Hokkaido II Day 11-12: Sapporo Maruyama Zoo, Noria Ferris Wheel & Flight Home

DAY 11

After our usual wash up at the onsen, we decided to go for breakfast at Ichiran again since we loved it the day before and it was our last chance to eat it for this trip!

We were too late to beat the crowd this time so we had to queue but it was manageable.

The excited mega fan was super happy for round 2!

Yummy! 😋 

After a very satisfying ramen breakfast, we headed to Odori Station to take the train to Maruyama Zoo. Our aim was to see a polar bear because we have not seen one since the death of Singapore's beloved polar bear Inuka. At first we wanted to visit Asahiyama Zoo but it was 2 hours away by car; hence we went with Maruyama Zoo as it was just 20 minutes away by car.

We paid ¥210 per adult and ¥110 per child to take the Tozai Line to Maruyama Koen Station. We then followed the signboards to Exit 3 and walked towards Maruyama Park. The park was so beautiful covered in snow! ❄️

Maruyama Park

It was 0.5°C! 😀

We walked through the Maruyama Park and up a hill for about 15 minutes to get to Sapporo City Maruyama Zoo. Tickets cost only ¥800 per adult and FREE for kids up to 15 years old! Probably the cheapest (and snowiest! ❄️🌨️) zoo we've ever visited!! 🫢😅

Maruyama Zoo Main Gate

The zoo was filled with snow!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Madeline Heng (@madpsychmum)

Birds of Prey Exhibit and Kids Zoo

Mountain Hare

Elephant House

As folks living in a tropical climate, it was our first time seeing tropical animals indoors and temperate animals outdoors! 

Japanese Macaque

Timber wolf

Hokkaido Brown Bear

It was super huge!

The kids enjoying the beautiful scenery and weather 

The Littlest planted many snow Kuromi all around the zoo!

Beautiful view of the mountain that the zoo sits on

We have come to see the polar bear as we haven't seen one since the death of our beloved Inuka, Singapore's first and only polar bear (our last visit to see Inuka was in 2016). The Polar Bear House was situated at the furthest end of the zoo.

Hokuto, the male polar bear

Hokuto was 21 years old! And still very playful! 🏀

View of the Spotted Seal Exhibit from above

Underground tunnel to view the spotted seal from below

Spotted seals swimming around us

We took a break and had lunch at the Primary Rest House located in the center of the Zoo. It has a cafe, toilets and baby care rooms.

Primary Rest House

Curry rice and kids meal

After lunch, we explored the Reptile and Amphibian House. We took longer than expected as it was very interesting.

American crocodile

Green python, green and black poison frogs, and Japanese rat snake

Obi Tiger Salamander, Aldabra Giant Tortoise and Broad-necked Turtle

The zoo was larger than I had expected and we would not have time to see all the animals in the zoom! Hence, we decided to skip the tropical animals that we already have in our own Singapore Zoo.

We headed to the Alpine Animals House to see the red pandas. Although we have red pandas in our River Wonders Singapore, the red pandas were not as active as those at Maruyama Zoo.

Much larger habitat for the red panda

Up close and personal with the red panda

Able to see the red pandas at the indoor habitat with climbing structures

We spent quite a bit of time watching the cute red pandas! They were really cute!

Next, we headed next door to the Polar Zone Pavilion to see the snow leopard and amur tiger.

Snow leopard

Our first time seeing a snow leopard in actual snow!

Close up with another snow leopard

The Amur Tiger

We were so lucky that the tiger decided to come close to the glass!
Magnificent creature!

We enjoyed our time at the zoo so much that it was almost closing by the time we left! 😄

Photo opportunities 

The hubby suggested that we left quickly before it gets dark and becomes hard to walk.

Walking through the forests back to the train station

Final photos in Maruyama Park before we left

If you have more time, you can also visit nearby Hokkaido Jingu.

We returned to Odori and found time to ride the Noria Ferris Wheel at the top of Norbesa Mall.

Noria Ferris Wheel

Before we took the elevator up, we explored the shops in the mall where the Boy managed to find a collectible Transformer toy! He was so happy!

We bought the ferris wheel tickets from the kiosk at ¥1000 per adult and ¥500 per child.

Ferris wheel cabin

In the cabin

Going up!

Birds eye view of Sapporo!

We had dinner at a BBQ restaurant at Tanukikoji Shopping Street just a 5-minute walk from our hotel.

"Seven lucky gods" BBQ restaurant

Beef platter

Charcoal BBQ meat

Marbled beef! Super yummy!

Various yakitori sticks

Salmon sashimi and salmon don

After a sumptuous dinner, some of us did last minute shopping while the Littlest and I returned to the hotel for complimentary ramen.

Littlest didn't eat much at the BBQ restaurant so she devoured 2 bowls of ramen! 😅

I still cannot believe it's our last night in Japan! We have to say goodbye to the snow! 😞😔

DAY 12

We woke and washed up at the onsen for the final time for this trip! We then had a simple breakfast in the room, packed up and checked out at 9.30am.

We rolled our luggage to the bus stop for airport buses (indicated with an airplane logo) just a 2-minute walk from our hotel and managed to catch the 9.50am Airport Bus. We paid ¥1300 per adult and ¥650 per child (7-12 years old).

You can check the bus schedule at the bus stop

View of the city

The train was faster but the bus stop was nearer to our hotel. The bus journey took 1.5 hours and we finally arrived at New Chitose International Airport at 11.25am.

After checking in at the ANA counters, we enjoyed fries and chips at Calbee+.

Calbee+ at New Chitose Airport

At 1.45pm, we boarded our plane heading to Tokyo.

Our ANA plane at New Chitose Airport

In the plane and on our way

New Chitose Airport from the plane on the ground and in the air

The flight duration was almost 2 hours and we arrived at Tokyo Narita International Airport at 3.30pm.

We had about 3 hours of transit to have lunch and buy more souvenirs and snacks! 

Lunch at Toyko Food Bar, the same thing we did in 2018

Tiny play area for little kids

I had prepared many empty bags to carry our shopping just in case but we only needed 2! 😃

We departed Tokyo for Singapore promptly at 6.20pm.

Boarding our plane back home

Our dinner

Kids meal and dessert!

The flight duration was 7.5 hours and we arrived safely in Singapore at 12.45am (Singapore time, Singapore is 1 hour behind Japan).

Midnight but she still wanted to take this picture with Pompompurin

Super tired but happy from a fruitful trip! Thankful to God for sustaining my body so that I could enjoy the last 4 days of trip even though I was battling a serious virus! 🙏🏻

Home sweet home! 💞 

<< Back to Hokkaido II Day 10: Ichiran, Royce Town Factory & Susukino

~~~~~~

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!