ride away from Sapporo Station.
Where to Stay
This was one of the biggest expenses of our trip. We didn’t decide to go to Japan until three or four months before. All the close and cheaper Airbnb’s were already booked so we ended up booking a hotel through Agoda. We stayed at Hotel Gracerie Sapporo which was very close to Sapporo Station. This was a great location because it was centrally located.
There is an extensive underground in Sapporo allowing you to traverse much of the city without being out in the cold weather. The hotel has an underground entrance so you can easily walk to Odori Park without walking outside if you need a break from the cold. Don’t avoid going outside all the time though! Sapporo is a very beautiful city.
3 Sites to Choose From
Odori Park
Odori Park is where most of the festivities take place. There are five or six massive sculptures and over 100 smaller ones. Some of the massive sculptures have light shows with images displayed on the white snow. They are lit until 2200 each night during the festival. We went to Odori Park four times during our stay: 3 night time visits and one during the day.
There are a wide variety of food and beverage vendors to choose from. Get yourself some crab on a stick and you’ll be saying oishi/delicious in no time. Also don’t forget this is called a snow festival for a reason; be prepared to get covered in snow if a little snow squall moves through. We got covered once and it only snowed for about 15-20 minutes!
If you arrive at the beginning of the festival you can watch the international snow sculpting contest. The teams have until the 3rd or 4th night of the festival to complete their sculpture.
There are a couple ice stages with various artists performing throughout the festival. The crowd gets really into some of the performances. We felt like we were watching legit celebrities (probably were).
One last thing to see at Odori is the ski jump. There were skiers and snowboarders putting on an a show at various times. You can check the schedule to see when you should swing by and watch the show. We saw them jumping during the day and night.
Susukino Site
The Susukino site is located in the Susukino entertainment district. This site contains over 50 ice sculptures. The ice sculptures are lit up until 2300 each night. This site isn’t as large as the Odori or Tsu Dome sites. Still the ice sculptures are definitely worth seeing. One walk-through is enough to see all the sculptures.
Tsu Dome Site
This is the more kid friendly site of the three. There are ice slides with kids everywhere having the time of their lives. If you are coming to the festival with kids, this is definitely the place to bring them. We were a bit jealous that a lot of the kids looked like they were on field trips with their schools. We were asked by a few different groups of kids where we were from, which they would then mark on their map.
Sapporo Beer Museum & Sapporo Biergarten
There are other things to do besides check out the snow festival. Sapporo has a lot to offer.
The Sapporo Beer Museum and Sapporo Biergarten were another must see attraction. We both love Sapporo beer and were determined to sample every kind they had to offer. The biergarten is modeled after a German style brewhouse. We recommend making a reservation to eat and then doing the free tour. The FREE tour includes 3 FREE “samples” they are almost full size pints! As soon as we finished our beers, our table was ready.
Side note: they do have an unlimited food and beer choice at the Beir Garten if you feel you can handle that option.
Other Places to Eat in Sapporo
The Yebisu Bar is underground near Sapporo Station. It has some really good beer and even better food. Cheese pizza with honey? Who knew? They offer Yebisu beers, unique blends, and cocktails that aren’t available anywhere else. We ate here twice because it was conveniently located and just that good.
This place had a huge line and an hour wait but it was totally worth it. It’s in JR Tower above Sapporo Station and is known as one of the best sushi places in Sapporo. They didn’t open until 1000 in the morning and there was a line even before they opened. There is a kiosk at the door to get a ticket for a table. It was a little difficult because it was only in Japanese so we watched a couple people get their tickets and then we got ours. There is an option to add your phone number and they will text you when seats are available.
Otaru Snow Light Path Festival (Otaru Yuki Akari no Michi)
The Otaru Snow Light Path Festival is another snow festival in Hokkaido that usually takes place at the same time as the Sapporo Snow Festival. This makes it extremely easy to see both. Otaru station is about 45 minutes away from the Sapporo (Hakodate) station on the JR line. When you arrive at the station there are information kiosks where someone will be more than willing to help you decide where to go. We were given a map of the city and told where to go to see the lanterns.
There were two locations with snow lanterns. The canal area and an old train line. The path along the canal isn’t all that wide and there were lots of people present. We enjoyed the beauty of the canal lit up with the lanterns at night but were glad to head to the other area where it was slightly less crowded.
The old rail line was wider and had a larger variety of snow lanterns. We probably walked around for an hour or two in this area. Dress warm and wear shoes with good grip because the ground tends to be covered in hard packed snow (basically ice).
Another place to explore in Otaru is Sakaimachi Street. This is known as the sushi street. While there were a good number of sushi restaurants, they tended to be more expensive than the sushi restaurants in Tokyo.
Nikka Whiskey Distillery
We learned about the Nikka Whiskey Distillery from the monks at Ekoin. If you can’t trust a monk who can you trust?? It offers a FREE self guided tour with 3 FREE whiskey samples at the end. You can walk through the grounds and learn about the history of the distillery (Bonus: there are videos in English). They also have other whiskeys for sale in the bar area if you are feeling more adventurous. Being the most famous distillery in Japan they have some pretty rare whiskeys.
The Nikka Whiskey Distillery is located in the city of Yoichi. Take the JR line from Sapporo Station to Yoichi Station. The distillery is a short walk from the station.
Skiing and Snowboarding
Among all the other reasons to visit Japan, it is also a top skiing and snowboarding destination. People living in and around Asia and Australia have known this for years. A couple we met at the Robot Restaurant in Tokyo told us it was cheaper for them to fly to Japan from Perth, Australia than to most ski destinations in Australia.
We wished we could have done some skiing or snowboarding while in Japan, but had too many other activities planned. Plus Ryan had recently broken his collar bone on a snowboarding trip just a few weeks before we came to Japan. If skiing or snowboarding are your thing then Hokkaido is full of mountains covered in snow.
We had an amazing time in Sapporo and the surrounding area. We highly recommend any traveler to put this festival on their bucket list. If you have any questions for us leave them in the comments!
