The Complete Sapporo Guide | Top 15 Things to do in Sapporo Japan

The Complete Sapporo Guide | Top 15 Things to do in Sapporo Japan

When you think of Sappuro, you may think of snow and beer. And while it is known for that, there is just so much more to Saporo. And today, we’ll dive into the things in and around Sapuro to see why you should add it to your Japan itinerary. Let’s go to Sapuro. [Music] Hey guys, Wong here and today we are going to dive into the snow and the beer of Sappo and plenty more. Some people love Saporo. So, let’s look into Sappuro and see why people love it so much. Saporo is Japan’s fifth largest city by population and is an amazing place to get food. Saporo also hosted the Winter Olympics in 1972. As Sapuro and the Hokkaido area are known for getting a lot of snow, and we’re talking a lot of snow. Sappuro receives around an average of 4.8 m to 6 m or 15 ft 9 in to 19t 8 in of snow per year and is the second snowiest city in the world. This record is only beaten by Omorei City, which is also in Japan and is surprisingly farther south than Sapuro. But the unique geography of that location makes the city average a staggering 7.9 m or 26 ft of snow per year, making it the most snowy city in the world. Sappuro averages a lot of snow, and that means a lot of snow related activities. like one of the most famous events in Sapuro and the first item on our list, the Sappo Snow Festival. The 2026 Snow Festival dates are February 4th through the 11th. The festival itself first started in 1950 when a few school students built some snow statues in Odori Park and it has grown into one of the biggest snow festivals in the world and attracts over 2 million visitors per year which if you think about 2 million people coming to the city over a 1 week span you can already imagine how expensive hotel rooms are going to be. The festival takes place along three different sites with the main location at Odori Park which is a long 1.5 km or nearly mile long park. The other two sites are the Suzukino site and the Sue Dome site. The sculpting and preparations for the event begin up to a month before the event itself as people work to create large and stunning snow and ice sculptures to participate in the international snow sculpture contest which started in 1974. In total, there are around 400 snow and ice sculptures at the festival. So, you will have plenty to look at as you explore and enjoy the festival. Some of the larger sculptures can be over 15 m or 50 f feet tall and 25 m or 82 ft long. The sculptures are also lit up at night, so you don’t have to come just during the day. The Suzukino site hosts many of the ice sculptures and exhibits around 100 of these sculptures in this popular district. The Sudome site is a little bit farther out than the other two sites, but this location is more familyfriendly with snow slides and snow rafting along with more sculptures and snow activities. All in all, the Sappuro Snow Festival is the largest snow festival in Japan and one of the biggest events of the year in Sapuro, so it is worth checking out. But again, just expect that it will be crowded. As I mentioned before, Saporro is known for snow and for beer. So, we can’t talk about Saporro without talking about beer. Mainly the Saporro Beer Museum. Saporro is Japan’s oldest beer brand. It was founded in 1876 with its famous crisp and refreshing premium logger. The Saporro Beer Museum itself is Japan’s only museum dedicated to beer. Something to know about the exterior of the museum is that as of the making of this video, it is currently under repair and the work is expected to complete in December of 2025. The museum itself is open from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with the shop opening till 7:30 p.m. The museum itself offers a free self-guided tour that will take you through the exhibition spaces on the second and third floors of the building. The path will walk you through the range of historic items from the history of Saburo Beer. It takes around 15 to 20 minutes for you to make your way through the exhibition and no prior reservations are required. The self-guided tour starts on the third floor of the building and will make its way down a one-way path to the first floor where it ends at the Star Hall, which is a tasting area for you to try different sapper beers. And costs range from $450 yen to $1,200 yen for the beers or roughly $3 to $8 and $200 yen or a bit over $1 for non-alcoholic beers or soft drinks. If you want a deeper dive into the history of Saparo beer, then you can take the paid guided tour which takes around 50 minutes and is limited to 20 people per tour time. This guided tour, in their words, will allow you to witness the dramatic visual retelling of the history of Sappuro beer through their impactful 6K theater. Afterwards, you can enjoy a tasting of the Sappo draft beer kuru label, which is a recreation of one of the original brews from the founding days of Saparo beer. Or for adults who cannot drink alcohol, they can choose from a non-alcoholic beer menu. and the soft drinks menu. This tour costs $1,000 yen for adults, which is around $7. And you don’t have to be of drinking age in Japan to go on this tour, which is 20. Anyone under drinking age will be able to select two drinks from the soft drink menu. The tour is entirely in Japanese with audio guide devices available in English and Korean, and that costs an additional 500 yen per device. You can book this tour online up to four