[Hokkaido] Day 5 : Visiting Mt Moiwa, Bought Nintendo Switch at Bic Camera & Dinner at Sapporo Beer Garden

Sapporo city seen from Mt. Moiwa Ropeway

Day 5 in Hokkaido, was the last day of our winter trip in Hokkaido. We didn't go out of town anymore, and decided to explore more in Sapporo city. We started our day by visiting one of the popular attractions in Sapporo beside Shiroi Koibito Park, Mt Moiwa.

Sapporo skyline at night seen from Mt Moiwa. Source : picture at the base of Mt Moiwa

Mt Moiwa is a popular destination that always be visited by tourists in Sapporo. They are known as a place where we can see Sapporo skyline from the top of the mountain. Located not far from the city center of Sapporo, this place has a very easy access by using public transportation. From Susukino Station, you can take Sapporo Tram (¥200) and stop at Ropeway Iriguchi station. There's a shuttle bus at the station which gonna take you to Mt Moiwa Ropeway, every 15 minutes. However, if you don't want to wait and prefer to walk for around 600 metres, it's also a good idea. I also did that because 15 minutes waiting at the snowy weather was too long. Besides, I also wanted to enjoy this snowy scenery by walking.

Winter scenery while walking to Mt Moiwa Ropeway from the station.

To go to the top of the mountain, first we need to take Mt Moiwa Ropeway. This ropeway climbs from the base until three quarters up the mountain, where we could find a transfer station named Moiwa Chufuku. From this station, we need to take another mini cable car, which gonna brought us to the summit. At the summit, there's an observation deck and also restaurant with great views of the city.

Foggy weather while at the ropeway

View from the summit. Left : city | Right : mountains

When we're arriving, and wanted to buy the ticket, we're being told that the weather was foggy at that time. This weather made the view looks not clear up there and they didn't recommend us to going up. However, since it's our last day and we didn't want to missed any chance to going up, we decided to keep buy the ticket and take the ropeway to the summit. The ticket costs ¥1700 (for adults) and ¥850 (for children). This tickets can be used for round trip ride with ropeway and cable car.

Temple at Mt Moiwa

Aurelia with bell at Mt Moiwa

Just like they said, the weather was foggy at that time. But when I arrived at the summit, the sun started to come out and it's not as foggy as before. I could see Sapporo city which covered with snow from the top and it looks amazing. Even though the weather wasn't too foggy, but the weather still really cold and it's very windy. So after took pictures we went back again with the cable car, and bought some souvenirs at Moiwa Chufuku. There are several souvenirs and snacks that you can found at this station, including Hokkaido Yubari Melon Chocolate. Yup, this delicious chocolate was really hard to find in Sapporo. I've been looking for that in every snack shops in Sapporo and Otaru. But I couldn't find it. Luckily I found it at Mt Moiwa. FYI, Hokkaido Yubari Melon Chocolate is a must buy - when in Hokkaido.

Source : http://tastyjapan.blogspot.com/2010/11/hokkaido-yubari-melon-chocolate.html

Finished with our trip to Mt Moiwa, we decided to go to Sapporo station and have a lunch. Actually we've made a reservation for a dinner at Sapporo Beer Garden at 5 PM. But it's too early so we decided to have a quick lunch and shopping at shopping mall around Sapporo station, while waiting for our dinner time. This time we're going to the food court at Sapporo Esta, which located at the basement. Since I didn't want to have a heavy meal, so I just bought takoyaki at Gindaco. You must be familiar with this name, because Gindaco is a popular brand for takoyaki in Japan. Must try when you're in Japan.

Takoyaki topped with egg and cheese by Gindaco

Since it's a lunch time, the food court condition was very crowded. After done with our meals, we went to Bic Camera which also located at Sapporo Esta. Bic Camera is a huge electronic store which can be found in almost every city in Japan. They are very popular because the price is very cheap in here. I came here not without a reason. Well, I came here because I was looking for Nintendo Switch game console, which really hard to find in Japan. I was reading in every articles about "Where to buy Nintendo Switch in Japan?", and all of them said that I couldn't buy it because they sold out... However I still curious about it and decided to try our luck by looking for that at toys area at Bic Camera.

