Sapporo & Nijo Market in One Day
A seafood bowl at Nijo Market, the length of Odori Park and its tower, the old government building and clock tower, the beer museum, and miso ramen in Susukino
Last updated 2026-09-03 · 1-day self-guided plan
Sapporo, Market to Ramen Alley
Crab for breakfast, miso ramen for dinner
For a first day in Hokkaido's capital that eats its way from morning to night while walking the flat grid of the city centre in between.
1Nijo Market
Take the subway to Odori or Bus Center-mae and walk five minutes east to the market for around 8:00, when the stalls are unpacking crab and the counters serve breakfast. It is a single block of covered lanes, small next to Tokyo's, but the point is to sit at a counter for a kaisendon of salmon roe, sea urchin and scallop, or a bowl of crab miso soup; then buy a slice of Yubari melon for the walk.
1 HourCost: ¥1,500–3,000
2Odori Park and the TV Tower
Walk west and the market lanes deliver you to the foot of the TV Tower. Go up the observation deck first, around 9:30, for the view straight down Odori Park, a green strip 1.5 km long dividing the city north from south, with the mountains at the far end. Then walk the park itself, past the fountains and flower beds, and the corn stalls that set up in summer.
1 HourCost: ¥500–1,500- 3
Clock Tower and the Old Government Building
Two blocks north of the park is the wooden Clock Tower, a small white American-style building from the years when Sapporo was a colonial outpost, worth a photograph and a short visit. Five minutes further is the red-brick Former Hokkaido Government Office, a neo-baroque building in a garden with a pond, whose ground floor tells the story of the island's settlement. Lunch afterwards near Sapporo Station, about 12:30.
1 HourCost: Free - 4
Sapporo Beer Museum
Take a bus or a 20-minute walk east from the station to the old brick brewery, now the beer museum, where the free exhibition explains how the country's first beer came out of a Hokkaido barley field. The tasting counter pours a flight of three, including one only sold here. The beer garden in the next hall serves Genghis Khan, the lamb barbecue that is Sapporo's other dish, if you want an early dinner.
1.5–2 HoursCost: ¥500–1,000 
5Miso ramen in Susukino
Subway back to Susukino around 18:30, under the big neon crossroads, and find Ramen Yokocho, a narrow alley of a dozen or so counters just off the main street. Order the city's own miso ramen: a rich soybean broth with a knob of butter and sweetcorn, wavy yellow noodles and stir-fried bean sprouts. Most shops seat eight, so if the first is full the next one is three metres away.
1 HourCost: ¥1,000–1,500
Day 1 Estimated Cost
- Food & beer¥4,500–7,500
- Transport¥500–1,000
- Admissions¥1,000–2,500
Tips
The centre is a grid you can walk end to end, with the subway's Namboku line running under it from Sapporo Station through Odori to Susukino if the weather turns; in winter the underground walkway covers the same route.
Eight to ten kilometres of flat pavement, plus ice on it from December to March: trainers in summer, waterproof boots with grip in winter.
Seafood at breakfast, when the market is freshest, beer in the afternoon, ramen at night; if the beer garden lamb wins, order it as dinner and take the ramen at lunch instead.
Odori Park is photographed from the TV Tower deck looking west with the mountains behind, best in the morning light; at night shoot the tower itself from the park's second block.