Travellers: Sapporo: The Vibrant City of Hokkaido (And Where to Stay)

Now, let's head to Hokkaido. First stop: Sapporo.

My last trip to Japan mainly focused on Hokkaido. Actually the only reason I went to Tokyo was because my Japan first-timer friend. I've been looking for Jakarta-Tokyo and Sapporo-Jakarta airplane tickets months prior to this trip. From my previous visits to Japan, I found that arriving and departing from different cities could be the most efficient way to save on the transportation fee. After weeks and months of ticket hunting, I found that PAL got the best deal for this route. I got my return tickets for around IDR 4,8mio, and sometimes cheap bargain came with a risk - in my case was 6 hours transit at NAIA airport (which was quite dull) on our flight back home.

Meanwhile, I purchased another flight ticket from Tokyo to Sapporo for around IDR 1mio (Jetstar with extra 20kg baggage). You could fly for one and a half hour or if you have JR Pass, you could actually ride shinkansen from Tokyo to Shin Hakodate then change to limited express local train from Shin Hakodate to Sapporo for a total 9 hours trip.

There are two parts of Sapporo which I recommended you to stay, and these two areas located quite near to each other. The first area is the Sapporo Station area. Sapporo Station is the main transportation hub of this city both for train and bus.

The other great things about staying in this area is its shopping malls! Sapporo Station is connected to few shopping malls and department stores (Esta, Daimaru, Paseo, Apia) with good restaurants and variety of shops.

Just a few steps from Sapporo Station is Odori Park, one of Sapporo Snow Festival main sites. Talking about snow, Hokkaido is known being colder since it is located in the northern part of Japan. It was early October when I went there, and it was around 25°-30°C in Tokyo but the temperature started to drop to 15°-20°C in Sapporo. It was even colder on the last few days of my trip.

I found a very good deal at Hotel Keihan Sapporo on my date of visit. It was a quite decent hotel, and I stayed there for a cheaper price than my stay at a hostel in Tokyo. Plus point: They have free bathhouse inside the hotel.

The next part of Sapporo you should consider to stay at is Susukino. Susukino is comparable to Namba or Shinjuku. Susukino is filled with lines of shops, eateries, and pubs decorated fascinating neon lights and signboards. Do stay in this area if you prefer a lively neighbourhood with late night eateries.

I stayed at The B Hotel Sapporo Susukino which was quite a good place to stay. Extra point for the free coffee machine at the lobby. Actually I got some video footages of the hotels I stayed in, but I was just to lazy to edit them. Let me add them later.

And of course, the store I headed back and forth in Susukino was Mega Don Quijote. I bought all kind of food and stuff here! I think I need to make another post about this place later.

Transport modes you can use in Sapporo are buses, trams, and trains. But I mainly moved around Sapporo Station and Susukino, so I just walked. I did walk with my 28" luggage from Keihan Hotel to the B Sapporo Susukino for around 30 minutes. Well, quite a good exercise before dinner.

Talking about this city won't be complete without talking about its food scene. But let's talk about it on my next post since I found that this post will be too long if I summarize all of it here. Meanwhile, let's enjoy a cup of coffee!

A friend said that Sapporo is not really her kind of city - she likes Tokyo better. But after my visit to Sapporo, I thought that it might be the vice versa for me. Sapporo is a vibrant and lively city with less crowd and hustle bustle that Tokyo which is perfect for me.