Once I arrived, I saw many games and accessories for Nintendo Switch, but no game console. I tried to ask to the worker there (in English), but he told me it's sold out. I was thinking that maybe he didn't understand English very well, so I asked to other worker in Japanese. I didn't really talk in Japanese (I couldn't speak Japanese :P), but I showed my questions which has been translated to Japanese in Google Translate. After read it, he told me to follow him. He led me to other side of the store which very quite. (FYI, the place where I saw many games and accessories for Nintendo Switch was very very crowded.) After arrived, he showed me their stocks for Nintendo Switch game console. They still had stocks around 50pcs but it's hidden. It's also need to be paid at their private cashier. The price for Nintendo Switch in Japan was ¥30.000, much cheaper than in my country (Indonesia).

Aurelia got her "jackpot"

Nintendo Switch at Bic Camera Sapporo

After done with the payment, we realized that it's almost the time for us to have dinner. From Sapporo Station, we took subway Toho Line to Higashikuyakusho-Mae station (¥200) and continued by walk around 1km to Sapporo Beer Garden. Even though it's not yet 5PM, but the sky was getting dark and it's rainning. Not so sure about it, but I thought the temperature wasn't as cold as it should be which caused a rainfall - not a snowfall. It made us feel colder due to our clothes that getting wet because of the rain.

Arrived at Sapporo Beer Garden, we had no idea where the restaurant's location exactly. Luckily we found a direction to the reception, and we went there to ask them. There are several restaurants at that place, and they serve different menu with different buffet price. We've made reservation at "Trommel Hall" which also serves King Crab on their buffet menu besides their main dishes, Genghis Khan. If you don't know. Genghis Khan is a popular dishes in Sapporo. Besides eat fresh seafood at Nijo Market, Genghis Khan also a mandatory when you're in Sapporo. And the best restaurant for eat this meal is Sapporo Beer Garden.

Inside the Trommel Hall - Sapporo Beer Garden

Basically, Genghis Khan is grilled fresh lamb and mutton meat with a lot of vegetables. However, at Trommel Hall, you also can get other kind of meat such as pork, beef, seafood, including king crab. Not just grilled dishes, you also can order other Japanese food such as ramen, sushi, as much as you want. WOW!! It sounds like a paradise for a foodies like me. For this buffet, it costs ¥6980 for adults, and ¥3490 for children. This price includes all you can drink, where you can drink their famous beer as much as you want. You can get the price information for other restaurant at Sapporo Beer Garden area in here.

Even though our tummy was really full, but we still had room for dessert ^^

If you're a buffet person, you'll know how great it is to make your tummy full with tons of food, and you don't need to pay more. However, if you're not a buffet person and think foods in buffet are not delicious, you need to change your thought about it at Sapporo Beer Garden. Even though they serve buffet menu, but the food was very delicious. The meat was really fresh and there's no smell at all. Besides lamb and mutton, my favorite was the crab. I ate a lot of king crab at that time and I was really satisfied with it. I think it's not a secret that king crab is a very expensive food. Therefore, when I heard that there's all you can eat king crab and it also combined with the famous genghis khan, I didn't want to missed this chance.

She told me it was the best Xmas gift.

My last night in Sapporo was ended perfectly. We could see the skyline of Sapporo when it's covered by snow. We also got Nintendo Switch for Aurelia (which people said that it's really hard to get it in Japan). And we also ate a lot of king crab which is my favorite meal ever. I would said that it was one of the best day in my life. Well, I've done almost everything on my "checklist" in Sapporo, and I was so happy with it. Only 1 thing that I haven't done - eat the famous Ramen Shingen and Ebisoba Ichigen in Sapporo, because they have a long holiday on New Years. So sad, but that made a reason for me to back again to Sapporo.

