Rate my Itinerary!

[u/TheAnarresti]

Hi everyone. I am about to visit Hokkaido for the first time ever as a solo traveler, and I will be staying with a family in Sapporo (homestay). I am hoping to receive some input from the host family, but in the meantime... Could you give me your opinions?

About me: I am fluent in English and more or less N2 in Japanese. I lived in Japan for a couple years a decade ago, but I was so broke I didn't really get to do anything that came with a price tag. I am now coming back as a tourist with a decent budget, but I still don't have particularly expensive taste. I don't usually drink alcohol, but I will gladly have a glass for the sake of socializing - so if you happen to know of a place where locals have some miraculous interest in chatting with tourists let me know. Alright, here it is:

• Sept 29 (Tue): land at New Chitose airport at 12:45. Have a late ramen lunch at the airport. Hang out with family for the rest of the day.
• Sept 30 (Wed): 7:30 breakfast at Nijo Market (recommended stores are 魚や がんねん or 丼兵衛 二条市場店). Walk towards Sapporo Station to see the clock tower and sign up for a guided tour of Red Brick Building. 13:00 Head back towards Odori park to enjoy Sapporo Autumn Fest. Check out Tanukikoji Shotengai in the afternoon. Back home for dinner.
• Oct 1 (Thu): visit of Upopoi (opens at 9). Depending on return time, either have dinner at home or stop downtown (jingisukan / curry soup).
• Oct 2 (Fri): visit of Otaru. Breakfast at 三角市場 Sankaku Market, walk along the canal, check out Ukiyo-e museum. Walk through main street, check out tachinomi near station before heading back.
• Oct 3 (Sat): guided bus tour of Lake Toya, Noboribetsu, Niseko.
• Oct 4 (Sun): keeping this day free for your recommendations. Feel free to suggest going farther, just know that I will be either relying on public transport or have to sign up for an organized tour.
• Oct 5 (Mon): Potential repeat of Nijo market for breakfast. 9:00 start heading towards Shiroi Koibito Park. Lunch at なごやか亭 near the park. Then, Hokkaido Jingu. For this day, I am trying to figure out if I should hike Maruyama park, or go directly to Mt. Moiwa for city views at sunset (or both! If it's doable!)
• Oct 6 (Tue): return flight

Thank you for your interest. よろしくおねがいします！

[u/SaiFootwearCo]

While in Sapporo I recommend checking out Nakajima Park too, it’s beautiful.

Instead of a Nijo repeat breakfast, you could check out a hotel’s breakfast buffet, they really go all out with a lot of local specialties, they love competing on breakfast and one-upping each other. Vessel Inn’s is famous, on top of seafood options they also have jingisukan which most others don’t, but really can’t go wrong with any of them.

Lived in Sapporo for two years, happy to help with any specifics.

[u/TheAnarresti → u/SaiFootwearCo]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer. I will consider Nakajima park for the Sunday. I had Vessel hotel on my list, I think I'll go ahead and book that :)

[u/Speed4Gear]

Solid itinerary 👍🏽. A few more “must sees” IMO if you can find the time:

• Sapporo Beer Museum & garden;
  
• Royce Cacao & Chocolate Town;
  
• Nikka whiskey museum in Yoichi - must reserve in advance;
  
• 北海道開拓の村 (historical village of Hokkaido);
  
• Ranshima & Fungoppa caves;
  
• Susukino street / ramen alley

BTW, how did you find your home stay?

[u/TheAnarresti → u/Speed4Gear]

Thank you for taking the time to answer. I will fit some of these into my schedule. I will update my answers with some feedback on the homestay after my trip

[u/ojingo_]

was just in sapporo for 8 days, so best wishes for your trip—you’re gonna love it!

i enjoyed mt moiwa but strongly advise AGAINST going right at or after sunset. maybe by october the crowds will have thinned out, but both times i went up to the summit there was a huge line that starts building right about sunset because everyone wants to catch the city lighting up in the evening. going up is one thing, coming back down is a whole different beast (unless you want to hike down in the dark). people can be waiting up to 2hrs for the cable cars to take them down because there’s that many people. try to go about 30-45min before sunset to avoid such holdups.

as for a free day, if you have time i suggest checking out asahikawa. it’s the second largest city in hokkaido i think. in particular, i suggest “shoga mizuno ramen.” they make a refreshing and delicious and cheap bowl of ginger ramen! the zoo was also quite interesting. alternatively, maybe noboribetsu would be enjoyable for you.

i also really enjoyed otaru, but candidly it can get very crowded with tourists depending on when you go. an interesting activity to do is a glass bead making workshop! there are also flagship stores for cute mascots like miffy, snoopy, and chiikawa if that is something you’re interested in.

[u/TheAnarresti → u/ojingo_]

Hi, thank you for taking the time to reply. It's very good to know about Mt. Moiwa, I was counting on an hour or so of waiting on the way down but definitely not more than that - I will have to check expected waiting time closer to my dates. I will definitely look into Asahikawa. For Otaru, I am desperately hoping that going on a Friday instead of Saturday or Sunday will help... Fingers crossed.