Sapporo
Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's main islands and a region of its own, a city of almost two million people laid out on a grid in the 1870s about forty minutes from New Chitose Airport.
The red-brick former government office, Sapporo
- Region
- Hokkaido
- Journeys
- Three include Sapporo
overview
A northern capital of wide avenues, with the sea's best catch on its counters and the mountains at its edge.
Sapporo is young by Japanese measure. Until the 1860s the plain beside the Toyohira River was Ainu land, and its name is usually read from Ainu words for a great dry river. In 1869 the new Meiji government made it the seat of the Hokkaido Development Commission and drew a city on the American pattern, with numbered blocks running north, south, east and west from a broad firebreak that became Odori Park. American advisers came to plan its farms and found its agricultural college, and the clock tower, the red-brick government office and the brewery all date from those first decades.
The grid gives the city an ease that the capitals of Honshu do not have. Streets are wide and straight, the parks are generous, and the mountains of the Shikotsu-Toya National Park rise within half an hour of the centre. Sapporo hosted the Winter Olympics in 1972, and each winter the Snow Festival fills Odori Park with sculptures of snow and ice. In the green months the same avenue is lined with flower beds, beer gardens and fountains.
Most travellers come to Sapporo for what it puts on the table. Hokkaido supplies much of Japan's crab, sea urchin, salmon roe, scallops and dairy, and the city is where all of it comes together: at Nijo Market in the morning, at sushi and tempura counters in the evening, and in the steaming bowls of miso ramen that Sapporo gave the country. It is also the natural first or last city of a Hokkaido journey, with Otaru, the onsen of Jozankei and the Nikka distillery at Yoichi all within an hour or so.
Our tours stay overnightOur tours visit for the dayOn a Custom Tour of Japan
see and do
What to see in Sapporo
Odori Park
The green avenue of about a kilometre and a half that divides the city into north and south, laid out in 1871 as a firebreak, with fountains, lilac and elm along its length and the Sapporo TV Tower at its eastern end.
Sapporo Clock Tower
The wooden drill hall of the Sapporo Agricultural College, built in 1878, whose clock, made in Boston, has struck the hours since 1881. It is the emblem of the city, small and white among the office towers.
The Former Hokkaido Government Office
The Akarenga, a red-brick building of 1888 in the American neo-Baroque manner, its octagonal tower above a garden of ponds and trees, once the seat of the island's administration.
Moerenuma Park
The last work of the sculptor Isamu Noguchi, who designed it as a single sculpture across 189 hectares of reclaimed land: grass hills, a sea fountain, a glass pyramid, and the cone of Moere-yama, from whose summit the whole design can be read.
Hokkaido Jingu and Maruyama Park
The principal shrine of the island, founded in 1869 for the deities of the new settlement, in a forest on the western edge of the city beside the woods of Maruyama.
Mount Moiwa
A forested mountain of 531 metres on the south-west of the city, reached by ropeway and a small cable car. From the summit the grid of Sapporo runs out across the plain to Ishikari Bay, and by night it is laid out in lights.
Nijo Market
A covered market of fishmongers and small counters a few blocks from Odori Park, where hairy crab, king crab, sea urchin and salmon roe are sold over ice and served on rice at the stalls.
Sapporo Beer Museum
The story of the brewery the Development Commission founded in 1876, told in a red-brick sugar factory of 1890, with a tasting hall at the end of the visit.
Hokkaido University
The successor to the Sapporo Agricultural College, where the American educator William Smith Clark left the students his parting words, 'Boys, be ambitious'. Its campus, a few minutes from the station, has a poplar avenue and a long avenue of ginkgo.
The Historical Village of Hokkaido
An open-air museum in the Nopporo forest east of the city, with more than fifty buildings of the Meiji and Taisho eras brought together from across the island: herring merchants' houses, farmhouses, shops and a horse-drawn tram.
Susukino
The entertainment district south of Odori Park, where the lanes of small bars and counters stay lit late into the night, and the city's whisky bars pour the malts of Yoichi and Miyagikyo.
experiences
The best of Sapporo
A sushi counter in Sapporo
An evening at one of the city's acclaimed sushi counters, the chef cutting fish landed that morning on Hokkaido's coasts and serving each piece by hand: sea urchin, scallop, botan shrimp and the fatty salmon of the northern sea.
Noguchi's landscape with an architect
A walk across Moerenuma Park with a guide who knows its design, from the glass pyramid to the summit of Moere-yama, so that the park reads as the single sculpture Noguchi meant it to be.
The morning at Nijo Market
The crab merchants and the fishmongers of Nijo Market with a guide who knows the stalls, ending with a bowl of rice under sea urchin and salmon roe at a counter among them.