[Hokkaido] Day 4 : First Time Skiing at Rusutsu

Besides known for its food, Hokkaido also known for their snow activities. In winter, every parts of Hokkaido will covered with very fluffy and powdery snow. This situation makes Hokkaido become the best place for skiing and snowboarding in the world. For this reason, I felt visiting Hokkaido is not complete without trying these sport activities. Despite my inexperienced, I was looking for the best place for skiing in Hokkaido, of course for the beginner. Some answers shown up. Since I only gonna had a daytrip for skiing, I chose the nearest place from Sapporo (where I stayed during this trip) with easy access. It's Rusutsu.

Rusutsu is a city which located just 2 hours away from Sapporo. There are 2 places in Rusutsu which famous for snow activities, Rusutsu Resort Hotel and The Westin Hotel. These hotels have adjacent location, and also connected. However, my destination was Rusutsu Resort Hotel because they have a snow park for children. We were visiting this place by taking a free shuttle from Sapporo (by bus), provided by Rusutsu Resort Hotel. Since they have limited seats and only one time departure, so you must make reservation by online in advance. Especially if you have large numbers of people on your group.

Mountain view while on the way to Rusutsu

Roadside Rest Area Boyo Nakayama

The bus departs from Sapporo at 8AM in the morning. During this 2 hours trip, we saw a very beautiful scenery of winter. In the middle of the trip, the bus made a quick stop at Roadside Rest Area Boyo Nakayama. At this place we could get out from the bus, and took pictures with snowy mountain as the background.

Arrived at Rusutsu Resort Hotel, we bought the lift ticket and also rent ski equipment immediately. Since we only have a limited time, we just bought 4 hours ticket and also rent the ski equipment for 5 hours. You can check the lift ticket price in here and rental price here. If you just want to play around with snow, enjoy the scenery, or just play with your children at Crayon Shinchan Kids Park, you don't need to rent any equipment.

Slide at Crayon Shinchan Kids Park

Beside those activities, you also can find other winter activities such as snow mobile, which available (with reservation) at The Westin Hotel. As I was saying, Rusutsu Resort Hotel and The Westin Hotel are connected. If you just want to looking around (without skiing / snowboarding), you can visit them both in 1 day. However since I was playing ski, I had no enought time to visit The Westin Hotel. Maybe another time I'll stay at one of this resort so I can explore more.

On the chair lift to going up

Breathtaking view from the top of mountain

The weather in Rusutsu was around -10 degrees celcius. But when I was there, it was a sunny day. This perfect weather made us didn't feel cold, at all. We really enjoyed our day trip to Rusutsu. Not just because of their outdoor activities, but also their indoor facilities. To be honest, this is 1 of many reasons why I chose Rusutsu instead Niseko (which is most popular for skiing). Beside the location which is close with Sapporo, a snow park for kids, they also have a shopping mall with some shops, restaurant, and indoor entertainment. So when the kids got bored and need a warmer place, we could take them to the shopping mall and play there.

The shuttle bus for going back to Sapporo only has 1 departure time, at 5PM. While waiting for the bus, we had a very late lunch at the restaurant inside the shopping mall. There are many restaurants inside, with different type of food. We chose a Japanese restaurant which serves Curry Rice with Tonkatsu at the Ground Floor (I forgot the name). Unlike other attraction places which usually serve a bad quality food with high price, the food was taste so good and also came with reasonably price. Perfect meal to ended our day in Rusutsu.

Overall, I just want to said that I didn't have any regret to chose Rusutsu as my first place for skiing. I could get anything I want in this place. Not just for me, but also for my children. They were so happy to play at the snow park where they could slide for unlimited time. The only regret was we only had a day trip, which gave us a limited time to explore this place. Well, if you ask me whether 1 day is enough to explore Rusutsu, I would say, "NO!". You need to stay at least 2 - 3 nights. Unless if you just want to strolling around without play any snow activities.