Hokkaido - Day 6 (Niseko - Sapporo)

I was woken up at 7am by the ski announcement, as our hotel room overlooked Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu. The temperature was -4℃, with light snowfall. Despite the early hour, many skiers had already started hitting the slopes. We checked out of the hotel at 11am and left our luggage in the hotel's storage area since our bus back to Sapporo was at 4.20pm.

Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu

We walked to If, a cozy restaurant run by an elderly couple, and saw a large group of people still waiting for their food. The friendly owner told us that the wait would be quite long. So we decided not to stay and left the restaurant. We then took a stroll around Upper Hirafu Village and ended up at Cafe Cubanos.

I ordered the beef and cheese toasties, which consisted of sliced roast beef and cheese with wasabi mayo. My partner, on the other hand, had the Cubanos, which comes with slow-roasted pulled pork, ham, cheese, pickles, and mustard mayo. On top of that, he ordered a cup of hot chocolate classic that comes with marshmallows. The cafe was small with only eleven seats, but there were more available seats upstairs. The hot chocolate was nice, and the bread was very crispy. However, I find the bread a bit dry for my liking. 

Cafe Cubanos

Hot chocolate classic - ¥600

Cubanos - ¥2,200

Beef and cheese toasties - ¥1,250

Address:

Cafe Cubanos Niseko

170-136 Nisekohirafu 2 Jo,

Kutchan, Abuta District,

Hokkaido 044-0089,

Japan

Opening hours: 7am to 8pm daily, except on Monday: 9am to 8pm

We walked around Upper Hirafu Village, and the village seemed a bit dirty with litter scattered on the ground. While heading towards the King Gondola, I found the perfect spot to make a snow angel. The snow was so soft and fluffy that I didn't want to get up after that. However, my pants started to get wet since I hadn't worn waterproof ones. Even though the weather was below freezing, it was sunny and not particularly cold.

My partner bought a curry pork donut from the Hirafu Food Market. It was warm, crispy on the outside, and fluffy on the inside. I guess food tastes better in the cold. We walked back to our hotel and dragged our luggage to Hirafu Welcome Center to catch the 4.20pm bus back to Sapporo.

My mini snowman

Mount Yotei

Lawson with Mount Yotei in the background

My snow angel

Pine tree covered in snow

Mount Yotei

Grand Hirafu Mountain Center

Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu (King Gondola)

Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu (King Gondola)

Snow blower

Food truck

Food truck

Katachi Niseko Arts and Crafts

Hirafu Food Market

Curry pork donut - ¥700

Curry pork donut

I like the fact that there's CCTV monitoring bus arrivals inside the Hirafu Welcome Center. So you can just walk out when you see your bus arriving. However, before our bus arrived, a lady came in to check our names and informed us which bus to board. Our bus departed on time at 4.20pm and made a 15-minute break at the Kimobetsu rest stop around 5.35pm. We both went down for a toilet break, and it was freezing cold. The shops at the rest stop were all closed. So we ate the tuna mayonnaise onigiri that we bought from Lawson yesterday. It was delicious. The seaweed was crispy, and the rice was soft and chewy. However, we couldn't taste much tuna in it. The onigiri had the seaweed separated by a plastic wrapper, keeping it crispy until we were ready to eat it.

The bus made its first stop at Excel Hotel Tokyu at 6.45pm, followed by Omo3 Hoshino Resorts at 7pm to drop off passengers. Finally, the bus arrived at Mercure Sapporo at 7.15pm where we would be staying for the next two nights in Sapporo. Overall, taking the Niseko Ski Resort shuttle bus to Niseko was convenient and comfortable. The journey was pleasant and relaxing. Apart from that, the scenery was breathtaking along the way.

Mount Yotei

Hirafu Welcome Center

Niseko Ski Resort shuttle bus

Niseko Ski Resort shuttle bus

Kimobetsu rest stop

The check-in process at Mercure Sapporo was quick, and once we were done, we decided to have our dinner at Ramen Haruka. However, when we arrived, there was a long queue outside the restaurant. So we changed our plans and had dinner at Yakiniku Tenjiku, right across from Ramen Haruka.

We ordered the wagyu beef treasure box, which comes with extra premium wagyu kalbi, extra premium wagyu skirt, premium wagyu rumen, premium wagyu rump cap, and premium wagyu tongue. We requested the staff to substitute the wagyu tongue with rump as neither of us eats innards. We also added pork neck, large rice, and yukgaejang to our order.

The presentation of the treasure box was amazing, with smoke billowing out as soon as the box was opened. However, the waiter misunderstood our request and gave us chicken and beef innards instead. After some clarification, he was able to replace the innards with rump for us. Overall, the food doesn't taste good. The pork neck was full of fat and lacked freshness. The same applies to the chicken. Apart from that, we were unable to finish the yukgaejang. No wonder the restaurant was empty when we walked in.

(Total bill - ¥11,406)

Yakiniku Tenjiku

Sauce

Onions and bean sprouts

Wagyu beef treasure box - ¥9,878 and pork neck ¥748

Wagyu beef treasure box

Rice (large) - ¥429

Yakiniku

Ichibo

Yukgaejang - ¥649

Address:

Yakiniku Tenjiku

Building B1F 32nd Katsuwa,

3 Chome-2-3, Minami 4 Jonishi,

Chuo Ward, Sapporo,

Hokkaido 064-0804,

Japan

Opening hours: 5pm to 5am daily, except on Sunday: 5pm to 12am

Initially, we had planned to walk around Susukino Street after dinner since my partner was craving green tea ice cream. However, the temperature was just too cold for us to walk any further, so we decided to head back to our hotel instead. On the way back, we stopped by Lawson and picked up some snacks, including Haagen-Dazs green tea ice cream, Ezaki Glico ice fruit grape muscat frozen, Meiji Almond matcha chocolate, Sapporo beer, Crunky, and Dole's orange juice.

The green tea ice cream was creamy, smooth, and not overly bitter. In contrast, the Ezaki Glico ice fruit grape muscat frozen was quite refreshing, similar to eating a mini ball-shaped popsicle. The Meiji Almond matcha chocolate was a little bitter, and the Dole's orange juice was too sour for my taste. I suppose a trip to Sapporo is incomplete without drinking their Sapporo beer. The beer has a crisp, clean, and slightly bitter taste with a smooth finish. It's easy to drink, but I still find it a bit too bitter for my liking. Eventually, I couldn't finish the entire can.

Tennessee whiskey mixed with Coca-Cola

Sapporo beer - ¥224, Dole's orange juice - ¥213, Crunky (strawberry flavour) - ¥179, Meiji Almond matcha chocolate - ¥176, Ezaki Glico ice fruit grape muscat frozen - ¥184

Haagen-Dazs green tea ice cream - ¥351

Ezaki Glico ice fruit grape muscat frozen - ¥184

Address:

Lawson Susukino Minami 4 Jo Shop

2 Chome-1-1 Minami 4 Jonishi,

Chuo Ward, Sapporo,

Hokkaido 064-0804,

Japan

Opening hours: 24 hours