Managed to navigate safely to Sapporo Station via the JR Rapid Airport train that took only 37 minutes with base fare of ¥1070. I'd recommend to top up ¥310 for reserved seat.
New Century Royal Hotel is located near Daimaru and Apia. For first timer, it's probably easier to navigate from the outside than trying to find the underground link. Either way, one will still need to carry the luggages over some steps. The hotel lobby for New Century Royal is at Level 2 and there's a Family Mart convenience store at Level 1. Plenty of restaurants too.
Check-in time is 2pm so left the luggage with the hotel and walked over to
ESTA 札幌 エスタ ＪＲタワー for lunch. ESTA is about 6 minutes walk from the hotel. The 10th floor of ESTA is where plenty of restaurants are located, inclusive of Sapporo Ramen Kyowakoku 札幌ら～めん共和国 where 8 of Hokkaido's most famous ramen shops are congregated here, representing the areas of Sapporo, Asahikawa, Hakodate, and Kushiro.
For me, lunch mission was to sample Sapporo's soup curry and conveniently, there's a
Soup Curry Lavi at ESTA. Check out the soup curry experience from
here.
The Chuo-bus Sightseeing Counter is located at Level 2 of ESTA. It was easier to find from the outside as compared to searching for it from the underground level. The counter closes by 6pm so be there early to get the reserved tour tickets.
 |
| Chuo-bus Sightseeing Bus Counter |
 |
| ticket for Mt Moiwa and Mt Okura Night Tour with Dinner @ ¥5000 |
The instructions were pretty simple: Wait nearby the sightseeing ticket counter 10 minutes before departure time.
Went back to the hotel to rest as there was about two hours to spare prior to the tour departure time. Though it was an economy single room, I think they acceeded to my request of having a larger bed. Located at the 10th floor, the room was larger than expected.
 |
| economy single room |
 |
| amenities |
 |
| bathroom with bathtub |
 |
| shampoo for body and hair, conditioner |
 |
| face and hand soap, comb, and other things |
 |
| view from the room |
 |
| hot water kettle and one complimentary drinking water (UCC coffee bought from convenience store) |
The hotel provided free wifi access, and reception in the room was generally good. There's also a LAN cable in the room.
Soon, it was time for the night tour so back to the sightseeing counter. Indeed, at the appointed time of 6pm, the tour guide will appear to gather the participants. Oh, the Chuo-bus tour is conducted in Japanese only. すみません、わかりませんです。。。 became my favourite phrase. Turned out that there was another non-native in the tour, so ended up being paired together. For the rest of the night, Daisy from Taiwan became my best friend.
 |
| in the tour bus, waiting to depart |
 |
| arrived at Sanroku Station |
 |
| to the Ropeway! |
 |
| making our ascent |
 |
| Mount Moiwa Ropeway |
It was sunset as we were making our ascent to Mount Moiwa. Quite romantic actually, if not for a carriage full of others.
 |
| nice ambiance for the couple |
 |
| reality |
Very soon, we came to a stop and then took the Morris-car up for a short while.
 |
| queue up for Morris-car |
 |
| inside Morris-car |
 |
| cable car to bring us to the top |
Moiwa-yama is 531 metre high, so it was pretty cold at the peak especially with the wind blowing. It wasn't nightfall yet, so the view was not as spectacular.
 |
| view when nightfalls |
 |
| reality |
 |
| view from the top at 531 metre high |
Only have about ten minutes to spend at the top, and then it was another 10 minutes at the souvenir shop.
 |
| Meet Morris the mascot of Moiwa-yama |
The view during the ride back via the ropeway was prettier as the sky had turned dark, and the city lights went up.
 |
| city lights |
After which, we were then whisked away via the bus to Mount Okura for dinner of jingisukan, another of Hokkaido's specialty.
 |
| Mount Okura Ski Jump (left) and Mount Okura Lamb Dining (right) |
Click
here to read about the dining experience at Mount Okura restaurant.
Here's a list of mobile apps that I found to be useful during the trip:
- Japan Train app
- XE Currency Converter
- S Translator
- Google Map
Screenshots of the "Japan Train" app:
 |
| set the stations and select the date and time |
 |
| search results |
 |
| fare information is shown |
Links:
Prep,
flight date
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment