We arrived in Hokkaido’s capital Sapporo and fell in love with it. We started our first day in Sapporo by walking to the TV Tower to get an overview of the city from above. Looking out, we spotted Odori park which stretches through the city center with lots of green space and opportunities to sit and relax while watching the bustling city life around you. (I say ‘bustling‘, but with just under two million inhabitants, Sapporo felt like a spa resort compared to Shanghai.)

Did you know that the 7-11 stores in Japan are just amazing? The ready-food and dairy section are great for on the go with lots of healthy snacks like edamame pods or salmon sashimi but also warm dishes like gyoza that the cashiers will happily warm up for you. So we made it a habit of stopping at almost every 7-11 that we passed to pick up an iced latte and a snack and that day we took our lattes and corn dogs with us as a pick-nick in the beautiful Hokkaido University gardens. The university area is huge with lots of different faculty buildings and beautiful gardens. After a stroll around the university, imagining being a student again, we made our way to the Sapporo Beer Museum, as Sapporo is famous for its beer in Asia! (My mum will be rolling her eyes if she reads this.) The old factory building felt cosy, but there was not that much to see inside the museum so we instead enjoyed the sunshine at one of the beer gardens. Prost!

Just before sunset we drove to the base of Sapporo’s Mt Moiwa, which was awarded as having one of the most spectacular night views in Japan. We had the best view from inside the ropeway when the sun was just setting over the mountains and it’s a shame we couldn’t take any pictures as the gondola was quite crowded. When you’re on the mountain viewing platform you can observe the city lights on one side and the picturesque mountains on the other (guess where most people were standing to take pictures?).

We hope you liked reading this as much as our previous post traveling through South Hokkaido and maybe we even made you curious to book your next holiday to Hokkaido? The next part will be about our last two days in Furano, which was so beautiful that it deserves its own post! If you have any questions about travelling through Japan’s northern island, just drop us a comment and we would be happy to advise you.

– Her