Sapporo Attractions and Sightseeing

Sapporo hotels that cater to English tourists can provide you with a tourist map in English that outlines the Sapporo attractions. The city of Sapporo is nothing like Paris, Rome or New York, but there are at least a few Sapporo sightseeing activities worth undertaking.

Sapporo Snow Festival

The annual Sapporo snow festival is the showpiece of Sapporo and is held for a week at the start of February. It features many ice sculptures and statues that are large, elaborate and way over the top – so Japanese! The festival is focussed on Odori Park in the centre of Sapporo, with smaller sculptures in other areas such as Susukino and the Community Dome Tsudome. The festival is spectacular during the day and also by night. Head to the Sapporo snow festival with the other two million visitors!

Early in the snow season the Sapporo White Illumination is also centred around Odori Park. Trees and other objects are decorated in lights which look particularly beautiful against the snow covered city.

Sapporo TV Tower & Observatory Points

The Sapporo TV Tower is located at the eastern end of the Odori Park and is the Eiffel tower of Sapporo!! OK it’s dwarfed by the Eiffel tower, but it has a great observation deck for checking out the views of Sapporo and the surrounding mountains. The tower caters well to English speaking tourists and they provide a map of the landmarks to look at.

The Sapporo JR Tower is another great spot to check out Sapporo. It is probably more popular with tourists because it’s conveniently located next to the Sapporo train station.

Another spot to enjoy the views of Sapporo is the huge Ferris wheel mounted on the top of the tall Norubesa building in the Susukino area. The Ferris wheel affords fantastic views of the city by day and night.

Moiwa Mountain is a small hill that overlooks the city. It has the Moiwa ropeway and viewpoint which is particularly special at night and the adjacent Moiwayama Ski Resort also offers decent night skiing views.

Other Sapporo Activities

The Sapporo Beer museum provides another chance to drink the famous Sapporo beer (North 7, East 9), with free guided tours to learn about the history of Japanese beer.

Other Sapporo attractions include the Olympic Okurayama ski jump and the clock tower which is the symbol of Sapporo.