Hokkaido II Day 7: Dormy Inn Otaru, Sankaku Market & Otaru Canal

We woke up this morning to trees completely covered in snow due to the blizzard overnight! It was still snowing very heavily when we went for breakfast at AYA Kitchen.

Good morning from Niseko!

My breakfast that morning 😋

We enjoyed our stay at AYA Niseko and were sad to leave!

After checking out of our hotel at 10am, we waited at the lobby near the front entrance for the complimentary shuttle service I had booked via email (at least 5 days in advance) once we knew we couldn't rent a car. There was still time so the kids played in the snow while waiting.

Got a staff to help us to take this lovely family photo;
The Littlest said she was looking at her ice-cream because she was fascinated by the snow landing on it. She still talks about this moment in Niseko to this day! 😅

The Boy was so bored that he helped the staff shovel some of the snow out of the driveway

Finally, our very young Australian driver had arrived to drive us to the station

Our Australian driver shared that he was working part-time in Niseko so that he could enjoy snowboarding on his days-off. There were many people doing exactly the same in Niseko! So fun to be young and carefree! 😆

We arrived at Kutchan Station and waited to board the local train to Otaru. We had already bought our train tickets at Toya Station 2 days before. Our train departed on time at 11.50pm and the journey took about 1 hour.

Departing Kutchan Station

Beautiful scenery along the way! 😍

We arrived at Otaru Station at around 1pm. It was still snowing heavily but thankfully Dormy Inn Premium Otaru was located just opposite the station!

Arrival at Otaru Station

Dormy Inn Premium Otaru Natural Hot Spring Hotel

Don Quijote and supermarket located conveniently opposite Dormy Inn

Ever since our last visit to Otaru in 2012, we've always wanted to return and stay so that we'd have more time to explore the area. I was so happy to be back! 🥰

It was not yet time to check in, hence we left our luggage at the concierge and walked for about 3 minutes to Sankaku Market just down the street for lunch.

Sankaku Market

Many seafood shops!

We walked pass a shop with a big tank of king crabs and the Hubby chose a lucky one for our meal! The roughly 1.6 kg king crab cost ¥28,000 😱, which was way more expensive than the king crab we ate at Noryangjin Fisheries Market in Seoul. After choosing our crab, we were brought to a nearby restaurant to enjoy our meal.

Super huge king crabs!

We chose the seafood from the shop (pictured left) and ate in the restaurant nearby (pictured right)

The staff spoke very little English so they prepared photos for guests to indicate what they wanted

The kids loved the king crab!

Besides the king crab, we also ordered a salmon sashimi don, ikura don and grilled squid. It was a very satisfying meal!

By the time we left the restaurant, we were met with another snow storm! ⛄🌨 

It's snowing again in Otaru!

It was time to head back to the hotel and check out our room. We had booked 2 Double Non-smoking Rooms at ¥31,825 (S$297.50) per room per night (accommodates 2 adults per room).

Tiny room with a double bed

Not much of a view as we chose the cheapest room

Tiny wardrobe and sink area

Simple toiletries (left) and TV console (right)

Toilet with no bathtub
(Not an issue for us since we bathe at the public onsen)

Complimentary kids gift

Complimentary yuzu cake in the room (left);
Water dispenser and vending machine at the lift landing (right)

We headed out to explore Otaru and walked for about 8 minutes to the famous Otaru Canal.

The streets of Otaru were covered with snow!

The Littlest made snow Kuromi every chance she got!

What a beautiful LeTAO outlet!

Finally back at the beautiful Otaru canal! Looked so lovely covered in snow!

Super happy kids!

Family selfie

Temperature was -1.6°C 

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We headed in to the famous Sakaimachi Shopping Street, which we had enjoyed tremendously during our last visit in 2012! It was a priority for us to visit again so that we could spend more time shopping here!

Sakaimachi shopping street

We checked out many speciality shops, including Snoopy Village and Miffy
(Fair warning: some products we bought were cheaper in Don Quijote)

Buying melons at a fruit stall

The kids loved the street too! It had something for everyone! 😍

The streets were extremely icy and slippery and we had a hard time walking! After slipping many times and almost falling, we decided we needed a break and stopped at another LeTAO outlet to rest!

LeTAO Pathos

The Earl Grey Milk Tea was magnificent!

We bought two cakes for our breakfast! 😋

We didn't have enough time to visit the Otaru Music Box Museum and the Kitachi Glass shop. We had to return the next day instead (see next post).

The journey back to our hotel was brutal as the strong winds blew snow onto our faces as we walked! We were so relieved when we finally arrived at Don Quijote just opposite of our hotel. 

The ever familiar Donki!

We did quite a bit of shopping before heading back to our hotel. We were super excited to get our cold bodies into the warmth of the onsen! Such a luxury!

Off to the onsen!

All Dormy Inns provide complimentary use of their washing machines so we brought our laundry to wash while we had our baths.