weeks prior to your tour date. All right, now that we’ve talked through the snow festival and the beer museum, let’s look at other things Sabo has to offer. Starting with the Sappo factory. So, this is actually a shopping and entertainment area that was built on the site of the Sappuro Kaidakushi Brewery and includes some of the old red brick brewery buildings which were the first beer breweries in Japan. This complex was first opened in 1993 and there are around 160 shops, restaurants, and activities located here. There is a small functioning brewery in the building and you can try some of its beer here in the beer hall. This is a lively place to go and both experience some of the beer history of Sappo, but also enjoy shopping and restaurants all in one convenient location. Speaking of restaurants, if you are in Sapuro, there are a few mustry foods here. Some people argue that Sappuro has the best food in Japan. And Saporo and the Hokkaido region are known for having really fresh seafood and a few key dishes, one of which being soup curry. This dish is what it sounds like, curry with the consistency of soup and packed with veggies and meat. If you want to get some soup curry, then go to Sama Curry and Cafe where you can choose from their five different kinds of curries, add additional ingredients, and then choose your spice level from 0 to 30, with 30 being the most spicy. Then finish it off by choosing your amount of rice and soup. You can also try Saporo Ramen with their special miso base ramen. And if you want to get some of that, you can go to Ramen Alley or Ramen Yoko. And this small alley is known for its collection of small ramen restaurants which have authentic Sappuro ramen. When I say a small alley, I mean like a really small alley. You can totally miss it if you’re not looking for it. You can even book a ramen night crawl to have a local guide you through as you experience some of the best sappuro styled ramen at two restaurants as you learn the history and evolution of miso ramen. Though all of this comes at a steep cost. So personally I don’t know if this is worth it unless you are a historyloving ramen connoisseur. Make sure to spend plenty of time eating in Saburo and enjoy all of the amazing food here. If you want to learn to make some amazing food, you can also take the soba noodle making class at a restaurant in Sappo. This is a familyfriendly activity and children can participate as well as you are all guided by the soba chef to learn the entire process from prepping the ingredients like buckwheat flour to cutting the noodles as you use real utensils that are used in the shop. Hokkaido is Japan’s number one soba producer accounting for over 50% of the nation’s buckwheat harvest. So, if you are looking to learn how to make soba noodles, there is no better place to learn than here in Saporo. Now, one of the sites that hosts the Saporro Snow Festival is Suzukino, which is Japan’s largest entertainment district north of Tokyo. If nightife is your thing, then you will find plenty of bars, clubs, karaoke lounges, and activities in this area. And this will keep you entertained for your whole entire stay in Saporro. One location in the area that you can go to is the Nordbiza Mall, which is not a huge mall with only around 30 stores, but the top of the building does house a massive ferris wheel where you can enjoy stunning views of the city. This area can be compared to the Kabuki Cho area in Shinjuku in Tokyo. So, if that’s your vibe, then you will enjoy Suzukino as well. If you are into sweets or want a different bit of scenery, you can go to the Shirroy Coyito Park, which is a chocolate entertainment park that is operated by a Japanese confectionary manufacturer. Here you will feel like you are in a European town and makes you feel like you are in a fairy tale. The Shiroy Koito cookie is apparently the country’s second bestselling souvenir. Let me know what you think about that claim. The cookie with its chocolate filling is a reflection of Hokkaido’s rich dairy culture. The park itself has plenty of exhibitions featuring chocolates and the famous cookie. And of course, you can sample them as well. In their sweets cafe, you can purchase plenty of tasty items and some exclusive treats that can only be found here. There are some paid attractions here like the Chocotopia House where you will learn the secrets of chocolate and learn more about the revolutions that have brought us the chocolate that we know and love today. You can also make a reservation for the sweets workshop dream kitchen where you will take a cookie making course and a chocolate making course. There is plenty to do and see here and if you are into sweets then this is a must visit spot. If you want to get an amazing view of the city, you can go to Mount Moya, which is one of the mountains southwest of the city of Saporo. To get to the top of the mountain, you will take the Mount Moa ropeway, which takes you mostly up the mountain, and then you will transfer to the Morris car, which is a smaller cable car that will take you directly to the top. At the top of the mountain, you will find an observation deck, which is one of the lovers sanctuary satellite locations, meaning it’s a romantic spot to be. There is a bell surrounded by lights for you and your lover to stand and ring, all surrounded by the famous love locks that couples put up at various romantic locations here and around the world. There is a restaurant at the top as well if you want to