EventSapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
The Sapporo Snow Festival
Seven days of snow palaces in early February
Average rating 3.0 out of 5
3.02 reviews
Every February, Odori Park fills with snow sculptures the size of buildings. What to see, where to warm up and how to plan a winter trip around it.
A city of snow sculptures
It started in 1950, when six high-school students built snow statues in Odori Park. Today the Sapporo Snow Festival draws two million visitors over a single week in early February, and the largest sculptures, built with help from the Self-Defense Forces, are fifteen metres tall and lit with projection mapping after dark.
The festival has three sites. Odori Park holds the giant snow sculptures and food stalls along a mile of the city centre. Susukino, the entertainment district, shows ice sculptures with fish and crabs frozen inside them. Tsudome, out in the suburbs, is for families, with snow slides and tube runs.
See Odori twice: once in the morning, when the details are sharp, and again after dark, when the light shows begin and the stalls sell hot corn, Hokkaido scallops and mugs of mulled wine. Between visits, retreat underground; Sapporo's warm subway concourses link the stations, the shops and half the city centre.
Warm up with
- Soup curry, Sapporo's spicy, vegetable-laden broth
- Miso ramen with butter and sweetcorn in Ramen Yokocho
- Jingisukan, lamb grilled on a dome-shaped skillet
- A tasting at the Sapporo Beer Museum
Odori Park after dark
About this story
Emma EditorAuthor
Sakura JourneysPublisher
Reviews
Write a reviewAverage rating 3.0 out of 5
2 reviews- YSYuki Sato1 out of 5 stars10 Aug
Half the places listed were closed on Mondays and the guide does not mention it.
- SLSophie Laurent5 out of 5 stars27 Jul
The ryokan and onsen advice was spot on. We felt confident instead of nervous about the customs.
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