Holiday In Hokkaido, Japan (December 2015)
The year end holidays started and this time we visited Hokkaido, Sapporo, Japan. We went to Tokyo during the mid-term break so we visited the same country twice in a same year. I guess the next stop is Osaka?
The whole trip was 5 days and 4 nights. As usual, we went to Hong Kong first before heading to Hokkaido.
Our flight to Hokkaido was at 9.15 am. We woke up at 7 am and ate our breakfast at home. We packed our stuff and soon we leave for the airport. We checked in and went straight to the boarding gate. We took off from Hong Kong International Airport at 9.25 am. The flight time was only 3 hour 55 minutes but we reached Hokkaido at 2.30pm as Japan is 1 hour ahead of Hong Kong. The tailwind from Hong Kong to Sapporo was strong so the flight arrived ahead of schedule, highest speed was 1092 km/h. I guess earlier on it was snowing heavily as most of the runway was covered with thick layer of ice.
By the time we cleared the immigration and claim our baggage at New Chitose Airport, it was already 3.45pm. The temperature in Sapporo was -1 degree celcius .
We took some photos and took the hotel's shuttle bus to Sapporo Station. I guess Sapporo Station is the hub in Hokkaido like Hamamatsucho station in Tokyo as many local tour agencies and bus were there. We went to enquire some local tour and we decided to join the Otaru tour the next day. We went to the top of JR Tower T38 which is an observatory deck. The lift was not an high speed lift so we took some time to reach the 38th floor. We could see almost the whole Sapporo from the observatory deck.
There were tables and chairs so you could enjoy a cup of drink while using their free Wi-Fi or enjoy the view of the skyscraper.We bought a few cups of coffee from the cafe and use their free WiFi service. By 3.30 pm, it was already dark as it's winter. We went to a restaurant in the Sapporo station mall and have our early dinner.
The food here was more pricey and premium. We took the shuttle bus back to our hotel to rest after dinner.
The whole trip was 5 days and 4 nights. As usual, we went to Hong Kong first before heading to Hokkaido.
Picture taken in Hokkaido, Japan.
Day 1
Our flight to Hokkaido was at 9.15 am. We woke up at 7 am and ate our breakfast at home. We packed our stuff and soon we leave for the airport. We checked in and went straight to the boarding gate. We took off from Hong Kong International Airport at 9.25 am. The flight time was only 3 hour 55 minutes but we reached Hokkaido at 2.30pm as Japan is 1 hour ahead of Hong Kong. The tailwind from Hong Kong to Sapporo was strong so the flight arrived ahead of schedule, highest speed was 1092 km/h. I guess earlier on it was snowing heavily as most of the runway was covered with thick layer of ice.
By the time we cleared the immigration and claim our baggage at New Chitose Airport, it was already 3.45pm. The temperature in Sapporo was -1 degree celcius .
We bought our bus ticket at the bus ticket machine and it cost 1070 yen. The bus arrived 45 minutes later. We boarded the bus and got down at Nakajima Park Station as our hotel was nearby . We needed to walk 10 minutes to reach our hotel (it's only 300m away from the bus station but the roads were covered with ice and its slippery so we took a longer period to reach) . We refreshed up and walk around the area. We manage to find a ramen restaurant and ate our dinner there. Japanese really like ice water even during winter as most of the restaurant served ice water during winter.
After having dinner, we went to a Lawson supermarket to grab some bread for supper. Although outdoor was really cold, the room was really stuffy as the hotel's rooms aircond were all switched off and the windows can't be open.
Day 2
We woke up and went straight down to the coffee house to have our Japanese and western style buffet. I guess its the cheapest buffet in Hokkaido as it only cost 1650 yen per person. We went to Nakajima Park and enjoy fluffy snow over there.
We took some photos and took the hotel's shuttle bus to Sapporo Station. I guess Sapporo Station is the hub in Hokkaido like Hamamatsucho station in Tokyo as many local tour agencies and bus were there. We went to enquire some local tour and we decided to join the Otaru tour the next day. We went to the top of JR Tower T38 which is an observatory deck. The lift was not an high speed lift so we took some time to reach the 38th floor. We could see almost the whole Sapporo from the observatory deck.
There were tables and chairs so you could enjoy a cup of drink while using their free Wi-Fi or enjoy the view of the skyscraper.We bought a few cups of coffee from the cafe and use their free WiFi service. By 3.30 pm, it was already dark as it's winter. We went to a restaurant in the Sapporo station mall and have our early dinner.
The food here was more pricey and premium. We took the shuttle bus back to our hotel to rest after dinner.
Day 3
We went to Sapporo Station to have our breakfast before gathering there for the Otaru tour. This is a audio speaking tour so the tour guide didn't speak any English, which is hard to communicate. The journey took approximately 1 hour and soon we reached Otaru. Our first stop was a sake shop. My parents tasted some sake and bought some too.
Our second stop was the famous Otaru canal. There was many tourist there especially mainland chinese. We walked along the canal and enjoy the cold breeze.
Public toilet there was surprisingly acceptable. We went for our lunch shortly after visiting the canal. Suprisingly, our lunch were western and Japanese style buffet in a premium hotel. Food was up to expectation and the view of the port was absolutely amazing. Service was great too.
We soon got back to our bus and proceed to our next destination, which is a sake factory. A few workers explained about the sake making process in Japanese so forget about it, we don't understand Japanese.
