Sapporo Snow Festival
| The Good | The Not-So Good |
| Unique experience | Only good for a day and a half at most |
| Expensive to get there during festival week |
The Sapporo Snow Festival is not the only of its type in Japan, but it is the most well known. The official homepage will contain all the latest information as the timing changes each year. The main attractions are snow and ice sculptures that line the strip park in the center of the city. There are also performances, winter sport exhibitions, a world competition for smaller ice sculptures, and the obligatory food corner, obviously focusing on hot dishes. There are 3 main sites so check out the events section for details.
Access to Sapporo during festival week
As a tourist to Japan, you probably are not coming just for the snow festival. So your options are to travel to Sapporo only from elsewhere in Japan, or tag Sapporo onto a winter tour of Hokkaido.
The single trip option
A plane ticket from anywhere in Japan to Sapporo around the time of the festival will be expensive, especially over the last three days. There is zero reason to spend a week in Sapporo as the snow festival can be fully exhausted in a day, two days if you do the other things in Sapporo. If you want to get in and out at the lowest cost then plan your trip (flying Jetstar) for the start of the festival week when most Japanese will not attend due to work (there is no national holiday around that time). Once the weekend arrives plane tickets will shoot up and there is no reason to see it to the end for twice the price (hotels also).
The tour option
Unfortunately, the sea ice off the north-east coast of Hokkaido peaks during the final two weeks of February and not the second week (directly after the snow festival), so it is difficult to tag on the end a trip to view the sea ice. Spending an entire week in Hokkaido waiting is also not a great option due to the lack of things to do. However, there is a train from Sapporo to Abashiri, which will be covered by the JR Pass.
Unfortunately, the sea ice off the north-east coast of Hokkaido peaks during the final two weeks of February and not the second week (directly after the snow festival), so it is difficult to tag on the end a trip to view the sea ice. Spending an entire week in Hokkaido waiting is also not a great option due to the lack of things to do. However, there is a train from Sapporo to Abashiri, which will be covered by the JR Pass.
You could visit north-eastern Hokkaido after the Sapporo Snow Festival and try your luck with the sea ice, however if there is none, then other activities will have to suffice.
You can also work your way down from Sapporo to Hakodate, which is a snowy train journey covered by the JR Pass. Also the nearby (to Sapporo) hot spring towns of Noribetsu (map, 2 hours train ride) and Otaru (map, 1 hour train ride) are popular choices and highly recommended.
In general a tour is winter Hokkaido that includes the “must see” will be difficult to time over a single week, unless you are lucky. Plus air travel around Hokkaido is expensive due to the lack of low cost carriers.
