Sapporo Snow Festival 2027 Guide: Feb 4-11, Sites, Access
The Sapporo Snow Festival 2027 (77th) festival overview sets the dates and the 3 sites. The Sapporo Snow Festival official FAQ answers the ticket question plainly: all sites are free. You pay only for extras, such as some rides at Tsudome, food and the subway.
Sapporo Snow Festival 2027 dates
The festival opens on Thursday 4 February 2027 and closes on Thursday 11 February. That puts one full weekend, Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 February, inside the 8 days.
The last day, 11 February, is National Foundation Day, a national holiday in Japan. Our February public holidays page lists the other days off that month. In 2026, families filled Tsudome on the weekend and the holiday, while school groups came on weekdays.
A linked event follows straight after. Sapporo Snow Sports Park 2027 runs from Friday 12 to Sunday 14 February 2027 at the Daiwa House Premist Dome, for 3 days.
The photo below shows the Sapporo TV Tower above a snowy Odori Park, the heart of the festival.
Two timing rules matter if you arrive early or stay late. You cannot enter the Odori and Tsudome sites before the opening day. At Susukino, carvers start on the ice sculptures about 3 days before, and you can watch them work just before the opening.
The sculptures come down the morning after the last day, so that none of them collapses. Heavy machines turn them into piles of snow. If you land on 12 February, you will miss the sculptures.
We read these dates on the Japanese pages of the official site, checked on 15 October 2026. At that time the English, Chinese and Korean pages still showed the 2025 festival. The Sapporo Snow Festival Odori Site page says the 2027 details for each site will appear from mid-December 2026. Sculpture themes and event times for 2027 are not announced yet.
Odori, Tsudome and Susukino: the 3 sites compared
Odori and Susukino are open at any time, while Tsudome runs only from 10:00 to 16:00.
Odori is the main site. It fills Odori Park from Nishi 1-chome to Nishi 11-chome, about 1.1 km of sculptures in the city centre. Because it is a public park, you can walk through at any hour, and the sculptures stay lit until 22:00.
The 2027 overview plans 5 large snow sculptures, at 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10-chome. Medium and small sculptures and winter attractions fill the blocks between them. The International Snow Sculpture Contest takes 11-chome.
| Place | Odori Site (Odori Park) |
|---|---|
| Price | Free entry |
| Hours | 4-11 February 2027; open at any time, sculptures lit until 22:00 |
| Access | Right by Odori Station (Namboku, Tozai and Toho subway lines) |
| Official site | Sapporo Snow Festival Odori Site page |
Tsudome is the snow play site. It uses the Sapporo Community Dome in Higashi-ku, with slides and snow rafts outside and food and rides indoors. In 2026, hours were 10:00 to 16:00, and staff could stop taking riders early on busy days.
Plan on public transport. In 2026 the site had no general parking and no space for drop-offs, though taxis could enter. A hat and gloves were required on every attraction.
| Place | Tsudome Site (Sapporo Community Dome) |
|---|---|
| Price | Free entry; in 2026 the Snow Raft cost 1,200 yen for adults |
| Hours | 4-11 February 2027; in 2026, 10:00-16:00, with some rides stopping early when busy |
| Access | Toho Line to Sakaemachi Station, then a shuttle bus or about a 15-minute walk |
| Official site | Sapporo Snow Festival Tsudome Site page |
Susukino is the ice site. Ice sculptures line Ekimae-dori from Minami 4-jo to Minami 6-jo, under the neon of Sapporo’s entertainment district. In 2026 you could see them at any time, and the lights stayed on until 23:00, or 22:00 on the final day.
| Place | Susukino Site (Susukino Ice World) |
|---|---|
| Price | Free entry |
| Hours | 4-11 February 2027; open at any time, and in 2026 lit until 23:00 (22:00 on the last day) |
| Access | Right by Susukino Station (Namboku subway line) |
| Official site | Sapporo Snow Festival Susukino Site page |
The table below compares the 3 sites side by side.
