Sapporo Prince Hotel (札幌プリンスホテル) Standard Twin Room

The first night's accommodation for our Hokkaido trip is the Sapporo Prince Hotel, located slightly outside the central area of Sapporo. It is directly accessible from New Chitose Airport via a limousine bus. Although the bus takes about 30 minutes longer than the train, we decided to try it for the first time since the weather was cold and it reduced the amount of walking. Over the years, I’ve traveled to and from New Chitose Airport about 15 times (30 one-way trips), always using the train. The bus quickly reaches Sapporo Dome, but it makes over 10 stops at hotels between Nakajima Park and Sapporo Station, which takes up a lot of time. Still, it was convenient to have a bus available late at night after arriving at New Chitose past 10 PM. We checked in around 11:50 PM. We were assigned a room on the highest floor for the Standard Twin Room type, the 12th floor, with a city center view stretching from Sapporo T38 to Nakajima Park. The upper part of the Sapporo TV Tower is also visible. The hotel features the signature round building design typical of Prince Hotels. This marks my 12th stay at a Prince Hotel, following stays in Shinagawa, Hiroshima, Biwako, Kyoto, Kushiro, Furano, Ginowan, Tokyo, Nagoya, Shiomi, and Shin-Yokohama. Although it’s the most basic room type, it offers 21 square meters of space. Due to the round building design, the room structure resembles a slice of baumkuchen, widening as you move toward the window. There is an exclusive hot spring for hotel guests, available for a fee of 1,000 yen. A Lawson convenience store is just a one-minute walk from the hotel, though the surrounding area feels a bit quiet. Odori Park’s 11th entrance is a five-minute walk away, and there are subway and tram stations nearby. Susukino is about a 15-minute walk from the hotel. The main reason for choosing this hotel was its renowned breakfast at Hapuna. Sharing the same name as the breakfast restaurant in Shinagawa Hapuna, which was ranked Tokyo’s No. 1 breakfast spot for nearly a decade in the 1990s, this restaurant incorporates a distinct Hokkaido flair. Furano Prince Hotel is famous for offering unlimited Furano milk, but here they use Hakodate milk. They also provide unlimited Hokkaido sparkling wine and red wine during breakfast. The breakfast menu features over 60 items, including miso ramen, made-to-order omelets with Hokkaido eggs, fresh sashimi platters, vegetable soup curry, and more. Just the breakfast alone allows you to experience the essence of Hokkaido. A shuttle bus runs to Sapporo Station about once an hour. I’ve also reserved the hotel’s afternoon tea for 12 PM, so after checking out, I’ll leave my luggage at the hotel, explore Sapporo in the morning, and return conveniently for the afternoon tea. Stay tuned for the afternoon tea review. Thank you.