Whisky in Susukino
An evening in a quiet whisky bar of the district, where the bartender pours the single malts of Hokkaido and Honshu and explains each one.
Onsen at the edge of the city
An afternoon at Jozankei, the onsen town in the gorge of the Toyohira River about an hour from the centre, and back to the city for dinner.
plan your visit
Sapporo on a journey through Japan
- How long to stay
- Two nights gives Sapporo its due, with a day in the city and a day out to Otaru or Yoichi; three suits a journey that begins or ends here after an onsen and the lakes.
- Getting there
- By air from Tokyo Haneda to New Chitose Airport in about an hour and a half, then about forty minutes by the rapid train or a private car into the city. From Hakodate the limited express takes about four hours, and from Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, the end of the Hokkaido Shinkansen, a little less.
- Pairs well with
- Sapporo is the hub of the island: Otaru, Yoichi and Jozankei are within an hour, Lake Shikotsu and Noboribetsu lie south on the way to the airport and the volcano country, and Biei and the hills of central Hokkaido are a drive of about two and a half hours.OtaruYoichiJozankeiLake ShikotsuNoboribetsuNisekoBiei
where to stay
Luxury hotels and ryokan in Sapporo
The best address in Sapporo is the centre, between the station and Odori Park, where the city's grand hotels stand within a walk of the clock tower, the Akarenga and the counters of Susukino. The grand hotel we choose, by Odori Park, keeps a formal, gracious style, with its own bars and dining rooms.
For a quieter stay, the onsen ryokan of Jozankei in the gorge south-west of the city put an hour of road between you and the avenues, and many travellers spend a night there before or after the city itself.
journeys
Tours of Japan that include Sapporo
Each journey below includes Sapporo; choose one to see its route, dates and price. For a journey on your own dates, the Custom Tour of Japan can include Sapporo and anywhere else you would like to go.
SummerThe Summer Tour of Hokkaido
12 days25 June to 6 July 2027, or 11 to 22 July 2027$18,500per person, twin shareSee the journey
SpringThe Cherry Blossom Tour of Hokkaido
13 days28 April to 10 May 2027$18,500per person, twin shareSee the journey
The Private CollectionPure Hokkaido
9 daysOn the dates you choose$21,600per person, twin shareSee the journey
Planned around youThe Custom Tour of Japan
Your party aloneWith your own Tour DirectorFrom five nights, on the dates you chooseSee the journey
questions
Sapporo: questions answered
How many days do you need in Sapporo?
Two nights is enough for most journeys, with a day for the city itself and a day out to Otaru or the Nikka distillery at Yoichi. Three nights suits a journey that starts or ends in Sapporo.
How do you get from New Chitose Airport to Sapporo?
By the rapid train in about forty minutes or by private car in about an hour. New Chitose is about an hour and a half by air from Tokyo Haneda.
What food is Sapporo famous for?
Seafood above all: crab, sea urchin, salmon roe and scallops from the coasts of Hokkaido, served at Nijo Market and at the city's sushi counters. Sapporo is also the home of miso ramen, soup curry and jingisukan, lamb grilled at the table on a domed iron plate.
Is Sapporo worth visiting?
Yes, as the gateway to Hokkaido and for its food, which is among the best in Japan. It is a calm, spacious city with Otaru, the onsen of Jozankei and the lakes of Shikotsu-Toya National Park all within easy reach.
Where is the best area to stay in Sapporo?
The centre, between Sapporo Station and Odori Park, within a walk of the sights, the shops and the counters of Susukino. Jozankei, about an hour south-west, is the onsen area for a quieter night.
What are the best day trips from Sapporo?
Otaru, the canal port forty minutes away by train, often combined with the Nikka distillery at Yoichi; Jozankei for an onsen in the gorge; and Lake Shikotsu, the clear caldera lake south of the city.
What is Sapporo known for?
Its grid of wide avenues, Odori Park, the Snow Festival that takes place there each winter, Sapporo beer, and the seafood and ramen of Hokkaido. It hosted the Winter Olympics of 1972.
Which Luxury Japan Travel journeys include Sapporo?
The Summer Tour of Hokkaido, The Cherry Blossom Tour of Hokkaido and Pure Hokkaido include nights in Sapporo. The Custom Tour of Japan can include Sapporo on any dates, created around your party alone.
Can Sapporo be part of a private tour of Japan?
Yes. The Custom Tour of Japan is created around your party alone, on your dates, with a Tour Director beside you, and it can include Sapporo. For independent travel, the Expert Japan Itinerary plans every day for you.
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Every place in Hokkaido
Sapporo, planned for you.
Tell us when you would like to travel and what draws you to Sapporo. We will answer with a journey shaped around it: one of our tours, a journey of The Private Collection, or a Custom Tour of Japan created around your party alone.