We headed to the restaurant at 9.45pm to have complimentary ramen provided by Dormy Inn. The Boy and Littlest loved the noodles so much that they each ate 2.5 bowls! 😱

Yummy complimentary ramen

We ended our day with cheese cake from LeTAO! Super yummy! 😋

Chocolate Double and Noel Pistachio 

It would be a cold night ahead as we went to bed! ❆

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P.S: Read about our experiences in Dormy Inns all over Japan:

• 2016: Onyado Nono Namba (Osaka)
• 2018: Dormy Inn Premium Kodenmacho (Tokyo)
• 2019: Dormy Inn Premium Nagoya Sakae (Nagoya)

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Continue to >> Hokkaido II Day 8: Nikka Whisky Yoichi Distillery & Otaru Music Box Museum
<< Back to Hokkaido II Day 6: Hanazono Tube Park & Kobetei Niseko

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Visit MADPSYCHMUM TRAVELS for the rest of my posts on Hokkaido, Japan 

as well as other travel itineraries!

Please also follow my travel adventures on Instagram via the hashtag #madpsychmumtravels!

Hokkaido II Day 6: Hanazono Tube Park & Kobetei Niseko

We woke up a bit later this morning and went to wash up at the onsen as per our usual practice. Thank God that the Littlest was no longer feeling sick and we could enjoy the day as planned! 😀

View from our bedroom window in the morning

We headed to AYA Kitchen at Level 1 for breakfast.

AYA Kitchen

Hokkaido cheese platter

We got booth seating

The food was generally good!

View from the restaurant's window

After breakfast, we prepared to head out and explore the neighbourhood. We can finally see Mount Yotei!

View of Mount Yotei from AYA Niseko 

There were four resorts on Mount Niseko-Annupuri known collectively as Niseko United: 1) Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu (the largest), 2) Annupuri, 3) Niseko Village and 4) Hanazono. There were complimentary shuttle buses that linked the resorts.

We decided to take the complimentary shuttle bus to Hanazono as it was the only resort that offered snowtubing.

We walked to the bus stop at the hotel opposite of AYA Niseko
(The kids made many snow Kuromi with the snow maker the hubby had bought in Toya for ¥1000!)

The Hanazono shuttle bus

In the shuttle bus

We arrived at Hanazono Resort after travelling for about 20 minutes.

Niseko Hanazono Resort

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We rented 3 tubes at ¥4200 per tube for 1 hour at the Hanazono Tube Park.

Travellor up the slope so that we did not have to climb!

Inside the travellor glass tube

The real thing was way better than the artificial snowtubing we had done at Singapore's Snow City! 😆

Super excited for our snowtubing!

We took turns going down the slope

Double tubes were allowed! 😄

We initially wanted to ride the gondolas but were informed that they were one-way only. With nothing much to do after our snowtubing, we left Hanazono.

Hanazono shuttle bus route

We boarded the complimentary shuttle bus to the Hirafu Welcome Center at the Tokyu Grand Hirafu Resort.

Welcome Center

Grand Hirafu

Base station for one of the gondolas

We were there because I had originally planned to catch a bus to Kutchan Town. However the timing wasn't right so we decided instead to walk back to our hotel, which was just 10 minutes away by foot.

Walking downhill to our hotel, with Mount Yotei in the background

I know it was such a shame that we were so near the slopes but could not go skiing. The ski classes were full and the Littlest was still too sticky to me. On hindsight, the Eldest and I should have taken ski lessons in Singapore so that we didn't have to take lessons in Niseko (can just rent the gear and hit the slopes directly). 

In any case, we spent time together as a family and I probably avoided getting injured (people have been known to break legs when skiing you know 😅).

Our family hung out together in our beautiful hotel room until it was time for dinner (I managed to squeeze in a 30-minute workout). The Hubby booked a table at Kobetei Niseko for our very extravagant beef yakiniku dinner!

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Family photo outside Kobetei Niseko, taken by kind passerbys

Group selfie

The hubby is a foodie and willing to splurge for quality food! We ordered three KAZE Courses at ¥19,800 and one Kids Course at ¥13,200 (Littlest dined free). Each course consisted of 10 food items!

List of food in the Kids Course and KAZE Course

It was the first time the Boy had ever tried caviar and he loved it!

King crab, scallops and salmon roe starter and first tray of beef! 😋

Group photo taken by the staff

2 types of Shiroi beef

Eel hand-rolled sushi

Hokkaido Shiroi beef fillet (my best guess 😅)

3 types of Shiroi beef

Super big fire! 🔥

Speciality Shiroi beef sirloin sukiyaki

Dipped in sauce with freshly sliced truffle!

Orange ice-cream in an orange peel for dessert!

As my Boy's birthday was coming up, we had an early celebration for him! The staff even sang "happy birthday" to him! He was extremely happy! 😍

Happy 11th Birthday to my Boy! 🎉 

After a very fulfilling dinner, we spent time roaming the neighbourhood before heading back.

Beautiful illumination!

The 3 kids

We ended the day with our usual bath at AYA Onsen. Loving our snowy days in Hokkaido! 💖

Continue to >> Hokkaido II Day 7: Dormy Inn Otaru, Sankaku Market & Otaru Canal 

<< Back to Hokkaido II Day 5: Train to Kutchan & AYA Niseko

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Visit MADPSYCHMUM TRAVELS for the rest of my posts on Hokkaido, Japan

as well as other travel itineraries!

Please also follow my travel adventures on Instagram via the hashtag #madpsychmumtravels!