There’s not the greatest amount of things to do in Sapporo with kids but if your kids love the snow, it doesn’t really matter in the winter because you won’t need to go far to give them some entertainment.
Takino Suzuran Hillside Park Snow World – Same thing as the Takino Sazuran Park but renamed during the winter. This is an excellent place for sledding with about a 250 meter, seven degree slope with lanes for sledding. It can get a little busy here and you find yourself having to cue up to go down but still good fun and just a good place to go to have a play in the snow. There’s also cross country skiing, which if you have ever done, is rather tiring but good exercise. Not really for kids though.
Sapporo Satoland – In the summer, this is apparently a bit like a petting farm with some flower fields, a farm to feed and pat the animals, and basically a big park with some bbq areas. In winter, it’s just one big snow playground with not much to do. Probably give it a miss in the winter, there’s better parks, but it looks alright if you’re a townie in the summer and other months. I reckon if you’re in Sapporo with kids, this might better in the summer.
Moerenuma Park – Arrived here and were ecstatic about the fact we were almost the only ones there with the exception of one family who were climbing up the hill to do some skiing. I love skiing, but this was 20 minutes up, 10 seconds down so not really worth it. Anyway, Moerenuma Park was designed by some Japanese artist and has been described as a “landscape sculpture mecca”. I have no idea what that is but it’s probably an apt description. The pictures in summer look totally different. When we went obviously everything was covered in snow but I still thought it was quite good. There’s a forest that looks rather mysterious and a couple of small hills that look rather…um…landscape sculpture mecca-ish. Great for the kids to have a run about, the sledding was shit, the snow was too deep you can’t slide down, although I attempted it. Nice just to have a walk around with very (VERY) few people around. Definitely go here in Sapporo with kids.
Sapporo Maruyama Zoo – Slightly better than average for a Japanese zoo, and if you’ve read any of our other reviews on zoos throughout Japan, you’ll know they’re a bit shite. This ones alright, at least they’ve made some attempt to give the animals an environment they would normally live in in the wild but still, it’s pretty saddening. It’s got almost 1000 animals and to be fair is probably one of the more wide open and spacious zoos as far as the animal enclosures go.
San Piazza Aquarium – Great location within minutes of the JR Station and next to a big shopping mall. Give it a miss though, it’s a bit tiny and doesn’t really have much to show. I guess if you’re around the area you could pop in and check it out but it’s not something you’d travel any distance to get to.
Sapporo Science Center – Pretty typical of any science museum/center where you can learn about the universe and science. There’s about 200 exhibits, none of which will blow your socks off but there’s a virtual universe adventure and some exhibits like the world’s first artificial snow machine and the artificial aurora generator that might get some “wows”.
Type this into Google Maps “Japan, 〒061-1356 Hokkaidō, Eniwa-shi, Nishishimamatsu, 196−8” or visit Toucan’s Sapporo Map and look for Snow Park for Kids. There’s no English, but it’s a great little park you can stop at on your way to the New Chitose Airport. It’s got some small sled slopes, igloo’s, you can ride a banana boat around on the snow, hire tubes and sleds and a good way to spend a few hours on the way to the airport and give the kids one last hooray in the snow. Well worth it in Sapporo with kids.
For all the festivals in Sapporo, check out this page here.
Send us any questions or comments you have about things to do in Sapporo with kids via email or ask us on twitter.