My Favorite Attractions and Food in Hokkaido
January 1, 2024
Wow Hokkaido, arguably my favorite Japan place – I don’t know, maybe because it was my honeymoon place, but also probably because of the great food and all the delicious desserts (they’re famed for their dairy – milk, cream, butter, cheese!). So good but I indulged a bit too much – as evidenced by the weight gain and the increase in my stomach girth. Aside from that though, I really enjoyed new experiences here – like skiing with my husband (a first time skier) and checking out Asahiyama Zoo (arguably the best zoo I’ve been to!)
So, here’s a rundown of all the attractions and food we tried while in Hokkaido. Note: This is NOT comprehensive, there’s a ton more I want to check out. But we only had four days, and we wanted it to be a chill trip, so this is it!
Attractions
#1 Asahikawa Zoo
This zoo is simply lovely. They were one of the first to spearhead this whole behavior exhibition – wherein they place animals in their natural habitat, and make it feel like the wild. I’ve never seen animals so beautifully happy and seemingly at peace? (I bet South Africa safaris would be like this too! Gosh, wish I could go soon). Some of my personal highlights here were the following: penguin walk, polar bear feeding, seal swimming, hippopotamus underwater. To learn more, check out my blog here: Asahiyama Zoo Experience and Tips on How to Maximize the Experience
#2 Skiing at Sapporo Teine Ski Resort
Great experiencing this with my husband (who was skiing for the first time!). We booked ski lessons, and it was just so convenient as the lessons included full ski gear rental too. In total, the lesson was 3 hours, and covered all the basic stuff you need to know to ski + allowed us to do a beginner’s run with the instructor. To learn more, check out my blog here: Skiing Adventure at Sapporo Teine Resort
#3 Seafood and Cheese at Otaru
Initially, I really wanted to go to Otaru for the Otaru Canal, which I’ve heard so much about and seen so many photos of. To be honest, once I saw the actual canal, I was like “this is it?”
Good thing Otaru also had the Sankaku Market (delicious, super fresh seafood at very reasonable prices – I’ll share a bit more in the food section below) and the dessert scene (Le Tao for their double fromage cheesecake, Kitakaro for their cream puff and their baumkuchen – extra moist and sweet, Rokkatei for the Marseille butter cake, essentially chocolate ganache sandwiched on a buttery sponge, and so on). It’s like a foodie paradise.
There’s also a music box museum, which was an interesting experience. I must say, their designs aren’t particularly WOW, but I was wowed by the sheer quantity and variety. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed by the glassware (Otaru’s supposed to be famous for their glasswork too), so that was a dud for me. Overall, I think you can spend a nice half day at Otaru then move on.
To go to Otaru, simply ride a JR Train to Otaru station. You can get off at Otaru Station (for Sankaku Market and the Otaru Canal) or at Minami-Otaru Station (for the town proper)
#4 Sapporo Beer Museum
I’ve been to the Kirin Beer Factory at Yokohama, which I thoroughly enjoyed since they walk you through the actual brewing. Plus, of all the Japanese beers, Kirin is my favorite. Hmmm Sapporo’s beer museum was definitely not as impressive, probably because the actual production isn’t here anymore. Plus the museum was in Japanese predominantly so as an English speaker, I couldn’t really glean much. In the end, we enjoyed the beer tasting – although I thought the 3 beers all tasted kind of the same, and we enjoyed souvenir shopping. We bought Sapporo Classic (only brewed for Hokkaido), as well as some cute Sapporo beer shirts and tote bags.
To get here, we rode a bus (following Google Map’s instruction). You can either pay the bus in cash (exact change preferred) or using your IC card (we had Suica cards, which we loaded up at a convenience store)
Fun fact: The top 4 beers in Japan are Asahi, Kirin, Suntory, and Sapporo. Josh made it a point to try all four beers before we left Japan.
#5 Panasonic Tower and Odori Park
Purely for photo purposes, pop by at night when it’s all lit up. But make sure to go here before 10PM, as lights out occur then. There’s not much to see or do here, but it is a famous site in Sapporo so just pop by and check it out
#6 Susukino
This is where all the restaurants and bars can be found, so for sure you’ll be hitting this place up. A famous landmark here would be the Nikka Whiskey sign – similar to the Glico sign of Osaka. No idea why they’re famous, but hey, just take a pic. Can’t hurt right?
