Sapporo

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Sapporo Clock Tower (16144265946), Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Sapporo (31503219368), Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Hokkaido Prefectural Office02s5s4272, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

About Sapporo

Snow sculptures the size of buildings, bowls of butter-topped miso ramen and a grid of wide, tree-lined avenues: Sapporo is Japan's great northern city and the gateway to Hokkaido. With close to two million people it is the country's fifth-largest city, yet it feels spacious, with mountains rising just west of the centre and ski slopes within the city limits.

The city is young by Japanese standards. In 1869 the new Hokkaido Development Commission chose the site, and planners laid out the rational grid that still makes it easy to navigate, with Odori Park as a green spine dividing north from south. Western advisers shaped the early colony, leaving landmarks such as the 1878 Clock Tower and a brewing tradition that began in 1876. The 1972 Winter Olympics put Sapporo on the world map.

February brings the Snow Festival, summer brings beer gardens and lilacs, and autumn colours the Jozankei gorge. Seafood from Nijo Market, Genghis Khan lamb barbecue and soup curry make eating here a highlight in any season, and New Chitose Airport links the city to all of Japan.

Best seasonEarly February for the Snow Festival; June to September for mild, low-humidity summers

Ideal stay3-4 days, plus a night at Jozankei Onsen

ArrivingNew Chitose Airport, about 40 minutes by JR rapid train to Sapporo Station

Exploring Sapporo: 12 Must-See Spots

Landmarks 1

Sapporo Clock Tower

Built in 1878 as the drill hall of the Sapporo Agricultural College, this white wooden building with its American-made tower clock...

Parks 2

Odori Park

Stretching about 1.5 km east to west through the centre, Odori Park divides Sapporo into north and south and is its main stage all...

Moerenuma Park

Designed by the sculptor Isamu Noguchi and built on a former waste landfill, this huge park treats the whole landscape as art. Hig...

Temples and Shrines 1

Hokkaido Shrine

Founded in 1869 as the island was being settled, Hokkaido Shrine stands in the old forest of Maruyama Park and enshrines the deiti...

Viewpoints 2

Mount Moiwa

Rising to 531 metres south-west of the centre, Mount Moiwa is reached by the Mount Moiwa Ropeway and a small cable car that finish...

Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium

Built for ski jumping and used at the 1972 Winter Olympics, Okurayama still hosts World Cup events. A chairlift carries visitors t...

Museums 2

Sapporo Beer Museum

Housed in a handsome red-brick building from the Meiji era, this museum tells the story of beer in Japan, which in Sapporo goes ba...

Historical Village of Hokkaido

In the Nopporo Forest Park on the city's eastern edge, this open-air museum gathers more than 50 historic buildings from Hokkaido'...

Food and Drink 1

Nijo Market

A short walk from Odori Park, Nijo Market has been feeding the city for more than a century with crab, salmon roe, sea urchin, sca...

Neighborhoods 1

Susukino

South of Odori, Susukino is the largest entertainment district in northern Japan, a grid of neon signs, izakaya, bars and karaoke....

Nature 1

Jozankei Onsen

Within Sapporo's city limits but about an hour by bus from the centre, Jozankei is a hot-spring resort set along the Toyohira Rive...

Family 1

Shiroi Koibito Park

Ishiya, the Sapporo confectioner behind the Shiroi Koibito white-chocolate biscuits, runs this whimsical park around its working f...

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