enjoy a romantic meal here as you overlook the city. If you make your way a bit further outside of the city to the south, you will find the Makamare Takino Cemetery, which is one of the largest cemeteries in Japan and is a popular tourist attraction due to its unique statues and architecture. When you enter, you are greeted by a procession of Easter Island heads or Moai with the tallest ones being around 9.5 m tall or 31 ft tall. You will also find a full Stonehenge replica here as well. The cemetery does have a cafe which serves food and a special moai curry. There’s a lot of stunning architecture here, including the next item on our list, the hill of Buddha. This statue was made by the world-renowned architect Tadaw Ando and the way it was designed makes it quite unique as above the head pops out of the hill which is decorated with around 150,000 lavender plants. But if you walk through the 40 m or 131 ft tunnel, you will be greeted with the full statue surrounded by a dome. The statue itself is 13.5 m tall or 44 ft tall. Next, a bit farther south, if you want a day trip from Saporo, we have the Jigokuani or Hell Valley. This area has many steam vents and sulfurous streams among some other volcanic activity. And this all feeds the nearby Notorieten, which is one of Japan’s top onen resorts. The onsen is often called the department store of hot springs as this area has nine different types of mineralrich hotring water with a daily discharge of around 100,000 tons. This area is surrounded by these bubbling springs and steam vents which all contribute to the name Hell Valley. It is a little reminiscent of Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Though the hot springs here make it quite unique. The landscapes here are also breathtaking and definitely worth a stop to check out. Heading back to the city and going west this time you will find one of the top ski resorts in Saporo and one of the nominees for the top ski resort in Japan by the World Ski Awards. This is the Saporro Tene Resort. This ski resort holds the Olympic torch platform that was used in the 1972 Saporro Olympics. This resort also houses some of the runs used for some of the ski events. Then the ski resort has plenty of trails and the view of Saporo from the mountains as you ski down make it an amazing spot to be. A bit farther west you have the Nika Whiskey Yoyi Distillery which if you’re into whiskey can be a great stop along with the Saporro Beer Museum mentioned earlier. This distillery was founded in 1934 and you can get a tour of the facility with their free guided tour which lasts around 70 minutes and is conducted in Japanese. You will also get to sample some of their alcoholic beverages. You just need to register online for the tour in advance. A bit farther west from here, you will find Cape Camui, which is a scenic 80 m or 262 ft tall cliff that sticks out into the ocean. It’s very picturesque and it is a great hike along the 770 m or halfmile trail. At the entrance of the trail, there is a sign that says that women were once forbidden to enter this area. And this seems to date back from the olden days when there were no defined paths or handrails and women stayed away because of how dangerous it was. But today, everyone is free to enter and there is both a path and handrails to keep everyone safe. as it does get quite windy here. There is also a small lighthouse here that overlooks the sea from the top of the cliff and makes for great photos. If you are into nature and scenery, this is a great stop. Finally, making our way back to Saporro. One final stop is the Joani Onsen, which opened in 1866 and is a great spot to relax and enjoy as it is Hokkaido’s largest hot spring town. The hot springs here are known for their mineralrich waters and stunning scenery, especially during the autumn foliage. There is an abundance of places to stay of differing styles from full resorts to smaller rioons with varying public and private baths. So depending on what kind of experience you want, there’s plenty of options to choose from and enjoy the relaxing waters here after all of the walking in the cold winter of Saporro. The city of Sapuro and the surrounding area offer plenty to do, and people make trips to Japan just to go to Saporro and Hokkaido. And there is still so much I didn’t get to cover in this video. What’s your favorite thing in Sapuro? Let me know in the comments section down below. and I will see you guys in the next one. [Music]

Looking for things to do in Sapporo? There’s much more to Sapporo than the beer and the snow so let’s dive into some of the highlights of Sapporo and why people love this city so much. We’ll take a look at some of the more unique things from romantic mountains to volcanic valleys and of course we’ll look at the famous Sapporo beer and ski slopes as well. Let’s go to Sapporo.

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Chapters:
0:00 – Intro
0:27 – People LOVE Sapporo
0:50 – Snowiest Spot in the World
1:45 – Sapporo Snow Festival
3:56 – Beer
5:28 – Guided Tour
6:42 – Sapporo Factory
7:30 – Best Food in Japan
8:00 – Soup Curry
8:21 – Sapporo Ramen
9:18 – Soba Noodle Making Class
10:00 – Entertainment District
10:49 – Chocolate Park
12:00 – Romantic City VIew
12:51 – Popular Cemetery
13:28 – Hill Architecture
14:02 – Hell Valley
14:56 – Olympic Ski Village
15:32 – Whisky Stop
16:00 – A Scenic Cape
16:52 – Largest Hot Spring Town
17:34 – Final Thoughts

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