| Site | Where | Viewing hours | Station |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odori | Odori Park, Nishi 1 to 11-chome | Any time, lit until 22:00 | Odori (Namboku, Tozai, Toho) |
| Tsudome | Sapporo Community Dome | 10:00 to 16:00 in 2026 | Sakaemachi, then shuttle or 15 min walk |
| Susukino | Ekimae-dori, Minami 4 to 6-jo | Any time; lit until 23:00 in 2026 (22:00 last day) | Susukino (Namboku) |
Odori and Susukino suit an evening, since both stay lit late. Tsudome needs a daytime slot, because it closes at 16:00. With one free evening, walk Odori after dark, then ride the Namboku Line to Susukino Station for the later lights. The photo below shows a large snow sculpture of a castle at Odori from an earlier festival, the size the 5 large sculptures reach.
What to see: the 2026 festival as a guide
The 2026 festival built about 210 snow and ice sculptures across the 3 sites.
The 2027 themes are not announced yet, so treat 2026 as a guide to what you will see. The official FAQ counts 136 sculptures at Odori, 14 at Tsudome and 60 at Susukino.
Odori: big sculptures and evening shows
At Odori, the large sculptures at 5-chome and 8-chome carried projection mapping every evening from 17:30. The show on the 5-chome racehorse sculpture ran until 21:45. The show on the 8-chome Tsuruga Castle sculpture ended at 20:30.
The organizer asked people not to film for long periods or hold a spot in ways that bother others. Watch one round, then move on so others can see.
The 4-chome sculpture recreated Kakkuu, a national-treasure clay figure from the Jomon period, at about 13 m tall. Other large sculptures that year showed a Hokkaido University hall at 7-chome and a Star Wars scene at 10-chome. The festival itself began in 1950, when local students put 6 snow statues in Odori Park.
Susukino: ice under neon
Susukino Ice World showed 60 ice sculptures in 2026, including its popular sculptures with real fish frozen inside. The street closed to cars so you could walk right up to the ice. The Sapporo Snow Festival Susukino Site page lists the hours.
- Weekdays: 15:00 to 23:00.
- Saturday and Sunday: 10:00 to 23:00.
- The holiday on the last day: 10:00 to 22:00.
The photo below shows ice sculptures lined up along the street at Susukino.
About 200 people, many of them chefs, make the Susukino sculptures over 3 full days, working through the night. The work goes best at -10°C or lower, and carvers use dry ice to cool the blocks when the air warms up.
Tsudome: slides and warm food
The indoor arena at Tsudome held food stalls with ramen and shime parfait. That is the parfait Sapporo people eat to end a night out. Outside, the tube slider was the big draw. The Sapporo Snow Festival Tsudome Site page explains the 2026 ticket system.
On weekends and holidays, staff handed out numbered tickets for the tube slider: 1,500 from 10:00 and 500 more from 12:00. The first 300 people each day joined a waiting line instead. Snow Raft rides behind a snowmobile cost 1,200 yen for adults and 600 yen for primary pupils and under.
How big the crowds get
Odori and Tsudome drew 2,539,000 visitors in 2026, 109.1% of the year before. Susukino drew 1,378,000, up 35% on the previous year. The chart below breaks the 2026 numbers down by site.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Odori | 1,926,000 visitors |
| Susukino | 1,378,000 visitors |
| Tsudome | 613,000 visitors |
Odori alone took 1,926,000 visitors, so expect the park to be the busiest place. The Sapporo Snow Festival Executive Committee 2026 results report says Saturday 7 February had good weather all day and very large crowds. Snow on Friday 6 and Sunday 8 February kept numbers down.
Getting there from New Chitose Airport
The JR Rapid Airport train reaches Sapporo Station in about 37 minutes.
The Special Rapid Airport does the trip in about 33 minutes. Our New Chitose Airport page puts the JR fare into Sapporo at 1,230 yen. The airport bus to Sapporo Station takes about 74 minutes for 1,500 yen. The festival FAQ gives about 1 hour 10 minutes by bus to Odori Park.
Compare the options on our New Chitose Airport to Sapporo page. For most visitors, the train is the quicker choice.
