What's on in Sapporo (Hokkaido), Japan through the year

Peak crowds — the editor's peak month, Winter break (fuyuyasumi) in Japan

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Sapporo White Illumination (20 Nov – 14 Mar), Ski season in the mountains (1 Dec – 5 Apr (usually))

Peak crowds — the editor's peak month, Sapporo Snow Festival

• Festival

  Sapporo Snow Festival

  4–12 Feb · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  A week of monumental snow and ice sculptures across Odori Park and Susukino, in the coldest fortnight of the year. City hotels are gone months in advance. Source ↗

Still on: Sapporo White Illumination (20 Nov – 14 Mar), Ski season in the mountains (1 Dec – 5 Apr (usually))

Busy — between the peaks, Spring break (haruyasumi) in Japan

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Sapporo White Illumination (20 Nov – 14 Mar), Ski season in the mountains (1 Dec – 5 Apr (usually))

Quiet — the editor's quiet month, Spring break (haruyasumi) in Japan

• Nature

  Cherry and plum blossom

  28 Apr – 15 May · usuallyCherry blossom

  Hokkaido gets both at once, usually in the first half of May, a month behind Tokyo, and Maruyama Park does hanami with lamb on a grill.

Still on: Ski season in the mountains (1 Dec – 5 Apr (usually))

Busy — between the peaks, Golden Week in Japan

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Cherry and plum blossom (28 Apr – 15 May (usually))

Peak crowds — the editor's peak month, Yosakoi Soran Festival

• Festival

  Yosakoi Soran Festival

  10–14 JunMajor festivalCrowded

  Thousands of dancers with clappers take Odori Park and the main streets for five days in June, which is the best-weather month in the country. Source ↗

Peak crowds — the editor's peak month, Furano lavender

• Nature

  Furano lavender

  5–31 Jul · usuallyWildflowers & bloomsCrowded

  The fields two hours inland peak in the middle of July and the day-trip buses go with them; early morning is the only quiet hour.

• Opening

  Odori beer garden

  23 Jul – 18 AugSummer season opens

  A kilometre of Odori Park becomes an outdoor beer hall for about four weeks, seating thirteen thousand, and it is the whole point of a Sapporo summer. Source ↗

Peak crowds — the editor's peak month, Summer break (natsuyasumi) in Japan

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Odori beer garden (23 Jul – 18 Aug)

Busy — Sapporo Autumn Fest, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Sapporo Autumn Fest

  11 Sep – 3 OctMajor festivalCrowded

  Three weeks of Hokkaido food in Odori Park through September: the island's harvest, ramen by region, and the last comfortable evenings outdoors. Source ↗

• Nature

  Autumn colour

  20 Sep – 5 Nov · usually

  Colour starts in Daisetsuzan in the third week of September, the earliest in Japan, and works down to the city parks by the end of October.

Busy — between the peaks, Sapporo Autumn Fest

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Sapporo Autumn Fest (11 Sep – 3 Oct), Autumn colour (20 Sep – 5 Nov (usually))

Quiet — the editor's quiet month

• Opening

  Sapporo White Illumination

  20 Nov – 14 MarMajor festival

  Odori Park is lit from late November until the middle of March, which covers the dark afternoons and the snow festival in one run. Source ↗

Still on: Autumn colour (20 Sep – 5 Nov (usually))

Busy — Winter break (fuyuyasumi) in Japan, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Ski season in the mountains

  1 Dec – 5 Apr · usually

  Niseko, Kiroro and Rusutsu are one to two hours out and run on the driest powder in the country; the city itself is the cheap bed at the end of the bus route.

Still on: Sapporo White Illumination (20 Nov – 14 Mar)