Trip Report: Sapporo Snow Festival 2020

Hi all

I was fortunate enough to go to the Sapporo Snow Festival this year along with a quick trip to Otaru for their Snow Light Path Festival. We were in Sapporo from February 3 to 9 and traveled with a toddler.

**Planning**

Try and book as early as possible. We booked our hotel around 7-8 months in advance and found that a lot of options were booked out. After booked the prices of hotels just went up, so best to plan ahead. If you can, try and go towards the end of the Snow Festival as it overlaps with the festivals at Otaru and Asahikawa. Also there are snow sculpture competitions that don’t begin until the start of the festival so you only see the completed sculpture towards the end.

**Weather & Clothing**

Coming from Australia it was cold, but apparently not as cold as previous years. Weather was usually around -5 to 0, with Otaru being slightly colder. Wearing layers, waterproof/water resistant boots and wind resistant clothing was essential. If you are unable to buy this before you leave then you can easily pick up clothing from Uniqlo and shoes from ABC Mart (and probably a bunch of other stores). Also, if you are travelling with a toddler then bring a carrier. Using a stroller/pram in the snow isn’t an option. It will also keep you warm having them close to your chest!

**Sapporo Snow Festival**

The Snow Festival is split into 3 sites with 1 unofficial site as well:

* Odori site – This is the main site with all the snow sculptures. It covers around 12 blocks with around a third accessible from the underground walkways. It takes around 3 or so hours to see all of it. There are plenty of food stalls, shops, events and photo spots along with way so you can easily spend a lot longer there if you take your time. We found it was too cold to see it all at once so would often take break to go inside or underground to warm up. We also went back at night to see part of it as you get a completely different vibe. We also went up the TV tower at night for views of the entire event which was worth it.
* Susukino site – This site is focused on ice sculptures. We went at night and it took us around 1-2 hours to see it all. It was great seeing it at night as the sculptures are lit up. There are also a couple of photo spots along the way.
* Tsudome site – This site is a shortish bus ride from Sapporo, around 20 mins and features a number of snow activities. There were slides, tubing, mazes etc. There is also an indoor area with some food stalls and other activities. We were there for a few hours in the morning and found it fairly quiet. If you aren’t interested in the activities then you can probably skip this, but if you are you could spend most of the day there.
* Nakajima Park – This isn’t part of the official festival, but from February 7 to 9 they had a light up event at night. There are a couple of sculptures at the entrance but the main focus is on the candles and lights scattered around the park. It was really nice to walk around and explore for a couple of hours and I would definitely recommend going to it.

**Otaru Snow Light Path Festival**

On February 8 we did a day trip to Otaru to see the Snow Light Path Festival. This was the eve of the festival, with it officially beginning on February 9, however they did have a launch event on the 8th. This involved some music and a few speeches to kick off the festival. The main snow path was lit up but we found it really crowded – moreso than what we experience at Sapporo. It was still enjoyable but I would recommend going another night if you can.

**Other Attractions**

This wasn’t our first trip to Sapporo so when we had free time it was focused on shopping, eating and kid friendly activities. A few activities we enjoyed were:

* Sapporo beer factory for a quick self tour and eating Genghis Khan in the beer hall
* Sapporo Science Centre is great of kids and if you want a break from the cold. It was pretty quiet and had a lot of interactive displays. They were in Japanese but were interactive enough that it was enjoyable for us.
* Otaru Aquarium was ok for a short visit. It is pretty small but has a couple of shows such as a penguin walk. We had previously gone to the zoo in Asahikawa which is much better but if it’s too far and you want to see the penguins then Otaru is a decent option.

Also, Asahikawa has a snow festival on at the same time. We didn’t end up going but something to consider. On previous trips to Sapporo we enjoyed the Mt. Okura Ski Jump Stadium and the Shiroi Koibito Park factory tour.

**Food**

Some of our favourite foods while there were:

* Soup curry – we had this most nights and tried a few different places. They all have slightly different soup bases and toppings so it was fun to try a few places. It’s great with the cold weather and a must try while there.
* Genghis Khan – we enjoyed having this at the Sapporo beer factory but there are a few other places you can go for it.
* Seafood – there are a lot of seafood options while in Sapporo and Otaru. We had dinner at Sapporo Kani Honke and really enjoyed it. Otaru also have a lot of seafood restaurants as well.
* Kinotoya – they have the best Hokkaido cheese tarts and we ate way too many of them. They also have great soft serve ice cream.
* Le Tao – they make a great cheese cake and lot of other desserts. They have a couple of cafes in Otaru but you can easily do take away in Sapporo from one of the department stores.

After Sapporo we headed to Lake Biwa, Kanazawa, Takaoka and Tokyo. If I have time I’ll do a write up of this in the coming weeks.

Hope you all enjoyed the read and happy to answer any questions!