New Chitose Airport Station has a foreign-visitor desk next to the JR information centre, with help in English, Korean and Chinese. The JR ticket office opens from 6:30 to 22:00. You can buy a Kitaca IC card at the station.
The illustration below shows the 4 steps from the airport to the festival sites.
From Sapporo Station, switch to the city subway. For the Odori site, get off at Odori Station, served by the Namboku, Tozai and Toho lines. The sculptures start right outside.
For Susukino, ride the Namboku Line to Susukino Station. For Tsudome, take the Toho Line to Sakaemachi Station, then the shuttle bus or a walk of about 15 minutes.
The 2027 shuttle details are not out yet. The Sapporo Snow Festival Tsudome shuttle bus guide (2026) shows how it worked last time. Buses left from Sakaemachi Station Exit 2 on weekdays and Exit 1 on the weekend and the holiday.
Shuttles left the station from 9:40 to 14:30 and left Tsudome from 12:00 to 16:20, about every 5 to 10 minutes. The adult fare was 200 yen one way, cash only. Children of primary school age and under rode free, and so did people aged 65 and over with ID.
The table below sums up the route from the airport to each site.
| Site | Train to Sapporo | Then | Last step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odori | JR Rapid Airport, about 37 min | Subway to Odori Station | Sculptures start outside |
| Susukino | JR Rapid Airport, about 37 min | Namboku Line to Susukino | Ice sculptures outside |
| Tsudome | JR Rapid Airport, about 37 min | Toho Line to Sakaemachi | Shuttle 200 yen cash (2026) or 15 min walk |
The photo below shows the queue for the tube slider outside the dome at Tsudome.
Flying in from elsewhere in Japan? Our Tokyo to Sapporo route lists flights from Haneda at 1 h 30 min, with 56 a day. The Osaka to Sapporo route covers flights from Itami, Kansai and Kobe, from 1 h 45 min.
Subway passes for the 8 festival days
Buy the 520 yen Donichika Kippu on 6, 7 and 11 February 2027.
On the other 5 days, the regular one-day pass costs 830 yen. Both are subway-only day tickets from the Sapporo City Transportation Bureau, good for unlimited rides on the city subway.
The Donichika Kippu works on Saturdays, Sundays, national holidays and over the New Year, and children pay 260 yen. The one-day subway ticket works on any day, with a child fare of 420 yen. On the 3 days when both work, the Donichika Kippu saves an adult 310 yen.
Its Japanese name is ドニチカキップ (Donichika Kippu), the weekend-and-holiday subway day ticket.
The illustration below matches each festival date to the right ticket.
A day ticket makes sense when you plan several rides in one day. For example, ride to Sakaemachi for Tsudome in the morning, then go to Odori and Susukino at night.
The table below lists all 8 festival days with the pass to buy.
| Date | Day | Subway pass | Adult / child |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Feb 2027 | Thursday | One-day pass | 830 yen / 420 yen |
| 5 Feb 2027 | Friday | One-day pass | 830 yen / 420 yen |
| 6 Feb 2027 | Saturday | Donichika Kippu | 520 yen / 260 yen |
| 7 Feb 2027 | Sunday | Donichika Kippu | 520 yen / 260 yen |
| 8 Feb 2027 | Monday | One-day pass | 830 yen / 420 yen |
| 9 Feb 2027 | Tuesday | One-day pass | 830 yen / 420 yen |
| 10 Feb 2027 | Wednesday | One-day pass | 830 yen / 420 yen |
| 11 Feb 2027 | Thursday (holiday) | Donichika Kippu | 520 yen / 260 yen |
Heading out of Sapporo after the festival? The Hokkaido Rail Pass covers JR Hokkaido trains across the island, not the city subway.
What to wear: Sapporo weather in February
Sapporo averages -2.7°C in February, with highs of 0.4°C and lows of -6.2°C.
Those are Japan Meteorological Agency normals for 1991 to 2020. The same normals give 116 cm of snowfall in February, a deepest snow cover of 95 cm and 25.3 days with snow. The festival FAQ calls late January to early February the coldest time of year, and gives -2.3°C as the February average.
