The Golden Week in Sapporo Hokkaido and Cherry Blossom
The ‘Golden Week’ is a week long holiday happening on the first week of May in Japan. It is considered as one of the busiest week in Japan as the locals get a week long holiday. Hence, it is considered peak season to travel to Japan (after the usual Sakura season in April). Big cities like Tokyo and Osaka are packed with locals as they get to travel locally during this golden week. Last year, we went to Sapporo Hokkaido during the golden week for the cherry blossom season.
Unlike the other parts of Japan, the cherry blossom season is happening in Hokkaido usually late April or early May. Last year, we took the gamble to visit Sapporo during the Golden Week. Lucky for us, we managed to book an affordable cheap Airbnb (before the Minpaku law) and stayed there for a week.
We expected huge crowd in Sapporo during the Golden Week but it didn’t happened. Instead, Sapporo was quiet and there were not many people as most locals travelled to other cities.
The reason we chose to chill in Sapporo and Otaru because the accommodation in other parts of Hokkaido are fully booked and the car rental prices are doubled than usual.
In short, we enjoyed traveling in Sapporo during Golden Week. There were not many sakura trees in Sapporo and Maruyama Park is one of the places to visit to see the cherry blossom. Weather was chilly around 20 degree Celsius too so it is pretty good timing to visit Hokkaido if you hate the snow.
It is probably too late to book the airfare to Sapporo this Golden Week but it is never too late to do so next year. Remember, book your flight tickets early to get the best deals as we can see the ticket prices are not as cheap as it is used to be.
You can fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Chitose International Airport via AirAsia X. You can take the train from Chitose to Sapporo and it takes around 30 mins. If you plan to use the train for the entire Sapporo, you can purchase the Sapporo JR Pass here at
https://www.klook.com/en-MY/city/100-jr-pass/?aid=602
