Visiting Hokkaido during lavender season was one of the things in my bucket list. It’s a long 10+ hours plane ride Singapore to Chitose airport and there’ll definitely be a stopover. I chose South Korea as my stopover cos I visited Korea with friends in Jan & realized you can find so much cheap clothes over there! We intentionally chose a suuuuper long overnight stopover so we can have a night/day in Korea. It’s super tiring though, definitely not recommended for those who are not crazy over shopping! Do remember to let the Singapore airport staff know if you are taking out your luggage at Incheon airport ‘s layover else it will be directly sent to Japan.

Our Korean air flight (SG$1020 per pax) was 10:50am and we reached Incheon around 6:40pm. We cleared the customs in like one minute, maybe cos there’s nobody as nuts as us who will purposely choose an overnight layover lol (and no, the E-gate/Smart Entry Service is not available for Singaporeans, we tried asking the counter staff about that), but had waited for our luggage for 30 mins. We took the AREX blue/all stop as it goes directly to Hongik univ station. This was our airbnb in Hongdae on the first night. The best thing about this airbnb is that it’s super close to Hongik univ stn Exit 3, literally a 3-5 mins walk.

Dinner was at Hannam Pig (bbq restaurant). There’s no other customers cos by the time we arrived it’s already 9pm+.

It was okay. Ever since I’ve tried Geumdwaeji restaurant everything else pales in comparison lol (I visited in Jan & gosh, it’s the best succulent bbq pork I’ve ever had). We did some shopping then retired for the night. Our flight was at 12:35pm hence we had breakfast and strolled the area around our airbnb.

Another 3 hours later, we reached Chitose airport and took the JR to Sapporo. It’s 4:47pm by the time we reached our hotel at Mitsui Garden Sapporo. I’ve forgotten how big Japan is. The hotel is quite near the station on map, but when you exit the JR, you have to walk all the way from the JR train station to the subway station’s area, so it definitely took around 10 mins or more.

Mitsui Garden has the most comfortable bed and pillows out of the 3 hotels we stayed in Hokkaido, just for your info, keke.

Our dinner was at Sendai Hemmi at Poletown (an underground shopping mall), a train stop away from Sapporo station.

It’s our first time trying thick beef tongue slices. I love having beef tongue at Yakiniku in Singapore and this is just the thicker version. The taste was okay, meat wasn’t that tender but kinda expected as this isn’t a highly rated restaurant. Still an interesting experience though!

Couldn’t resist buying this at one of the stores at the underground shopping mall!

Everything starts closing at 8pm sharp at the underground shopping mall so we only had a 2 hours shopping window period before we went back to our hotel lol~

The next morning, we spent an hour + at Bic Camera near Sapporo station (opens at 10am) before heading down for lunch at Soup Curry Yellow near Odori stn (opens at 11:30am).

This place has a very nice jazzy vibe and apparently there’s even live shows every now and then. Hokkaido is known for their soup curries and this restaurant has a long 30 years history. And it definitely deserves the high rating on Tabelog. It has a flavorful, mild curry taste, not jelak. One of my best meals in Hokkaido!

There’s even a strange doll at the cashier.

After lunch, we headed for Shiroi Kobito Park. From Odori station, it’s a 16 mins subway ride to Miyanosawa station, then a 10 mins walk from there. Kinda strange that there’s no signs from the Miyanosawa train station considering the Shiroi Kobito Park is so famous?

Anyways, the view along the way…

I came here for the flowers and it’s literally everywhere!

So dreamy…

It’s a pretty straightforward walk from the train station and we’re finally here!

We bought the park entry ticket (around SG$8 per pax) and entered.

It’s a pretty whimsical place~

Lots of photozones…

The park is not very crowded, so it’s a comfortable visit~ There’s more people at the eateries though~

And this is the outdoor park area~

Literally no photoshop, the rose looks so vibrant!

Lining up for ice-cream~

The ice-cream is inexpensive and delicious!

With the Shiroi Kobito Park’s ticket, you can also access Gulliver Town next to it~

It’s a play area for kids~

Dinner was at Nemuro Hanamaru at Sapporo Station. This is a very popular restaurant and the queue can get very long. We were there before 5pm and there’s already a queue, but we got in after less than 20 mins.

Forgot to take pics, but the sushi is fresh and delicious! All the items we picked were delicious. Must-try the engawa and tuna! The engawa is melt-in-your-mouth and tuna is super tender~ Worth it if you can skip the peak periods!

We finished up at Bic Camera & here’s my haul for the day…

As you can see, I bought alot of sunscreens cos it’s so cheap in Japan! It costs like $20 in Singapore but the same thing only sells for $7 there. The paw bread in the picture is from the bakery at Shiroi Kobito park and it’s delicious too! The steam eye masks are a newfound love cos I saw my friends using during travel and it’s soothing on the eyes, you can choose the scents too. I bought lavender and rose. When you put them on, it emits a soft scent and great for blocking off light if your travel partner has the lights on.