Summer in Sapporo: Things you can do

Sapporo is widely known for its white and smooth snow during its winter season. Every year, this city will host the world’s most popular snow festival named as “Sapporo Yuki Matsui” which commence in early February. Apart from its glorious festival, Sapporo also has one of the best ski resorts located nearby the city.   

Sapporo is the fifth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Hokkaido. It is believed Sapporo is the coolest winter destinations in Japan. And with all winter themes attractions making up the image of Sapporo, what else can we do if we visit Sapporo out of winter season? I mean as for an example, summer in Sapporo?   

Temperature in Summer  

 As for my last visit to Sapporo during Summer, my initial thought about how the temperature will be during summer differs totally from what I have in mind. Wandering around the city with my shorts while enjoying ice lemonade. Little that I know in actuality, during the day, the temperature in Sapporo will be around 20°C and during the night the temperature will get as low as 13°C.   

With all the clothes I pack for my stay, it is totally inappropriate. However, I manage to get through it all. Oh well, lessons learned!  

Must try food  

i) Eat crabs  

Crabs are one of the foods you must try while in Sapporo. It is widely known that crabs are a major delicacy in Hokkaido. You could order crabs almost anywhere in Sapporo and it’s really not that hard to find for you to taste it.   

There are several ways you could enjoy eating it either eaten it raw, cooked or grilled.   

ii) Yubari Melon  

Yubari Melon is another brand that is well—known in Hokkaido. It has a bright orange color inside it and will be the sweetest melon you will ever taste.   

It is said that the high maintenance to produce this high-quality melon is what makes this melon expensive. Yubari King Melon once sold for a price up to JPY 3,000,000.    

Explore the cities  

i) Sapporo TV Tower & Mt Moiwa  

Sapporo TV Tower located in the center of Sapporo City and have a towering height of 147.2 meters. This tower offers a fantastic panoramic view of the city during night or day from the observation deck. With its majestic view, it is enough to make this tower as a symbol of Sapporo.  

Nominated as the top three best night view in Japan what makes Mount Moiwa popular. Mount Moiwa is a mountain located in the southwest of central Sapporo. With a high at 531 meters, Mount Moiwa offers you an observation deck reachable by cable car. They also have set up a “Happy Bell” at the top of the mountain which is a sacred place for lovers.  

What I love about how they operate their business is how honest and transparent they are. Before you even buy the ticket or redeem your cable car ticket, there will be a television which shows a live feed from the top of the mountain. You could check from the ticketing counter if the view above is worth to go or not. If the visibility is low, the staff will surely recommend to not buy the ticket and come again another day.   

ii) Tanuki Koji Shopping Arcade, Susukino  

Tanuki Koji Shopping Arcade is one of Sapporo’s famous place to visit. This shopping arcade host around 200 shops such as souvenir shops, karaoke bars, restaurants, fashion stores and many more along its 1km—long road from east to west. This street is the oldest shopping streets in Hokkaido and established around 150 years ago.   

My favorite shopping spot in Tanuki Koji is at Don Quijote shop. These humongous five levels shop open for 24—hours where a huge variety of items await your picking. I highly recommend if you short of times to buy souvenirs for your friends and family back home, you can just focus on this shop alone.  

iii) Odori Park  

Hidden in the center of the city that separates the city into north and south is where Odori Park located. This park spans about 1.5 km and an oasis to 92 types of trees which contributed to the increase in the greenery within Sapporo.   

This lush green park has fountains, flower beds and serves as a popular picnic and relaxation spot to locals and visitors. While during night time, this park will be dominated by local skaters and musicians who will showcase their talents to visitors. Odori Park is popular in winter, summer and autumn seasons.  

Explore farms tour  

A one-day bus tour is highly recommended if you want to visit all popular farms without wasting your precious time and money. Going from one farm to another will consume time and money as the farm located quite far from each other especially if you take public transportation. Hence, what we did last time is to book a one—day Furano and Tomita Farm Day Tour from Klook.   

Our day starts with a visit to Hokusei-no-oka Observatory Park to indulge ourselves in the stunning flower fields. After that, we head to Shikisai-no-oka where we get lost in the colorful sea of flowers, with over a dozen different species. This place has stunning panoramic views of Hokkaido’s natural landscape with rows of flowers that reaches the horizon.  

They then serve us with an authentic Japanese buffet for our lunch. This trip also generously includes all-you-can-eat Yubari Melon buffet for us. With our energy replenished, our guide takes us to Farm Tomita which offers us a vibrant color of lavender, poppy, cosmos, and Kasumi in the flower garden park. Inside the farm, there is a Popurri’s Inn, Perfume House, Flowerman House, Distilling Inn and Poppy’s Inn where you can observe the process of perfume are being made.   

Our last stops for the day will be the Ningle Terrace. This place is located in the forest of the New Furano Prince Hotel where it’s an area where you can leisurely stroll in beautiful cottages and enjoy shopping in the middle of nature.   
  

Jozankei Onsen   

It is estimated that 2.4 million people will visit Jozankei Onsen yearly making it as one of the most popular hot spring districts in Hokkaido. These hot springs are less than an hour’s drive south from the center of the city. There are at least 56 hot springs sources scattered around in Jozankei district which hot water at a temperature of 60°C to 80°C surface each minute.  

In order to reach here, you can hop on the Kappa Liner, a shuttle bus that departs from Sapporo Station, Odori, and Susukino which offers 13 daily shuttle services. However, this shuttle bus required a reservation before you can use them.   

Otaru Canal  

The history of the Otaru Canal started in the year of 1923, where this canal is being used to transport the goods from smaller ships to the warehouse until it became obsolete when modernization of facilities takes over. However, thanks to the locals, some parts of this canal were restored to be one of the leading tourists’ spots in Hokkaido and became popular.  

The Otaru Canal located around at least a ten-minute walk from the JR Otaru Station. Walk down Chuo Street towards Otaru Port and you will arrive at one of the three bridges going across the canal, Chuo—Bashi.  

The canal makes a pleasant stroll during the day with its cobblestone walkway, retro-designed gas lamps and stone warehouses which bring the canal back to its glorious times. While in the evening, the canal and the warehouses will all lit up and change the atmosphere completely different from during in the day.