A stone’s throw away would be the Ramen Alley. Very touristy, but also an experience, so be sure to check it out!
An interesting note: So when we first arrived at Sapporo, we thought it seemed a bit like a ghost town. We were walking above ground and were baffled with how few people we saw walking on the streets with us. For a large city, it certainly didn’t feel like it (population-wise). But the next day, we discovered a whole underground city network! So crazy. From Sapporo JR station all the way to Susukino station, there was roughly a 6km (my estimate, definitely not factual) underground walkway connecting all the malls and office buildings in the area. So THAT was where everyone was walking – protected from the wind and the snow. It was a super nice walk too since you pass by a ton of shops along the way. Such an experience.
Food to Try
Hokkaido is really famous for their food. I mean when you think Japan, you think ramen, katsudon, tempura, sushi etc right? And while certain towns might be extra famous for something, example: Kobe for Kobe beef, in general, you just kind of expect the same (great) food throughout Japan. Well, Hokkaido’s different. They really are famous for specific dishes that can only be found here. I wouldn’t say I went to the BEST restaurants in Hokkaido as a lot of them require reservations which we didn’t manage to do, so I’ve decided to just enumerate the dishes you MUST try and it’s up to you where you decide to try them. But make sure you don’t leave Hokkaido without trying them at least once.
#1 Soup Curry
Created in Sapporo, this was inspired by medicinal soup in China and curry in Southeast Asia. Unlike typical Japanese curry which is kinda thick and creamy, Hokkaido’s soup curry is thin and watery and comes with meat and a hefty chunk of vegetables. I LOVE IT. The soup curry goes really well with rice, and I swear they just cook their meat and their veggies so well. I’m not a veggie person as everyone who knows me can attest, but wow, I would totally get 2nd helpings of the veggies if I could. Personally, I think lamb soup curry is hands-down amazing, so that’s what I recommend you get
Where you can try it: Sho-Rin, Soup Curry Garaku
#2 Hokkaido Crab, Scallops, Botan shrimp, sea urchin
Japan is known for their sushi, but Hokkaido takes it a step further because they’re known for SPECIFIC seafood. I don’t know what they feed them, or if it’s the coldness of the water or what. But their crab, scallops, shrimp and sea urchin are all SO GOOD. The crab was so sweet and refreshing. The scallops were plump and creamy and so good. The botan shrimp so sweet. And the sea urchin were mmm delicious (but also really expensive).
Where you can try it: Sankaku Market (Otaru), Nemuro Hanama (JR Sapporo Station), Nijo Market (overpriced here though)
I need to wax poetic a bit here because damn, both locations (Sankaku Market and Nemuro Hanama) were just amazing
Sankaku Market
Definitely come here early, and NOT during lunch hour when it is PACKED. There are tons of stalls here selling seafood fresh (literally, the crabs were all alive and moving, and you can choose the crab you want cooked. They’ll weigh the crab in front of you, then you can agree on the cooking method) or sit-down (there are rice bowl options, where you can choose to have 3 to 4 to 12 different seafood toppings on top). Great experience! If you had to choose between Sankaku Market and Nijo Market, definitely go Sankaku. But of course, if you’re short on time and can’t go to Otaru, then Nijo would be the 2nd best alternative just to get that market feel. Having said that, Nijo is really more of a tourist trap and I think they’re rather overpriced compared to Sankaku
Nemuro Hanama
Consistently ranked #1 in Sapporo, this restaurant is SUPER HYPED. We went here 30mins before store opening and there was already a long queue (we were ranked 36 huhu). But it was soooo worth the wait, because everything was ridiculously fresh at dirt-cheap prices! 🙈
20 plates later (~2 per plate usually), we only spent 6,080 yen for two! Keep in mind we had huge ass Hokkaido scallops, king crab, otoro tuna, salmon, etc etc! No wonder this place is PACKED.
It’s technically a sushi conveyor belt restaurant, but they also have “special” items you can order direct from the chef. We chose to do a combo of the two. And swear, everything was just toooo good.
#3 Miso Ramen w/ corn and butter
Ramen is synonymous to Japan. Every time I go to Japan, and I’ve been to Fukuoka (which is famous for their ramen), I always always have ramen. So I wasn’t really expecting anything much from Hokkaido. But MAN, their miso ramen w/ corn and butter was delicious. I love how the butter made the ramen extra creamy, and the corn made it sweet (I like sweet stuff hehe). Delish, definitely give it a try.
