Top choice
While the sights of Otaru can be done in a day, if you're looking for somewhere to hole up for a few, this is a fantastic choice. Morinoki is an old, sprawling house perched on a stone embankment. Accommodation is in fairly simple mixed-gender dormitories, but there are kitchen and laundry facilities, bilingual staff and super-comfy lounging areas.
The hostel is about a 15-minute walk from JR Otaru Station, and can be a little tricky to find.
0.56 MILES
Historic Otaru canal is lined with warehouses from the late 19th and early 20th centuries when this port city served as the financial centre of Hokkaidō…
20.29 MILES
This legendary Sapporo attraction is in the original Sapporo Beer brewery, a pretty, ivy-covered brick building. There's no need to sign up for the tour;…
19.88 MILES
This haven in the heart of the city is fully 13 blocks (1.5km) long, with the TV Tower at its eastern end. Among the green lawns and flower gardens are…
17.42 MILES
This ski-jump slope was built on the side of ?kura-yama for the Sapporo 1972 Winter Games. At 133.6m it's just slightly shorter than Sapporo TV Tower,…
26.9 MILES
This expansive collection of historical buildings (and some recreations), in Nopporo Shinrin-kōen east of central Sapporo, shows the diversity of…
18.39 MILES
Unlike other museums, where artefacts are kept behind glass, exhibitions here consist of replicas, handmade by members of Sapporo's Ainu community using…
22 MILES
Completed in 2005, this former waste-treatment plant to the northeast of the central city is now an impressive reclaimed green belt. It was originally…
26.7 MILES
This museum does an admirable job of explaining Hokkaidō's multilayered history, from the age of the woolly mammoths to the age of the steam locomotives,…
0.21 MILES
This museum has clearly, uh, struck a chord: there are now five of them in town, with over 25,000 music boxes on display. Actually everything is for sale…
0.39 MILES
The former Otaru branch of the venerable Bank of Japan (日本銀行), completed in 1912 and designed by the same architect who did Tokyo Station, has been so…
0.4 MILES
Once known as the 'Wall Street of the North', 狈颈肠丑颈驳颈苍-诲ō谤颈 is lined with elegant buildings that speak to Otaru's past life as a prominent financial…
0.56 MILES
Historic Otaru canal is lined with warehouses from the late 19th and early 20th centuries when this port city served as the financial centre of Hokkaidō…
0.66 MILES
This annexe of the Otaru Museum, known as the Ungakan (運河館), is housed in a restored warehouse dating from 1893 near the canal. It does a good job of…
3.26 MILES
One of Otaru's must-see spots, this old herring house, once at the sea's edge, has been moved to a gorgeous bluff and has a number of artefacts and photos…
17.42 MILES
This small temple fronts a 120m-long cave that has 33 statues of Kannon, the Buddhist deity of compassion, and is dedicated to road workers who lost their…
8. ?kura-yama Ski Jump Stadium
17.42 MILES
This ski-jump slope was built on the side of ?kura-yama for the Sapporo 1972 Winter Games. At 133.6m it's just slightly shorter than Sapporo TV Tower,…