VLOG099 #japantravel #hokkaido #sapporo
Welcome to Hokkaido and the best places to go in 2024!
If you’re new here we’re James and Alex and today we are sharing with you our 23 top things to do in Hokkaido in the Northernmost island of Japan! This includes where to visit, attractions, and delicious food to eat in Japan. We cover some of the well known areas like Sapporo, Asahikawa, Abashiri, Shiretoko National Park and some places you may not have heard of in Hokkaido. Hokkaido is famous for its delicious food, amazing ramen, and natural beauty and landscapes! It is also a great place to enjoy winter sports and the snow. (We didn’t ski this time but there are also many ski resorts in Hokkaido.) Hope you like this video and helps you to plan a great trip! (You can click on the times below if you want to skip to a section)
23 THINGS TO DO IN HOKKAIDO TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
00:45 (1) Sapporo Snow Festival
01:19 (2) Ganso Ramen alley
01:52 (3)Sapporo Beer Garden
02:40 (4) JR Tower Sapporo
03:10 Sapporo Hotels
03:14 (5) Bespoke Hotel
03:26 (6) Yuen Sapporo Ryokan
03:53 (7) Nijo Market
04:18 Asahikawa
04:57 (8) Aoba Ramen house
05:22 (9) Asahikawa Winter festival
05:55 (10) Clark Horse riding
06:45 (11) Furarito
07:20 Abahsiri
07:44 (12) Drift Ice Cruise
07:59 (13) Abashiri food / Drift ice blue beer
08:22 (14) Cape Notoro
09:25 (15) Roadway to heaven
09:55 (16) Lake Abashiri Tsuruga
11:00 (17) Museum of Northern Peoples
11:23 (18) Utoro Drift Ice walking
12:05 (19) Namishibuki Ramen
12:24 (20) Oshinkoshin Falls
12:50 (21) Umi Ni Katsurada
13:00 (22) Kaiseki
13:30 (23) Snowshoeing
14:10 Outro
– Where we stayed in Sapporo: http://tinyurl.com/2e279u6j
– Where we also stayed in Sapporo: http://tinyurl.com/zff86vwf
– Where we stayed in Asahikawa: http://tinyurl.com/2huu9sdr
– Where we stayed in Shiretoko: https://tinyurl.com/mhcmsa4r
– Where to buy your JR Pass: https://www.jrpass.com/buy-the-japan-rail-pass-online?trans=10286763e34340983d859bc0261595&offer_id=15
– Sapporo Tour: http://tinyurl.com/292xb8ar
– How to book the Drift Ice cruise: http://tinyurl.com/4bm2pywd
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So after a 2hour trip from haneda we have made it to hak where James and Alex we travel full-time ticking off places around the world and we have just spent winter road tripping through Japan’s northernmost prefecture Japan is a country that we fall in love with more and more every
Time we visit and in this video we will be sharing with you our top things to see do and eat across Hokkaido exploring Japan through winter was a first for us and some of these activities will definitely blow your mind and perhaps even sway you to booking those flights
To Japan who thought it would snow so much in Japan but if you want detail Vlogs of our time here we will link the playlist in the corner now okay so what you’ve been waiting for starting this off in H’s Capital City the seoro snow Festival it’s a frosty Extravaganza held
Every year in February and make sure you bring winter gear because there will be snow imagine the best snow sculptures you have ever seen from famous landmarks adorable anime characters and some even the size of buildings there are sculptures absolutely everywhere in this park the attention to detail and some of
These sculptures is absolutely amazing so the saporo snow Festival is only on for one week out of the entire year so we are pretty lucky to be here while it’s on so after getting your steps in for the day why not warm up your soul with some mouth water in ramen D Ganso
Ramen alley this legendary alley is a Haven for ramen enthusiasts going back to the 1950s step into an alley of savory Aromas as Ramen Masters prepare bowls of perfection so you can tell which restaurants are more popular than others because the cues are ridiculous each door presents its own
Twist on the Beloved dish from rich and creamy miso Ramen which is famous in Soro to delicate soy based broths our favorite Ganso Ramen alley has it all but the hardest decision will be picking which restaurant to eat in Burns you inside but I love it next up is the
Sapora beer garden get stuck into an all you can eat genas KH barbecue and oh my gosh it was so good so guys we’ve got chicken we’ve got pork we’ve got lamb bean sprouts cabbage we are so surprised how much food we’ve actually made it through so far the barbecue typically
Starts from around 3,000 yen per person and they just kept bringing out food until we were full I have no idea what this is I think it’s po need to order some more and of course you can’t visit the saporo beer garden without trying a home brewed saporo beer
With a few different options to choose from including chocolate beer this dinner experience is a must and moving on to our next activity if you’re looking for panoramic views of saporo then head up to the 38th floor of the Jr Tower Observatory here we go wo
The admission fee is 800 Yen per person which we think is well worth it to see the skyline from this Vantage Point Sunset would be an awesome time to visit but we still got lucky as during our visit it began to snow you even have these views in the toilets how insan is
This you can literally pee with a view of saporo insane if you’re looking for hotels to stay in seora then we have a couple recommendations where we stayed our first night was at bespoke hotel this is more of a modern vibe in the center of Zoro it has a super cool
