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14 DAY PASS - WINTER EXPLORER
ITINERARY
The festival’s primary site is located in Odori Park in the city centre, and showcases snow sculptures of varying sizes, with some as high as 15
metres and as wide as 25 metres. The Susukino Site in the city’s main entertainment district is home to approximately one hundred statues and
sculptures, while the Tsu Dome Site, near the downtown area, also has several snow sculptures, and even has snow rafting and snow slides.
Day 5 – Explore Sapporo
There is more to Sapporo than the snow festival.
It has an open air museum, called the Historic Village of Hokkaido, which contains dozens of Meiji and Taisho Era buildings that made up the
region’s town, fishing village, mountain village, and farm village back in the day. Sapporo Beer, which is one of Japan’s oldest and most famous
beers, originated in Hokkaido, and its story and progress throughout the years are laid out at the Sapporo Beer Museum. Destinations for
souvenir and food shopping include the Sapporo Factory, the Nijo Market, and the Curb Market. There is also a nearby ski resort, called Teine
Ski Resort, where you can enjoy skiing, sledding and tubing and see some of the ski facilities used during the Sapporo Winter Olympics in 1972.
Day 6 – Sapporo to Asahikawa (Spend 3 nights Asahikawa)
Asahikawa is Hokkaido’s second largest city and it observes its own snow festival every year, the Asahikawa Winter Festival. During the
festivities, gigantic snow and ice sculptures of castles, fortresses, animals, cartoon characters, and more are displayed across the city.
From Sapporo, it is about an hour and a half train ride away. With your JR Pass, board one of the following trains: the Ltd Exp Lilac, the Ltd Exp
Soya, or the Ltd Exp Okhotsk line at Sapporo Station to reach Asahikawa Station.
Mount Tanigawa
Day 7 – Explore Asahikawa
There are two festival sites to visit during the Asahikawa Winter Festival.
The Asahibashi Site, which is found by the river near Asahibashi Bridge, offers snow slides, horse sleigh rides, snowmobile rides, and an ice bar in
addition to the statues and sculptures. It also is the venue for the event’s opening and closing ceremonies that typically involve a fireworks display.
The other festival site is called the Heiwa Dori, which is a kilometre-long pedestrian street that starts right outside Asahikawa Station and
extends to the Asahibashi Site area. It contains about 50 snow sculptures that are part of an ice sculpture contest.
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