Hokkaido
Hokkaido: Where to Eat, What to Do and Where to Stay
Food · Things to do · Where to stay
Most trips to Hokkaido begin at New Chitose Airport and go first to Sapporo, the largest city on the island, by JR train. Sapporo is where the food, the hotels and the trains to the rest of Hokkaido are concentrated, so it is the place this guide starts.
Hokkaido is large. The places below are far apart from each other, and the distances in winter are longer in practice than on a map. Each place gets its own pages for food, things to do and where to stay as they are written.
Places in Hokkaido
SapporoThe largest city in Hokkaido and the usual base: ramen, soup curry, the Snow Festival in February.
OtaruA port town on the coast west of Sapporo, known for its canal and old warehouses.
HakodateAt the southern tip of the island, known for its night view from Mt. Hakodate and Goryokaku, a star-shaped fort.
NisekoA ski resort area south-west of Sapporo, known abroad for its powder snow.
Furano and BieiFarmland in the middle of the island, known for lavender and flower fields in summer.
AsahikawaHokkaido's second-largest city, home of Asahiyama Zoo.
NoboribetsuA hot spring town south of Sapporo.
- Shiretoko — A peninsula in the far east of the island, inscribed as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site in 2005.