What are the fun things to do in Hokkaido and what to prepare for a trip to Hokkaido

Hokkaido, Japan, is not just a place to go for hot springs in winter. It’s also a great place to visit with children. Here are some attractions that are perfect for families with kids. Of course, you need to prepare before your trip.

Noboribetsu Marine Park

This is a marine park with a Nordic castle style. The castle-like building is full of fairy tale colors, especially suitable for little girls. Strolling through the underwater tunnel, you can see various fish of different sizes swimming around, just like the ocean princess in Disney animation. You can also enjoy penguin walks, dolphin shows, sea lion shows and other animal performances, and touch marine animals with your own hands.

Transportation

It is adjacent to JR Noboribetsu Station. Take the right exit of Noboribetsu Station and walk 5 minutes.

Opening Hours

9:00-17:00 (There are closing days every year. In 2015, it was April 7th-9th). For detailed updates, please refer to the official website.

Alpaca Farm ECORIN Village

Children can’t resist the super cute alpacas! It’s a theme park based on environmental protection and healthy food, and it’s a good idea to complete an educational trip to care for animals and plants as well as the natural environment.

Asahiyama Zoo

This is the most famous zoo in Hokkaido, and also the northernmost zoo in Japan. The reason why Asahiyama Zoo is famous is not only because it is loved by adults and children, but also because of its unique animal “behavior display” method. The so-called behavior display is to set up various unique animal toys for animals to play freely, showing visitors their healthy vitality. The concept of action display breaks the dull static state of animals hiding in cages in traditional zoos, and the new dynamic beauty shown by animals becomes the highlight that attracts visitors’ attention. If you’re traveling from Sapporo for a day trip, you can take the Asahikawa Zoo train, which has a unique animal theme in every car. Children will definitely scream!

Address: Asahikawa City, Hokkaido, Higashi Asahikawa, Kuranuma

Opening Hours

May to October 9:30-17:15;

November to April 10:30-15:30;

Night zoo is only available from August 9th to August 15th: 9:00-21:00

Personally, I think parents can choose where to go based on their children’s interests and personalities. If time is limited, it is better to prioritize marine parks and alpaca farms in ECORIN Village, where children of all ages can enjoy close contact with animals.

Tips: It’s better not to buy tickets on the spot with kids. Book a day trip online in advance, which is super convenient! Shiroi Koibito Park

Besides close contact with animals, kids who love sweets have to go to Shiroi Koibito Park, which is themed on children’s favorite chocolates. As you walk into the park, you will see a red brick building like a fairy tale castle, which is the chocolate factory. There is a moving puppet clock tower outside, and at every hour, there will be a “chocolate carnival”, where the puppets on the clock tower start to sing and dance, which is very joyful. Here, you can not only visit the factory, see the whole process of chocolate making on the assembly line, appreciate the collection related to chocolate, but also make Shiroi Koibito chocolate cookies with your parents and children.
It’s full of happiness! However, it is more suitable for slightly older children!

MORISU Cable Car + Mount Moiwa Night View

The best thing about family travel is that you can create various memories during the trip. Riding the cable car is a private space for parents and children to communicate. MORISU Cable Car is the world’s first forest experience transportation. It connects Mount Moiwa Mid-Station and Mount Moiwa Summit Station. Two small cabins shuttle between the mid-station and the summit station, as if passengers are running through the forest, and have a wonderful adventure with your baby!

At the top of Mount Moiwa, you can see a large observation deck overlooking Sapporo city, as well as many Japanese restaurants. While enjoying the special and exquisite cuisine, you can overlook the panoramic view of Sapporo, and there is also a bell of happiness at the observation deck on the summit. As time goes by, the lights are getting brighter and brighter until they cover the whole Sapporo city, which makes people linger and marvel.

Preparation before the trip

Air ticket

In fact, the main reason for this trip is my husband’s Air China points, which are very cost-effective to exchange for Shanghai-Tokyo air tickets, and the price is even the same as Shanghai-Chongqing! So we happily exchanged our round-trip tickets with points, and then only paid more than 1,000 yuan in taxes. It’s almost like getting free tickets. And the time is super good, early arrival and late return, basically no waste of time, great!

Visa

The visa was handled by a travel agency on Taobao. Because both my husband and I have visas for developed countries in Europe and America, we can follow the VIP route. It is very simple to submit materials and no guarantee is needed. You can search for it yourself. Basically, every travel agency has this service. When I went to Japan for the first time, I was drawn to check-out. That is, they will send you a form at the same time they issue you a visa. You need to print it out and take it with you. You will ask the flight attendants to stamp it at the gate when you return to China. Then you will send it back to the travel agency. It is said that this is a random check. Last time I was unlucky to be drawn. This time I was not at all. I’m lucky!

Mobile WiFi

You must rent mobile WiFi when you go to Japan. This time, I found a travel agency to handle the visa for both of us, and it came with free mobile WiFi. Just pay a deposit at the airport and pick it up. It’s also the same location. The deposit can be refunded on the spot, which is very convenient.

