Daytrip to Otaru

 

If we are traveling in Sapporo, usually Otaru (小樽) will be a recommended sidetrip . With rapid train, the trip to Otaru is only 32 minutes from Sapporo Station. There are many departures, the interval is about every 15 minutes, so you don't need to worry about the schedule, just go-show buy a train ticket (or use JR Pass, no need to reserve a seat).Best holiday packages

Since this was a daytrip, I didn't stay overnight in Otaru. I arrived early in the morning and headed back to Sapporo in the afternoon (so I had time for shopping in Sapporo).

Itinerary in Otaru:

Otaru Canal

Sakaimachi-Dori

LeTAO Cake shop

Music box museum

We can explore the tourist attractions in Otaru on foot, starting from when we arrive at JR Otaru Station . But if you want to save energy, you can use the Otaru Stroller Bus, a flat rate of 220 yen per ride or 750 yen for a one-day pass. We can buy tickets as soon as we exit the train station.

Otaru Canal

After I weighed it up, I finally decided to walk all the way here. So as soon as I exited JR Otaru Station, I crossed the street and continued walking along Chuo Dori (Central Street), about 300 meters to the Otaru Canal which is the icon and must-see of Otaru city. It's not far, it turns out that the kids didn't complain hehehe.

Basically this canal is a place to enjoy the atmosphere, especially if you can ride a boat along this canal. When I came here in summer, so the air was cool but the sun was still hot.

Satisfied with taking pictures here, it's time for lunch. The choice fell on the Sushi Zanmai restaurant , along the way to Sakaimachi Dori, our destination later. Sushi Zanmai is one of the most famous sushi restaurants in Tokyo (because it dared to win the tuna auction with the most expensive price ), it has quite a lot of branches and one in Otaru. Because the restaurant's signboard is fully in Japanese, you should rely on Google Maps if you want to search.

Sakaimachi Street

Like the main shopping street in Otaru, this street is not too big and not long, maybe only 400 meters, but it is full of interesting shops. Especially if we want to buy souvenirs or snacks. All the tourist attractions that I wrote below are located in Sakaimachi.

Starting from a specialty store selling Hello Kitty dolls, to a souvenir shop selling very detailed miniature samurai armor.

LeTAO Cheese Cake

Tired feet? We can stop by LeTAO cake shop first. It's on the left and right side of the road, both are exactly opposite each other. Although the cakes are quite expensive, they taste good. The main products are cheese cake and chocolate cheese (¥380/pcs). There's also LeTAO 7-tier ice cream for those who want to show off on Instagram

Music Box Museum

At the end of Sakaimachi Street, we will find the Music Box Museum. There are actually several buildings, you can enter all of them. Although it is called a museum, it actually also sells music boxes.

Music box: a small object that when turned by hand will produce tinkling melodious music.

The music boxes here come in various shapes and also various melodies, ranging from those that cost 1000 yen, to those that are incredibly expensive (because they are from ancient times), to those that are not for sale.

Back to Sapporo

After taking a break while the kids enjoyed lavender ice cream, we headed back to Sapporo. Instead of walking back to Otaru Station, after looking at the map, it turned out that there was a station closer to our last position (music box museum), namely Minami-Otaru Station .

We took the JR Rapid Train to New Chitose Airport, this is the fastest train to Sapporo, 32 minutes, compared to other semi-rapid trains which can take 40-50 minutes.