Annie's Excursions

At the time of writing this, I’ve been in Hokkaido (and Japan, really) for just a little over two years now. Wow, time flies! From time to time, I try to make a trip out of town, and most of my outings are to Sapporo (check out my Sapporo Diaries!). Since I don’t actually live there, I’m not a local nor an expert point since Sapporo itself is pretty big and all of it is outside of my walkable scope. I’ve explored around most of the central area and know the basic area fairly well.

Anyway, here’s some of my go to places/areas/recommendations, as well as places I’ve heard of and am planning on going to. I’ll update once I have more information! I managed to fit the Otaru guide all in one post, but because Sapporo is much larger, being the capital of Hokkaido, I decided to make a general one, and write some more specific posts by area and thing to do.

Places to hang out:

• Sapporo Station: Actually, the main Sapporo Station just connects to a giant underground pathway to Odori Station and Susukino Station, and all the nearby department stores/surrounding buildings, creating a towering maze that’ll take ages to explore on it’s own. On a given bad weather day, just stay in there and warm up/stay dry, and there’s so much to do and eat within the underground area that you won’t get bored anytime soon. A few of the following items will be included/connected to the station/underground pathway, but just know that this point is more overarching.
• Pole Town: The very end of the underground pathway, right up to Susukino Station.
• Aurora Town: A part of the underground pathway that extends Eastward around Odori Station. It’s a little longer/bigger than Pole Town, but a good chunk of places to eat and shop.
• Tanukikoji: A cute and lovely covered shopping street spanning quite a few blocks with drugstores, souvenir shops, and plenty of restaurants.
• Susukino: The larger area of Susukino in the south-central part of Sapporo is the local entertainment district. At night, it’s lit up, with busy izakayas, evening parfait places. As a warning, there are many host bars and girls bars, if that’s your thing I guess.
• All the department stores: to eat and shop
  • Esta: Rest in Peace Esta, it closed October 2023 to make way for contruction of the new Hokkaido Shinkansen extension until 2028.
  • Stellar Place
  • Daimaru
  • Parco
  • Miredo
  • Akarenga Terrace
  • Sittatte
  • Mitsukoshi
  • Mitsui
  • Moyuk (with a penguin aquarium!)
  • Cocono (the newest on the list, with a movie theater, and lots to eat and shop)
• Round 1: I’ve honestly only been to Round 1 a couple times in the US, but there’s quite a few in Sapporo, and I believe they’re all much bigger with indoor sports-like facilities and open 24 hours.

Places to visit in Sapporo:

• Hokkaido University
• Hokkaido Museum
• Shiroi Koibito Park
• Sapporo TV Tower
• Sapporo Clock Tower
• Sapporo Factory
• Odori Park (spans many blocks to host seasonal events, Autumn Market, Christmas lights/market, February Snow Festival)
• National Museum of Modern Art
• Mt. Moiwa
• Mt. Okura Ski Slope and Olympic Museum
• Jozankei, an onsen town
• Ganso Ramen Yokocho (a historic ramen alley of old, small restaurants)

Here’s my post on what and where to eat in Sapporo! It is separated by genre of food, with links to my posts on Sapporo-specific foods. I’d especially recommend soup curry, genghis khan, ice cream, and Seicomart!