Our Sapporo in February page has the full month, and Hokkaido in February compares 10 places across the island.
Dress in layers. Sapporo City’s FAQ suggests about 3: a shirt, a sweater and a coat, because you walk outside for a long time. The festival FAQ adds that a thin coat will likely feel too cold. Bring a hat, ear muffs and gloves as well. Our winter packing list for Japan covers the rest of the bag.
The illustration below is a 4-point check before you leave your hotel.
Pavements are often icy. Shoes need winter soles with grooves cut into them. If yours do not have them, buy grips that slip over your shoes.
Grips cost about 1,000 yen at the official shops in the Odori site, nearby convenience stores, and JR and subway station kiosks. Ask the shop staff which grip fits your shoes.
The official shops at Odori 1, 3 to 6 and 8 to 11-chome lend walking poles free of charge, and so does the Welfare Volunteer House. The Sapporo Snow Festival free rental items for icy walkways page lists both.
Disposable hand warmers help on long evenings outside. Our disposable hand warmers page explains how to fly with them.
Luggage, site rules and help in English
At the 2026 festival, temporary luggage storage cost 1,000 yen per item.
For 2027, Sapporo City plans a luggage counter at the Sapporo Ekimae-dori Underground Plaza from 3 to 12 February 2027. The planned hours are 8:30 to 20:00, with the last drop-off at 19:30. This comes from the city’s service specification, so treat it as a plan.
Tsudome’s indoor information desk kept bags for 300 yen per item in 2026, with the last drop-off at 15:00. Coin lockers at New Chitose Airport start at 400 yen a day.
Rules at the sites
Odori walkways were one-way in 2026, so follow the signs. Drones were banned at every site. Smoking was allowed only in designated areas, and Tsudome had no smoking area at all.
Pets could not enter Tsudome, except assistance dogs such as guide dogs and hearing dogs. The Tsudome toilets inside the arena get very busy, so the site asks you to use the outdoor toilets where you can.
Wheelchairs and help on site
The Welfare Volunteer House at Odori 6-chome lends wheelchairs built for snow. NPO Te to Te runs it and also sends volunteers to help, free of charge.
For 2027 it takes requests from 9:00 to 20:00 and gives help from 9:00 to 21:00. Call 011-818-0801.
Help in English
Foreign-language volunteers from the Sapporo International Communication Plaza guide overseas visitors at the sites. In 2026 the free Sapporo City Wi-Fi worked at the festival. A chatbot also answered questions on sites, access and events at any time.
Check the official X account for crowd levels and site weather. For general questions, call the organizer’s office at 011-281-6400.
In 2026, lost property at Odori went to Chuo Police Station (011-242-0110). At Tsudome, people called 011-787-5000 until 11 February or 011-784-2106 from 12 February.
Want more snow after the festival? Our winter places to visit in Japan and Sapporo Teine ski resort guides are a good next read.
FAQ
Do you need tickets or a booking for the Sapporo Snow Festival?
No. Entry is free at Odori, Tsudome and Susukino, and you do not need to book. You pay only for extras, such as the Snow Raft at Tsudome (1,200 yen for adults in 2026), food and the subway.
What time of day should you visit the Sapporo Snow Festival?
Go to Tsudome in the daytime; in 2026 it was open only from 10:00 to 16:00. Save Odori and Susukino for the evening. Odori is lit until 22:00, Susukino stayed lit until 23:00 in 2026, and in 2026 the Odori projection mapping started at 17:30.
How do you get from New Chitose Airport to the Snow Festival?
Take the JR Rapid Airport to Sapporo Station, about 37 minutes, then the subway. Get off at Odori Station for Odori or Susukino Station for Susukino. For Tsudome, ride to Sakaemachi Station and take the shuttle or walk about 15 minutes.
What should you wear to the Sapporo Snow Festival?
Wear about 3 layers: a shirt, a sweater and a proper winter coat. Add a hat, ear muffs and gloves, since February nights average -6.2°C. If your shoes lack winter soles, fit grips that cost about 1,000 yen.
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