Practical APP

Tokyo subway. There are so many subways and JR lines in Tokyo,

Make sure to download it on your phone for easy viewing at any time.

Hotel

The first four nights in Tokyo were booked on Airbnb. We stayed at a hotel in Kawaguchiko to see Mount Fuji (super awesome, I’ll tell you more later). On the last night in Tokyo, we stayed at a sunroute chain hotel booked on booking.com. Overall, the price-performance ratio is very high.

Travelogue

Day 1

This is the in-flight meal on ANA. I feel that except for the main course, the other snacks are very delicious, haha! Especially the fruit, the pineapple is so sweet! This time I ate pineapple three times in Japan, all of them were sweet to sorrow. Is it true that fruits that have been exposed to nuclear radiation are sweeter?

After two and a half hours of flight, the plane landed smoothly at Narita Airport. Narita Airport is very far from the city center, and taxis in Tokyo are really expensive. So we chose JR. The first few nights were booked on Airbnb, near Shin-Okubo Station on the JR Yamanote Line. The landlord is a Chinese, communication is no problem. From Narita Airport take the Keisei Line to Nippori Station, then transfer to JR Yamanote Line to Shin-Okubo Station, get off the subway and walk for 3-5 minutes. Shin-Okubo Station is only one stop away from the transportation hub of Shinjuku Station. It takes about 15-20 minutes to walk from our Airbnb to Shinjuku Station, but the price is at least one-third cheaper than the rooms around Shinjuku Station. The price-performance ratio is really high.

The first meal in Japan must be the famous Ichiran Ramen! It’s strange to say, when I went to Hokkaido two years ago, I didn’t seem to see Ichiran Ramen in Sapporo. It wasn’t until I was planning my trip to Tokyo that I realized that this is a must-try restaurant in Japan! So we dropped our luggage and rushed to the Ichiran Ramen restaurant in Shinjuku. The soup is still good, there should not be too many additives like MSG. Anyway, Ichiran Ramen is highly recommended. You must try it, and it’s worth eating many times!

The famous Kabukicho, haha. There are many “free guidance offices” inside. What it means, you can search on Baidu yourself! But it is said that foreigners are not allowed to enter, and there will be a person wearing a suit who looks very social guarding the door of each store. However, there is no phenomenon of soliciting customers as described online, and it feels very safe.

DAY 2

Tickets can be purchased at the entrance of the park, or at the ticket machine at the entrance of the museum, which is very convenient. I don’t remember the specific price. It’s not expensive anyway. There is a special exhibition inside the museum. If you want to see the special exhibition, you need to buy another ticket. Usually the tickets for special exhibitions are very expensive.

The museum is divided into three halls, a main hall, a Western hall and an Eastern hall. All three halls are very large. If you really want to visit, all three halls are enough for a whole day. We just took a quick look at the main hall and felt the atmosphere.

This is the overall map of Ueno Park. It covers a very large area. The air in the whole park is very good. Both sides of the road are cherry trees. It’s a pity that we came in the wrong season. If it’s cherry blossom season, it should be very beautiful. No wonder Ueno Park is one of the most popular cherry blossom viewing spots in Tokyo.

The eel rice at Izu-e Honten is divided into pine, bamboo and plum sets, which are actually small, medium and large sets. I ordered the small one, which is actually enough for girls. My husband ordered this set meal. We were both full. The eel is grilled with special flavor, and there is no burnt part. The rice is soaked with the eel juice, which is super delicious! However, there are still bones in the eel. Be careful when eating, and it is not recommended for children.

After lunch, we went to Akihabara! It takes about 20 minutes to walk from Ueno. It’s not tiring to walk all the way while shopping. Akihabara is known as a paradise for otaku. It’s a pity that neither my husband nor I are anime fans. However, there is an electric street in Akihabara. After comparing many commercial streets, it is recommended that you buy it in Akihabara. The price of electrical appliances here is really the cheapest, including cosmetics. Similarly, Matsumoto Kiyoshi and Don Quijote, the prices here are lower than those in Shinjuku. There are also many maid cafes here, and there are also many girls cosplaying as maids standing on the street to promote. Those who like anime culture can go in and experience it. There are cartoons, hand-made models and so on everywhere. It’s a pity that my husband and I’s understanding of Japanese animation still stays at the level of Slam Dunk, Conan, Pokemon and Sailor Moon.

We then headed to the famous Tokyo Tower. Get off at Hamamatsucho Station by subway and walk a short distance. We came here to see the night view. After lighting, the orange tower is really beautiful, and it doesn’t give people a cold feeling at all, but instead brings warmth. Day and night are different feelings. We hesitated for a long time at the bottom of the tower but did not go up. Maybe we have been to too many towers, and we have no desire to go up anymore (there is a One Piece store at the bottom of the tower, full of One Piece peripherals. If you like it, don’t miss it!)