Thought i'd share a summary of my trip to Hokkaido last week. 4th time to Japan, but first time to Hokkaido. The main objective is to experience snow, the really cold climate and see the well known Snow Festival. Spent 7 days there + 1 day worth of air travelling to and fro. Mainly concentrated at Sapporo and half a day at Otaru (which had a bit too much snow when we got there). Never really had an itineary planned, we didn't wan to travel around that much and most of the time we just go as and when. Not making full use i know, we didn't want to cram so many activities and get tired at the end of the day, everyday.
Booked JAL for my entire trip. First to Haneda (red eye flight), then to New Chitose via JAL domestic. Only had 1 hour 40mins before the transit flight and it was rushed. Domestic terminal was at another building, so had to take the free monorail (ticket given when you approach the domestic counter at the right after you exit) then rush to check-in luggage.
Reached New Chitose, took train to Sapporo. My accomodation was at Hotel Gracery, which is less than 5 mins from the station. Took underground route which had some stairs but no big issue. Rest of the day was spent looking to buy additional warm clothings. I had the light foldable puff jacket which kinda did the job, but we decided to get something more substantial. The ones from GU we got were great and affordable, only 5000yen and really kept us warm for the rest of the trip.
Next day was just roaming around the underground mall that stretches from Sapporo station and all the way to Susukino.
3rd day was the day trip to Asahikawa zoo via the Klook package. Wah liao i tell you, the meeting point chaotic, because there is also the start for other places like Lake Toya, Noboribetsu etc etc. Then the whole thing you effectively spent most of the time in the bus really. Each location you were given such limited time, example at the zoo, first thing you get down you chiong to the penguin walk location, which is at the bottom of the zoo. Why? because you'd want to get the good viewing spots. Just follow the crowd.Once done, you only have like half hour to see the other animals and get back out the same way in, which is upwards. Many of the paths were slippery, saw many ppl slip and slide. Next activity was snowmobile ride. That was fun + the location had great views of the far away snow mountain ridges. After that was to go see this lone christmas tree. That was really meh. Finally last location was Ningle Terrace, again very limited time. You literally only had time to go the toilet at the nearby hotel (which is very packed), and then walk back to the bus, that's it. Then it was back to Sapporo via the long winding downhill route. Can't say i enjoyed this whole day, but at least I know what/how to plan for these places in the future.
Day 4 was to see the Beer Museum. Could've taken the bus, but we walked there cos only 2km away from hotel. Free self tour and 1000yen to taste 3 different kinds of beer. Also got cool and interesting souvenirs.
Later evening we saw there was a ferris wheel somewhere in town, so we went there. Literally no one lmao. That building also anime merch and toy stuff below. Ended day with soup curry. It was really good. Soup Curry Rojiura was what we had.
Day 5, go to Otaru. Dammit, took the train and it was paaaacked. Reached there, it was snowing like hell. This was during the period where the news was reporting record snowfall and we really saw that. Went to the canal and lol can't see shiat
There was also occassional gusts of wind which was reeeeeeally cold. Not much to do there, just had scam expensive seafood at the Syokudo market and took the bus back to Sapporo. Dropped off at Odori park to see the clock house, the TV tower and glimpse of the snow festival exhibits.
Day 6, went to Tsudome. A family fun area for kids to play snow and ride the long ice slides down. Then went to Mount Moiwa Ropeway. We went there at around 4pm, just nice no crowd at all, no waiting. Even had the photo taking spot to ourselves for a good amount of time. Just before 5pm is where the crowd came. Reached the bottom and the queue already started at the drop off entrance. Later at night went to Susukino to see the Ice Scuptures and had jingisukan. Prepare to get smelly and smelling like lamb after that.
Day 7 was our last full day in Sapporo. We decided to go to Chitose airport to roam around abit because when we landed there we saw some interesting things but was a hassle to lug our luggage around. Also wanted to familiarise a bit of the layout so that when we leave Sapporo and check in at the airport, we know where to go (our flight was in the morning). Took the train to airport, then took the limo bus back to town.
Then it was some last minute shopping and then to see the rest of the Snow Festival exhibits at night.
Last day flying back. This part was a bit interesting because, though the whole flight trip i booked under JAL, the return to Tokyo Narita flight it was codeshare with Jetstar
. Ok, i thought check in is through JAL cos my itinary says JLxxxx mah, but no i have to check in at the Jetstar counter instead which it had its own flight number. Ok nvm. Long queue, it's ok. Delayed flight because plane came in late. Ok sure. Boarded plane, soon after captain informed there is another delay due to baggage loading issues. extra 30 minutes. Fine. Reach Tokyo about an hour later than schedule, while waiting to claim baggage and go to another terminal check in our connecting flight, a staff came running down and informed that some of our baggage were actually offloaded back in Hokkaido due to overloading (which was the cause of the delay). As you may guessed, ours were affected. So the staff were trying explain to us that the remaining baggage will come in the next flight and they claim they will send the directly to your final destination, be it hotel or home residence
.
Wah siao. Good thing our connecting flight was about 5 hours later after the suppose scheduled transit flight, but that whole thing took up about 2+ hours. Ended up they had us fill up some form, said they will send our luggage to us blahblahblah and done. lol we ain't got much choice but to just go check in to our flight back to SG, without our luggage.
Fortunately 7 hours later in SG, we found out at the belt that they did manage to directly transfer our luggage directly to our flight in time. Phew.
Overall, i enjoyed the trip. Walking in actual snow, stepping on slippery ice, getting blasted with freezing cold winds was such an experience. I know for the locals there they hate it lol, but for us hot climate people, it is such a different thing. Learned a lot about handling cold and how much body reacts... also what clothings work and don't work. For sure there will be a future trip again soon.