Industrial Vibe inside and the rooms were really comfy and spacious for Japanese standards the spoke welcome to H guys but our pick for hotels in Toro has to go to Yen Hotel this was an amazing stay with a good blend of traditional and modern Japanese charm we enjoyed the unique experience of
Standing in a ryen style room which has tatami floors and futon beds this is always one of our favorite ways to immerse into the cultural heritage of Japan plus the match in his and hers you cats are a nice touch top Parks you Soro full of Japanese in my
Hair before you leave Soro a place not to be missed is NI Market since hcard is surrounded by water fresh seafood is hugely popular here there are 15 Fisheries and fishmongers all selling their catch each day just to give you guys a perspective that’s the size of the crab
Legs and every store has a different offering and you can also grab fresh sushi inside the market itself curently this is a very popular place to have the freshest sushini it looks amazing the next region we will share with you is aahi Kawa located a little further north
Than Toro Asahi Kawa is the second largest city in Hokkaido the city is surrounded by stunning mountains and also holds the record for the CEST temperature ever recorded in Japan with temperatures sometimes dropping below to -40° C so we have made it to aahi CWA
And first up today is we are heading to a Ramen House to try some Ramen and the local Ramen here to try is the soy sauce which is called show you Asahi Kawa is considered one of the best cities in Japan for ramen lovers it’s well known for its delicious and varied Ramen
Including the famous Asahi Kawa style soy sauce ramen we stopped at Alba Ramen House a cute little store with a very long queue outside at lunchtime always a good sign it looks so good I’m going to smash this whole thing within minutes the owner even came
Outside in the cold to take our order ready for when we sat down inside honestly one of the tastiest ramens we’ve ever had the one yesterday was delicious but that just now another thing to add to your list in haido is the Asahi CWA winter festival also known as the ice sculpture
Festival we made it to the winter festival which started literally today this happens around the same time as the saporo snow Festival which is in February it lasts for around one week and the sculptures are extremely impressive dare I say these ones might be even better different to sapora
Though at night time the ice sculptures are beautifully illuminated which is pretty magical they even had a singer and fireworks for the opening night it was amazing now this next activity at Clark horse riding was without doubt a highlight of our entire trip we traveled around 20 minutes outside of aahi cow to
A local family who looked after these beautiful horses we’re about to do some horse riding I know horse riding through the snow never done that before oh I’m so excited it looks amazing outside so let how we don’t freeze after becoming acquainted with the horses we did a
Short treack through the forest in the snow and it was so magical that I actually cried it is snowing so much this is the best experience ever ever oh my God I have to say this has been one of the best experiences we have ever had
In Japan and I’d say it’s probably up there with some of the best experiences we’ve had in the whole entire world there is just nothing quite like it okay okay guys we have made it to fito fito is a former vegetable market in downtown Asahi Kawa which has now become a late
Night drinking and dining Alleyway there are isayas which are essentially a gastro pub ramen shops sushi restaurants Yakitori restaurants and bars that serve sake so I think we’re going to hunt down some delicious food there is plenty to choose from we stopped at one to try some yakatori and of course some Japanese
Beer this was a really fun and intimate sitdown experience where you can watch the chefs prepare your food our trip through hcard continues and the next place on our list is abashiri which is on the North Coast of Hokkaido and abashiri is where you can find the famous Drift Ice Drift Ice is
Essentially frozen water and snow turned into huge chunks of ice floating in the ocean it typically reaches the Coast of abashiri in mid to late January and disappears again by mid April the best time to view it is usually around the second half of February but because of
Global warming it’s becoming more and more difficult to witness one of the best and easiest ways to see the Drift Ice is from a Drift Ice cruise and this departs from the abashiri port and takes you out to sea where Drift Ice is more likely to be found the cruise takes
Around about an hour and run several times a day but again we can only reiterate you’ll be lucky to see it after your cruise grab a B in the abashiri PK food court we grabbed tonkatsu Cari and deep fried trout we can confirm both were absolutely
Delicious oh my God that is so good you’re going really like that and you also have to try Drift Ice blue beer it’s literally blue that is crazy this can only be found in this region so our driver kindly recommended a stop on the way up to where we’re going and this
