Walking tour for your first visit: The iconic sights of Sapporo
: 1 day- Route: Sapporo Clock Tower → Nijo Market → TV Tower → Odori Park → Ganso Sapporo Ramen Yokocho (Ramen Alley) → Tanuki Koji Shopping Street → Sapporo Beer Garden and Sapporo Beer Museum
- MAP
Sapporo Clock Tower ( : about 30 minutes)
Useful Info
- About a 5-minute walk from the Odori subway station or a 10-minute walk from Sapporo Station.
- This is a great place to start—it’s one of Sapporo’s landmarks and a spot where you can learn about the history of Sapporo and Hokkaido as a whole.
Sapporo has a number of iconic landmarks, but the Sapporo Clock Tower tops them all. Cherished by locals as a symbol of the city, this spot is the perfect place to start your tour.
Located in an office district in the heart of Sapporo, the Clock Tower couldn’t be easier to get to. A wooden building more than 140 years old, it stands out instantly among the skyscrapers of the city.
The Sapporo Clock Tower is the oldest remaining clock tower in Japan, and is still used today. Try to visit on the hour so you can hear it chime the hour.
You can even tour inside! On the first floor you’ll see exhibits, models and panels about the history of the Clock Tower, Sapporo and Hokkaido as a whole.
Upstairs you’ll see a statue of William Smith Clark, who created the conceptual design for the clock tower. So after taking a photo of the distinctive tower, go inside and take a selfie with the man behind it!
Click here for details on the Sapporo Clock Tower.
Nijo Market ( : about 40 minutes)
Useful Info
- Around a 12-minute walk from the Clock Tower.
- Head east from the Clock Tower and then follow the Sosei River south.
- We recommend visiting in the morning when there’s the best selection.
After admiring the Clock Tower, take a short walk to Nijo Market to shop and grab lunch.
This well-known seafood paradise has a plethora of seasonal Hokkaido foods. Rows of seafood stalls and marine product sellers offer fresh and processed seafood. There’s fruit on offer too.
Each morning, all kinds of freshly caught seafood arrives at the market. Simply walking around and looking at the stalls is exciting.
From crabs arranged on ice to live scallops and oysters in tanks, the utmost care is taken to keep everything in perfect condition, and you can see from the shapes and colors how fresh everything is.
The market is also packed with restaurants serving a mouthwatering array of dishes. We recommend the seafood domburi (rice topped with seafood) in particular, so that you can try a variety of the seafood the market has to offer. All of the fresh seafood served here has a mild flavor with the perfect quantity of fat.
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Sapporo TV Tower ( : about 40 minutes)
Useful Info
- About a 5-minute walk from Nijo Market.
- On a clear day, you can see all the way to the Sea of Japan.
- The sunset view is also amazing.
- Each season has its own beauty, from the gorgeous greenery in the warm months (May-September) to the fall foliage in October, the decorative lights from late November to late December and the snow from December to March.
The next stop on your tour is another famous Sapporo landmark: Sapporo TV Tower. When you come to the river from Nijo Market, look north across it and you’ll immediately see the red tower looming above the city.
Located in the 1-chome section of Odori Park, this 147 m-high tower adjoins stores that are perfect for souvenir shopping. But the biggest draw, of course, is the view from the observatory.
From your vantage point about 90 m high, you’ll see a beautiful view of nature and city streets standing side by side, including the whole of Odori Park. On a really clear day, you can see the mountains that surround the city, and you’ll marvel at their vastness.
If you have time, come back again at night. The lights make the cityscape look totally different. It’s particularly spectacular from late November to late December, when beautiful decorative lights are set up throughout Odori Park.
Winter brings a different view again as snow blankets the streets. In early February each year, you can see Odori Park’s Snow Festival right below, giving you a prime view of the enormous snow sculptures.
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Odori Park ( : about 40 minutes)
Useful Info
- This park runs from Odori Nishi 1-chome, where Sapporo TV Tower is located, to Odori Nishi 12-chome, spanning around 1.5 km.
- Around 4,700 trees of around 90 species grow here, creating an oasis in the middle of the city that locals love.
- All kinds of events are held here throughout the year, from a beer garden to the Snow Festival, so there might be a fun event for you to enjoy!
After enjoying the view from the TV Tower, take a stroll to the west through Odori Park.
Odori Park is an oasis in the middle of Sapporo, with sprawling lawns and beds of flowers. Locals love to stop for a rest by the fountains or on the benches, and it’s great for a stroll on a sunny day.
There are two Sapporo specialties you need to try when you arrive. The first is the grilled corn sold in a wagon in the park. Generally, you can find the wagon selling this tasty snack from late April to early October.
Prepared by grilling the corn in soy sauce, the combo of the savory taste of the soy sauce and the unique sweetness of Hokkaido corn will whet your appetite. You’ll wolf down this light snack before you know it, but watch out—the pigeons and crows in the park love it too!
The other great specialty is the chikuwa-pan from Donguri on the first floor of the Le Trois shopping center at the Odori Park 1-chome intersection.
