Hi Dee, I wouldn't specifically recommend our hotel, there was nothing wrong with it but we booked late so it was a case of finding something as close as possible to the city centre that wasn't booked out and not ridiculously overpriced 🙂 The room was very small, we've made a number of visits all round Japan and the room was small compared to all the others we have stayed in there so I think being during the festival you got a lot less for your money. Also we went with something that we considered was very easy walking distance but didn't take into account we had no experience walking in icy snowy conditions and only the main central paths are kept really clear and ice free so we ended up using the subway even though I think it was only one stop from memory. In hindsight I would have paid a bit more to be closer if I was making the same trip again where a large part of the reason for being in Sapporo was to spend most of the time around the festival areas and central city. I also hadn't allowed for even the soft powder snow being wet, yes that is obvious to most people but I had no experience so it was quite nice to duck back to the hotel during the day or before going out for dinner and the evening light-up and shows to warm up and dry out for an hour or so before tackling it again.

LOL yes I guess it's relative - I've never lived anywhere it snows so I'd imagined when there was that much snow everywhere it must snow constantly but in 3 days we only really got properly snowed on the once. It was amazing though and if I do get the chance to go back to Hokkaido I want to stay significantly longer, there was so much we missed. We got to Sapporo and Otaru festivals but we missed another that was on at the same time and really saw little outside the festivals themselves and a few city spots in that time.

Anyway, thanks for sharing this! I look forward to reading more of your Japan travels:)

I'm the same Vicki, I shuffled and juggled our first itinerary, and then subsequent ones, to fit in as much as possible but still my Japan wishlist continues to grow not shrink 🙂 It really is an incredible country to visit.