Aside from the miso ramen though (famous in Sapporo), Hokkaido is also famous for their shio ramen (salt, famous in Hakodate) and shoyu ramen (soy sauce, famous in Asahikawa)
Where you can try it: Ichikura at Ramen Alley, Aoba (Asahikawa)
#4 Genghis Khan
A lamb barbecue dish – I have no idea how it became so famous in Hokkaido, given Japan isn’t known for their lamb. In fact, I’m fairly sure they import their lambs. But hey, why not right?
Where you can try it: Sapporo Beer Museum (famous for their eat-all-you-can Genghis Khan at a super affordable price)
#5 Ice Cream
So good. I’m not a huge ice cream fan, but Hokkaido had me eating ice cream every single meal. Their cream and custard are unparalleled. After tasting multiple iterations, I’m confident in my assessment that across the board, the soft serve ice cream served on this island is a cut above the rest. They must be feeding their cows something else here. Anyway, of the ones I’ve tasted, I consider Kinotoya Bake’s ice cream the best. Both in quality and quantity, truly the ice cream here provides the best value for money. At 440 yen, you get a towering swirl of ice cream that’s packed with custard goodness atop a delicious fortune cookie like cone.
A second contender would be Cremia. I actually had very high expectations of this ice cream given glowing reviews by friends who had tried it before, as well as the fact that they’ve won several awards internationally. This anticipation was made even more intense by the fact that it was so difficult to find, surprisingly. On our last night in Hokkaido, we intentionally sought out a place which sold Cremia. I’m sad to say, it did not live up to the hype. The ice cream was good, typical of Hokkaido’s offerings, but paled in comparison to Kinotoya. And sadly, I felt the lengua cone overshadowed the taste of the ice cream.
Where to try: Kinotoya Bake – Pole Town Underground Mall, The Soft Ice Cream House – Tanukikoji Shopping Street
#6 Cheese Tarts and Cream Puffs
Alas, I was unable to try the famous establishments for cheese tarts and cream puffs, but I have heard on good authority that Hokkaido Island also makes amazing tarts and puffs. And to be fair, the cheese tart I had from Kinotoya and the cream puff I had from (shockingly) the airport, were both really good.
#7 Sake
Can a trip to Japan be complete without going to a sake bar? Honestly, I quite like alcohol, but of all the alcohol variants, sake is the one I like the most as it’s practically water (only at 15%-20% alcohol content hehe). Super glad my friend recommended a sake bar to us (name and address down below). It was a bit obscure, found on the 8th floor in a building filled with sake bars, but when you enter, I was immediately impressed with the ambiance. The space was filled with different types of sake, as well as shochu.
Aside from us, you can really tell that the owner is a sake enthusiast, complete with a detailed explanation of the different sake types: refreshing, rich, aromatic and aged, which they shared with new customers. They even had a sampler set of the 4 types so you can taste and compare!
After trying out the set, we decided we liked the refreshing and rich ones better, and the bartender recommended us another two bottles
Down the rabbit hole we went. Next, we decided to try this potato shochu (apparently different from Korean soju!). This was a bit too strong for me at 50% alcohol content though 😅
Overall, I like sake the most, with its smooth finish and delish taste!
Of the four, the aromatic one is the easiest to drink. But the rich one has this very umami aftertaste, kind of reminds of chocolate actually. The aged one has a beautiful amber color, because it’s been aged, and is a tad more sweet, but also I found a bit cloying hehe
Where to try: 北海道産酒BAR かま田
#8 Pastries
Wow these Japanese know their bread. Convenience store breads are pillowy soft and so good. But the bakery that really impressed us was Donguri. We loved their croissant with Chinese sausage so much, we actually went back a 2nd time to have it. Delicious!
Where to try: Donguri
Lots more to explore in Hokkaido though. Couple of attractions I would LOVE to check out would be, especially during summer time:
- Blue Pond
- Shirahige Falls
- Moerenuma Park (Glass Pyramid)
- Ishiya Chocolate Factory
- Mount Moiwa
- Lake Toya
- Shikotsu Toya National Park
- Hell Valley
- Oyunuma Pond
- Bibai Snow Land
Hope that gives you an idea of what to do and eat in Hokkaido. For more detailed Hokkaido content, check out my other blogs,