Hollow rolls of surimi fish paste (chikuwa) are filled with tuna and grilled inside the store’s unique Japanese-style bread. Chikuwa-pan is filling enough to be a meal in itself, making it a great way to refuel on your tour. And this is just one of the unique and delicious bread snacks on offer, so peruse their range and choose your favorite! You can enjoy it amid the beautiful nature of Odori Park or take advantage of the dine-in area inside the bakery.
Click here for details on Sapporo Odori Park.
Ganso Sapporo Ramen Yokocho
(Ramen Alley)
( : about 40 minutes)
Useful Info
- About a 12-minute walk from Odori Park.
- Ramen Alley is a tourist hotspot with over 70 years of history.
- Enjoy the best miso ramen, a Sapporo specialty!
- 17 ramen restaurants line the alley. The hours and days they’re open vary, so if you’re interested in a particular restaurant, check the details before you go.
For a quintessential Sapporo lunch, indulge in some local cuisine at Ganso Sapporo Ramen Yokocho (Ramen Alley).
Sapporo is renowned for miso ramen, and this ramen alley boasts 17 restaurants, each vying to stand out with their own unique ramen.
Discover your favorite ramen flavor and refuel with a hot steaming bowl of noodles to give you the energy you need ahead of an afternoon of sightseeing.
Click here for details about Ganso Sapporo Ramen Yokocho (Ramen Alley)
Click here for details about miso ramen.
Tanuki Koji Shopping Street
( : about 1 hour)
Useful Info
- Tanuki Koji Shopping Street is about a 10-minute walk from Ganso Sapporo Ramen Yokocho (Ramen Alley).
- This shopping arcade is an impressive 900 m in total, spanning seven blocks with roughly 200 shops.
After savoring some mouthwatering ramen, head over to Tanuki Koji Shopping Street, which runs east to west through the heart of Sapporo City. Affectionately known as Tanuki Koji by locals, this shopping street is one of the oldest in Hokkaido, with a history spanning over 150 years. Covered by a full arcade, it allows you to explore the vibrant sights without worrying about the weather—rain, hail or snow!
Stretching roughly 900 m and lined with around 200 shops, Tanuki Koji Shopping Street offers an exciting array of retail experiences, ranging from long-established souvenir shops to trendy sweet stores featuring the latest desserts. Notable highlights include a specialist knife shop with blades hand-sharpened by the staff and a store boasting over 700 capsule toy machines—you’re bound to find some unique souvenirs.
The shopping street is also home to a shrine with a racoon dog (tanuki) guardian statue (Jizo), which offers eight different blessings depending on where it is touched. If you find it, don’t forget to give it a rub for luck!
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Click here for details about Sushi & Seafood
Click here for details about Soup Curry
Sapporo Beer Garden and Sapporo Beer Museum
( : 3 to 4 hours)
Useful Info
- Sapporo Beer Garden is about 20 minutes from Tanuki Koji Shopping Street by bus.
- Board the 循環88 loop bus, which runs every 30 minutes from the Odori Park Bus Stop on the west side of Odori Nishi 3-chome and get off at Sapporo Beer Garden.
- The Premium Tour of the Sapporo Beer Museum runs four times a day (duration: 50 minutes). Advance reservations from this website are required.
- Fee: 1,000 yen (age 13 to 19: 500 yen, age 12 and under: free) (as of December 1, 2023). English and Korean Audio Guide Devices are also available for a fee.
- The Premium Tour doesn’t include food. Meals can be purchased separately at the Sapporo Beer Garden.
Wrap up the day with a trip to the Sapporo Beer Garden and Sapporo Beer Museum where you can enjoy Japanese beer and the classic Hokkaido cuisine—Genghis Khan.
Take the 循環88 bus from the Odori Park Bus Stop.
The Sapporo Beer Museum located next to the Sapporo Beer Garden is the oldest beer museum in Japan. You can get the most out of your visit by taking the guided Premium Tour (fee applies). Japan’s first full-scale beer brewery was built right here in Sapporo, and you can learn about that history and the evolution of the beer industry in Japan.
A highlight is the posters displayed in the exhibition gallery. There are many colorful and beautiful designs to take in. The movie played at the end of the tour clearly demonstrates the changes Sapporo has gone through to today—it’s definitely worth watching until the end.
The Premium Tour also offers an exclusive beer tasting session at the end—another reason to join the tour!
A particularly rare treat that you can only drink here is the Fukkoku Sapporo-sei Beer, a reproduction of the original Sapporo Beer made at the time of the brewery’s founding. If you don’t drink alcohol, you should try Ribbon NAPOLIN, a carbonated beverage available only in Hokkaido.
When the tour is finished, you’re sure to have built up a healthy appetite! It’s time to go to the Sapporo Beer Garden and enjoy a delicious meal of Genghis Khan for dinner.
Genghis Khan—lamb grilled on a special dome-shaped skillet and dipped in a unique sauce—is one of Hokkaido’s classic soul foods. You can pair this with a crisp glass of lager—it’s bound to taste extra special after learning about the history of Japanese beer.
On the way back, if you’re heading to Sapporo Station, take bus route 188 or the same 循環88 bus on the outbound route. If you’re getting off in the Odori area, bus route 188 is your best bet.
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Click here for details about Genghis Khan