There were sake for sale too. My parents bought two bottles of sake from the shop. The tour guide dropped us off at a designated drop off place. Around the area were tourist attractions. They provided us a Otaru map and we wanted to buy some Otaru famous seafood such as Hokkaido crab , scallops etc. After searching online the night before, we found out that Sankaku Fish market is among the famous in Otaru. Unfortunately, we wasted much time finding that place but in the end we didn't manage to stumble upon. We were force to settle with a fish market nearby as time was running out. There were many kinds of seafood for sale. They even grilled Hokkaido crabs and fresh oysters after purchasing them. One whole Hokkaido crab cost 17.5k yen and a crab leg cost 3500 yen.
We bought some scallops and Hokkaido crab and soon we leave for our next destination.
Our last stop of this tour was Mountain Tengu. Upon reaching, we walked up a slippery sloped before taking the cable car up to the mountain. According to the weather forecast, temperature at the top of Mount Tengu was -11 degree celcius. The cable car took 5 minutes to reach the top. It was indeed cold and the snow there was fluffy and soft, just like flour or cotton. From the top we enjoyed the view of Otaru and its surrounding. There was also a designated balcony for tourist to snap pictures instead of the slippery skiing path which you may fall easily after slipping.
It was soon dark and we were freezing (hands were numb). We immediately headed in to the cafe to have a cup of hot drink. It was around 5pm and we took the cable down. While walking down the slopes before reaching the bus, the ice was even slippery like an ice skating ring ( I guess the ice had harden). It took us sometime to reach the parking area.
Our second stop was the famous Otaru canal. There was many tourist there especially mainland chinese. We walked along the canal and enjoy the cold breeze.
Public toilet there was surprisingly acceptable. We went for our lunch shortly after visiting the canal. Suprisingly, our lunch were western and Japanese style buffet in a premium hotel. Food was up to expectation and the view of the port was absolutely amazing. Service was great too.
We soon got back to our bus and proceed to our next destination, which is a sake factory. A few workers explained about the sake making process in Japanese so forget about it, we don't understand Japanese.
There were sake for sale too. My parents bought two bottles of sake from the shop. The tour guide dropped us off at a designated drop off place. Around the area were tourist attractions. They provided us a Otaru map and we wanted to buy some Otaru famous seafood such as Hokkaido crab , scallops etc. After searching online the night before, we found out that Sankaku Fish market is among the famous in Otaru. Unfortunately, we wasted much time finding that place but in the end we didn't manage to stumble upon. We were force to settle with a fish market nearby as time was running out. There were many kinds of seafood for sale. They even grilled Hokkaido crabs and fresh oysters after purchasing them. One whole Hokkaido crab cost 17.5k yen and a crab leg cost 3500 yen.
We bought some scallops and Hokkaido crab and soon we leave for our next destination.
Our last stop of this tour was Mountain Tengu. Upon reaching, we walked up a slippery sloped before taking the cable car up to the mountain. According to the weather forecast, temperature at the top of Mount Tengu was -11 degree celcius. The cable car took 5 minutes to reach the top. It was indeed cold and the snow there was fluffy and soft, just like flour or cotton. From the top we enjoyed the view of Otaru and its surrounding. There was also a designated balcony for tourist to snap pictures instead of the slippery skiing path which you may fall easily after slipping.
It was soon dark and we were freezing (hands were numb). We immediately headed in to the cafe to have a cup of hot drink. It was around 5pm and we took the cable down. While walking down the slopes before reaching the bus, the ice was even slippery like an ice skating ring ( I guess the ice had harden). It took us sometime to reach the parking area.
We reached Sapporo town at 7pm and went straight back to the hotel room and enjoyed seafoods
that we bought in Otaru.
Day 4
As usual, we took the hotel shuttle bus to Sapporo station. Today we decided to visit Jozankei which is famous for its hot spring and I was like yeah as this is my first time trying. We bought a package (Return bus ticket and hot spring entrance ticket) at the tour agency office. The journey from Sapporo station to Jozankei took about 1 hour.
We reached Jozankei at 1p.m and we wanted to visit the suspension bridge in a park in Jozankei but unfortunately the bridge was closed for maintenance so forget about it.
We walked quite far, around 30 minutes before reaching a dam. Part of the dam was covered with ice but there is still water flowing.
We walked back to the onsen (hot spring) at 3 p.m. Many of the onsens were closed. We have no choice but to go to the hotel's onsen instead of the traditional onsen and we still need to pay for the towels. Everyone was naked in the onsen. The indoor onsen was like a swimming pool with hot water that's all. Its not what I expected (saw on television). There were also steam bath room and sauna. We were not allowed to film inside the onsen so there's no photo to show. We left Jozankei at 6pm and went back to Sapporo. We ate our dinner at the Sapporo Station's mall before taking the subway back to Nakajima-Koen subway station. We also bought supper back to the hotel.
Day 5
So today we're leaving Hokkaido already. We woke up early in the morning and packed our staff, preparing to check out. We checked out at 11 am and took the hotel shuttle bus to Sapporo Station. We took the Jr New Chitose Airport line to New Chitose Airport. It was efficient as the train arrive every 15 minutes. The journey took 37 minutes and It cost 1080 yen per person. Our flight back to Hong Kong was 4 p.m so we still have time to shop at the airport as we reached the airport at 12.40 p.m. We ate our last meal in Hokkaido at the airport.
The airport was suprisingly huge. It have many F&B restaurant and shops. We soon have to say goodbye to Hokkaido, Sapporo, Japan. We took off at 4.10pm and it took almost 6 hours to reach Hong Kong due to the headwinds. The aircraft was only travelling 500+ km/h.
I've also done a Hokkaido Trip Vlog.
I guess that's it. We indeed enjoyed our self in Hokkaido. I really love the weather there and I will sure be visiting again if I had a chance. I hope enjoyed it and stay tune for more holiday experience in the future.
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