Route Briefing: London to Sapporo
Sapporo sits at the top of Japan's northernmost main island, and it rewards the journey with a personality entirely its own — wilder, colder, and more spacious than anywhere else in the country. Getting there from London means settling in for roughly fourteen and a half hours with a stop, most commonly connecting through Tokyo's Narita or Haneda airports before the short onward hop to New Chitose Airport. JAL, ANA, and British Airways via its codeshare with JAL are your most reliable options, and if you catch a good deal — anything under seven hundred pounds roundtrip — you should book it without hesitation. Standard fares typically sit between a thousand and fourteen hundred pounds, so a bit of patience and booking three to six months ahead can save you a meaningful amount.
New Chitose Airport is one of Japan's most efficient, and a direct train connects it to central Sapporo in around forty minutes, making arrival genuinely painless even after a long-haul flight.
The city itself has a grid layout that makes it unusually easy to navigate for Japan, and it carries a frontier energy that reflects Hokkaido's relatively recent development. Winter is when Sapporo truly comes alive — the Snow Festival in February draws visitors from across the world to see enormous ice sculptures carved in Odori Park, and the surrounding mountains offer some of the best powder skiing on the planet. Niseko is the most internationally famous resort in the region, but Hokkaido has numerous ski areas worth exploring. Book winter travel especially early, as demand from ski enthusiasts pushes fares and accommodation up quickly.
Summer is a quieter, underrated time to visit. Hokkaido escapes the brutal humidity that blankets the rest of Japan in July and August, making it a genuinely pleasant escape. Lavender fields bloom across the island, and the food scene — already exceptional — leans into fresh dairy, seafood, and produce in ways that feel distinctly un-Japanese in the best sense.
Speaking of food, Sapporo ramen is its own category. The local style is miso-based, rich, and built for cold weather, and eating a bowl in the city where it was popularised is one of those simple travel moments that sticks with you. Sapporo is also home to one of Japan's most famous breweries, and the local beer culture is worth exploring on its own terms.
The one tip worth carrying with you: if you're connecting through Tokyo and have a long layover, Japan's transit visa rules are generous enough that a few hours in the city is genuinely feasible — a small bonus on an already worthwhile journey.