Place is absolutely insane it is so cold I think it’s about Min – 13 right now and poor James is out here he’s flying the Drone but just wait to see what we can see through the Drone controller because it is Epic we were so gutted that we didn’t see any sort of like Drift Ice on the Drift Ice Cruise however However the fact that our driver recommended this spot which was only 15 minutes drive from the actual Port of where we took the cruise out and we’ve seen so much of
It we’re very happy like it’s amazing make sure you save where this Lighthouse is on the map we’ll put a link in the description below everything he just said now guys if you find yourselves going from abashir to Shiro then make sure you stop at what’s known as the
Roadway to Heaven I believe or the road to the sky there is this 28 km Road just behind us that is absolutely amazing there’s even a picture of a bear holding a selfie stick saying road to the sky pretty special spot especially during the winter with the sun setting and the snow
Everywhere in terms of accommodation in abashiri the next place we stayed at was one of the most special hotels in all of haido in our opinion this was the Lake abashiri suruga Resort whilst this was at the pricey end of cost at $400 it really was unique in so many ways the
Hotel itself is very Grand with nine floors of rooms and our room was huge and decked out inside in a traditional Decor it had futon beds sliding doors and a balcony outside the temperature is minus5 however if I tap on the feels like it says- 21 I’m so
Cold we also love the complimentary yukatas which we pretty much wore everywhere around the hotel one of our favorite Parts was the outside onon once we got past the freezing snow we could relax in this beautiful onon outside other features Inside the Hotel included a huge bar with an insane fireplace and
Even a place to listen to classical music and for breakfast they had one of the best spreads we love that you could heat your miso soup at the table and the buffet selection was extensive with a mix of Japanese and western food and located just 10 minutes around around
The corner is the Museum of Northern peoples this is a museum that shares history around the iru people who were the original inhabitants of Northern Hokkaido it also shares information on other subarctic regions around the world you can see how people used to live hundreds of years ago what they wore and
How they kept themselves warm in these freezing temperatures talking of freezing temperatures the next stop on our list takes us further up north towards chiro national park at a place called uturo where we took part in drift eyes Walkin go go go go go we’ve just been given a step-by-step
Guard as to actually how to put on our wet suit so we can pretty much take off quite a few layers because the wet suit itself isn’t just a wet suit it also keeps us very warm as well we’re a little bit nervous but I think we should
Be okay so I think we’re going to go get changed and uh get out into the Drift Ice similar to abashiri in this part of hiado there is an abundance of Drift Ice and you can go on a tour that actually takes you out to walk on top of it this
Is awesome and yes this is the only place in in Japan where you can do this now after that cold activity it’s time to heat up with some lunch and there’s nothing better than Ramen there is a restaurant called Nishi booki Ramen and it was the perfect meal to warm us up
This must be our like 10th Ramen so far on this trip you can’t come to Japan and not eat ramen at least once or twice a day or a day but I think we’ve had it for the past four days so we’re doing pretty good just up the coast is an
Amazing waterfall called Ashen koshin Falls and is rated as one of Japan’s best 100 waterfalls okay guys we’ve made it to Asen Cen Falls we were not sure if it was going to be frozen because it is about minus 12 at the moment but it is flowing and it looks pretty awesome it’s
Definitely worth climbing the slippery steps to the top to soak in this wonder if you’re looking for accommodation in Shira National Park then it’s worth checking out umini katsurada this is a traditional star rean with tatami flors and futon beds it’s located just in front of the ocean with amazing views
And offers male and female onson we definitely recommend the kisaki breakfast in the morning you simply have to try this when you’re in Japan the breakfast consists of many small plates made up of fresh fish an egg salad fruit warm rice and of course miso soup which
Is heated the coolest way by an actual candle light or the hottest coolest way or the hottest coolest way so yeah we’re going to get stuck in so that we have time to eat go pack and get ready for today’s activity which by the looks of
It is going to be absolutely epic now that we have our stomachs filled it was time for of the most exciting activities that we have experienced in Hokkaido snowshoeing in shirle National Park okay so our snow shoing tripadventure is about to commence I don’t know what to expect we’
Got our snow shoes on I guess now it’s time to go walk through the forest our Winter Wonderland trk through the forest has commenced to be able to walk through this amazing forest it’s nothing short of spectacular So that just about sums up our top things to see and do in hcard during winter we hope that you enjoyed this video and it has helped you plan your upcoming trip or at least helped inspire you to one day visit this beautiful part of Japan if you have any questions
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