Brief Encounters | What to do in Sapporo in summer – Japan’s top ski destination blossoms under blue skies
- The five-hour flight time from Hong Kong makes Hokkaido’s capital ideal for a long weekend
- Fields of flowers surround the birthplace of the nation’s beloved beer and miso ramen
Hokkaido’s capital is better known as the gateway to northern Japan’s ski fields, but come summer, the countryside round about Sapporo erupts into a glorious feast of colour as vast swathes of flowers come into bloom. Just west of the city, Onze Harukayama Lily Garden is one of the most spectacular sites, but further afield, lavender is Photoshopping the gentle slopes at Higashimokoto Shibazakura Park right now, while in July, all 23 hectares of Hokuryu’s sunflowers should be strutting their stuff. Shikisai-no-oka goes for all sorts of floral varieties, so its viewing season usually lasts until early autumn. Most parks provide buggies for visitors disinclined to get about on their own two feet.
If Sapporo is known for one other thing than flowers, it’s food. Jyogai Ichiba is a good place to start; the island’s biggest market serves food for instant consumption and sells the raw ingredients, crab featuring high on just about every visitor’s shopping list.
Where to stay
Few international chains have stuck their oar in here, leaving the field open to the local hospitality crew. Putting the “it” into veritable, the Sapporo Grand Hotel has been letting out its rooms since 1934, and salving its guests’ hunger pangs in Chinese, Japanese and Western restaurants for almost as long. There’s also a rollicking beer hall. Rates are a reasonable US$130 or so.
Older, more traditional and considerably tougher on the wallet (US$800 a night), Ginrinsou is out of town, but the most traditional ryokan in the area. As there are only 18 rooms, the open-air, hot-spring pool overlooking Ishikari Bay rarely gets crowded.
What to buy
