Hokkaido II Day 9: Dormy Inn Sapporo, Tanukikoji Street & Odori Park

I had a fever during the night so I woke up feeling less than myself in the morning. I must have caught whatever virus that the Littlest had in Toya! We had to skip our usual morning onsen for the first time ever and prepare for check out instead! As the saying goes, "the show must go on"... 😣

Beautiful morning for a walk to Otaru Station, albeit feeling sick

We bought our train tickets to Sapporo at ¥750 per adult and ¥370 per child (6-12 years old) and boarded the train at around 12 noon.

Taking the local train to Sapporo Station

On arrival at Sapporo Station, we headed to the taxi stand to hail a taxi to our accommodation. It was so worth it as we only paid ¥1250 and did not have to drag our luggage through the snow!

Inside the taxi at Sapporo

We arrived at Dormy Inn Premium Sapporo Hotel, our accommodation in Sapporo. We chose it for its good location and onsen facilities!

Our room was not ready so we left our luggage at the concierge and headed to Tanukikoji Shopping Street, located conveniently behind our hotel!

Dormy Inn Premium Sapporo

Tanukikoji Shopping Street

We had lunch at a restaurant the Hubby spotted just down the street from our hotel.

Have no idea how to read the name of the restaurant in Japanese

We were given a small table under the stairs!

Starters

Yummy seafoood

Fish hotpot soup

The food was tasty and affordable but I couldn't enjoy it to the fullest as I started to feel chills running throughout my body again. I found myself in one of the many pharmacies in the area buying medicine. I had to scan the box with Google Translate to understand what I was buying!

By then, our 2 rooms were ready for us to check in so I returned to the hotel to rest. We headed to our Moderate Double / Twin Rooms, which we had booked for S$270 per room per night (each room accommodates 2 adults).

Bedroom slippers on the wall to save space (left) and very narrow entryway (right)

Toilet and shower (no bathtub)

Tiny wardrobe and luggage rack

Tiny double bed that could barely fit me and my girls

TV console and windows with limited view

Information about the spa and other facilities

Restaurant at Level 1

Complimentary use of the dining area during certain timings where we could get free drinks from the machines

After taking my medicine, I took a nap with the Littlest while the Hubby and older kids headed out to shop. They said they had a lot of fun! 😬

Shopping at Tanukikoji Shopping Street

The Boy bought more of his favourite Kirby gachapon

They also shopped at Mega Don Quijote Sapporo, which was just a 5-minute walk from our hotel.

My Boy found more Kirby merchandise at Don Quijote!

External view of Mega Don Quijote Sapporo

The other section of Tanukikoji Shopping Street

The Littlest and I slept until 6pm! I woke up feeling much better after a good rest. We met up with the rest of the family to walk to Odori Park via the underground shopping street towards Odori Station.

We were there to visit the famous Sapporo White Illumination at Odori Park!

Odori Park looked extra magical when it was lighted up!

Beautiful installations

Sapporo Christmas markets

The Sapporo TV Tower looked so different lighted up at night compared to when the Hubby and I saw it during the day in our last visit.

The kids took photos with the giant Christmas tree at the base of Sapporo TV Tower

Final photos

After exploring the Christmas market stalls and not finding anything substantial to eat, the hubby decided on Gyoza no Ohsho, a very popular restaurant chain selling fusion Japanese-Chinese food. There was a long queue at the Tanukikoji Street outlet and we waited for about 30 minutes before we were finally seated.