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December 26, 2023 update

2023 Sapporo Snow Festival – Our visit the day before Part 1

We went to the Sapporo Snow Festival in 2023.

Hotels were hard to find and expensive during the event, so we stayed in Sapporo the day before and then in Otaru, Noboribetsu, and various other hot spring inns around Sapporo.

First, we enjoyed Sapporo’s famous ramen at New Chitose Airport before heading to Sapporo.
It takes less than 40 minutes to get from the airport to Sapporo by JR train and a little over an hour by bus.

After arriving in Sapporo, we checked-in at the “Premier Hotel Nakajima Park Sapporo” and left our luggage there. We booked a premier twin room, which had a great view.
（Premier Hotel Nakajima Park Sapporo：Agoda >　Booking.com > ）

While walking leisurely along the snowy roads from the hotel, it took about 15 minutes to reach the “Susukino Site.”

At “Susukino Ice World,” you can see a variety of ice sculptures on the theme, “Finding Delight in Ice.” During the event, people can walk on the streets and there are certain times when you can see the sculptures up close, but since it was a day early, we saw from the sidewalk.

We still fully enjoyed them.

Creation process.

From the “Susukino Site,” it takes less than 10 minutes to walk to the “Odori Site.”
Because we couldn’t go through the site, we saw it from an intersection.

Our main goal for the day before was to visit at night, so we waited for the lights to come on while eating soft serve ice cream at KINOTOYA cafe.
Even though the weather’s cold, we really recommend Hokkaido’s soft serve ice cream!

With the lights now on, we began our night visit.
The area around the site was beautiful.

You cannot enter the site, so we visited from outside.

Even a day early you can enjoy the sculptures with the lights on.

You can’t see them from the front, but we enjoyed the overall atmosphere.

It’s cold, so we ended our visit here.

Dinner was grilled mutton on a hot plate (Genghis Khan) and draft beer.

On the way back to the hotel, we saw the “Susukino Site” with the lights on.

They were still preparing the site.

When we returned to the hotel, we were greeted by a beautiful night view of snow-covered Sapporo.

The weather was nice the next morning, and the mountains were stunning.

We went to the main site after checking out. It was already crowded and buzzing with activity.

Everyone was taking pictures with the snow sculptures in the background.

Snow sculptures of characters.

Dinosaurs.

Horseracing.

Shohei Ohtani.

I went up the TV tower.

You can check out the site from above. Daytime is nice, but the night view is also popular.

We were able to take the stairs down from the observation deck. We watched the site come closer and closer into view.

Our tour ended in the morning, so we headed to the hot spring resorts near Sapporo.
The Sapporo Snow Festival is famous for its large scale and lively crowds, and it’s well worth seeing at least once. Make sure to check it out!

Go on to “Part 2: Otaru Kourakuen – Journal of our stay” >>