Sapporo travel info

Stand in Odori Park on a February night and your breath hangs in the air. Snow sculptures the size of houses line the park, the red TV Tower keeps time at the end, and everyone shuffles along the packed snow in small penguin steps. Then you slide open the door of a ramen shop in Susukino, your glasses fog over instantly, and a bowl of miso ramen sealed under a layer of hot lard does the welcoming.

Summer Sapporo is another town. Midsummer afternoons barely pass 25°C, so people sprawl on the Odori lawns with a beer and queue for photos at the Clock Tower. The streets run in a strict grid, and once you can read an address like North 3, West 4 you'll rarely get lost. On bitter days you can walk underground all the way from Sapporo Station to Susukino.

The train from New Chitose Airport reaches Sapporo Station in around 40 minutes. Dinner over a sizzling jingisukan grill, a seafood rice bowl at Nijo Market the next morning, then an afternoon out to the Otaru canal or the Jozankei hot springs: that's the usual rhythm.

New Chitose Airport (CTS)