Richmond Hotel Sapporo Odori

The free drinks at the nightly happy hour were handy, and staff were fine with us bringing food from elsewhere to eat there. They offered a voucher for one or two specific alcoholic drinks each night, though neither of us drinks. We were told soft drinks were available, but couldn't find any. The room was small, which felt typical for Japan, and the hotel itself was quite nice. For the February 2026 Snow Festival, the location worked really well. The main snow sculpture area at Odori park was a walk of three or four blocks. You could borrow snow walking poles at the hotel, too. The small ice sculpture area was one subway stop away, while the snow play area with the huge slide took about 45 minutes by subway, I think. Get a numbered ticket for that slide as early as possible: we arrived around 11am, waited about two hours for our turn, and tickets stop being issued after a certain time. We could usually get to the hotel without going out into the snow. From CTS airport, take the train to Sapporo central station, transfer to the Nambuku line, and get off at Odori station. Turn right on exiting and follow the Poletown shopping mall for about 15 minutes. Just after baskin Robbin’s, take the escalators up toward the hotel area, then walk straight out. The hotel is about three minutes to the right. If you reach the information booth in Poletown, you've gone too far, so head back to Baskin.