1-Day Tour in Sapporo: Hokkaido's Past at The Historical Village & Sapporo Beer Museum

This tour will take us first to The Historical Village of Hokkaido(open air museum), situated in the suburbs of Sapporo. You will see how a traditional town of yesteryear in Hokkaido was set up. This area consists of four different sections: a town, a fishing village, farm village and a mountain village.
Led by a locally-based and native English speaking guide, this experience of early Hokkaido will fill you with visions of how life was like in Hokkaido during the Meiji and Taisho periods. You will see first hand how an entire little town a century ago was recreated. Audio guides are available during the tour. In addition, your guide will provide supplemental summaries of more detailed information. Only a 10 minute walk away is The Hokkaido Museum. Here, tour members will learn of the early history, culture and wildlife of Hokkaido.

Our next and final destination will take us to The Sapporo Beer Museum. Sapporo Beer is one of the oldest and most popular beer brands in Japan. Your guide will lead you through this museum and explain the history of beer making in Japan(namely, The Sapporo Beer brand). At the end of the tour comes the really fun part. The beer tasting!! You will be able to sample three types of Sapporo beer(for a small fee).

Highlights

• Enjoy a short yet nostalgic horse trolley ride at the Historical Village(open-air museum).

• In winter, ride a horse drawn sleigh through the Historical Village(open-air museum).

• See firsthand, how people lived in early Hokkaido over 100 years ago. 

• Savor freshly brewed Sapporo Beer at the tasting corner. Enjoy the likes of Sapporo Classic(only found and sold in Hokkaido), and Sapporo Draft Beer Black Label.

• Members of this tour will receive a “tasting set”(small fee) that comes with 3 kinds of Sapporo Beer.

Description

This tour will start at Sapporo Station in front of “Myomu”(The Circular Stone Structure) in front of the South Exit doors of Sapporo Station. Kindly meet here at exactly 9a.m. Your guide will be there to greet you. After brief introductions we will head towards the first location of this tour: The Historical Village(open-air museum) of Hokkaido.

This open-air museum is located on the outskirts of Sapporo at the Nopporo Forest Park.It covers about 54 hectares of land and was open to the public in April 1983. There are in all, about 60 structures, the vast majority of them original structures from The Meiji and Taisho periods(1868-1926). If you will, consider this place to be a sort of outdoor muse, portraying different types of buildings of Hokkaido during the forementioned time periods.Each building is a microcosm of rural or city life: a village, barber shop, home, etc. Your guide will take you to each building and explain in more detail the history and purpose behind it. Nearby the open-air museum is The Hokkaido Museum Here, tour members will learn of the early history, culture and wildlife of Hokkaido.

After leaving The Historical Village of Hokkaido, we will make our way to The Sapporo Beer Museum. A nice beer will taste good after all the walking we did at the Historical Village. Upon entering the Sapporo Beer Museum, you’re immediately immersed in the history of the brewery. How it came to be and the timeline from the start until now. It talks a bit about the different products throughout it’s long history. What’s interesting is that while most of the signage is in Japanese, at the side of all the displays are small laminated cards that contain the same information but in various languages. Another cool display, is the history of advertising over the years. This includes labelling on the bottles to various print media over time. After your guide has toured your through all the fascinating museum exhibits, he will escort you to The Star Hall Tasting Corner. This is probably what a lot of people come to the museum for! For a fee of 800yen, you will get a 3-variety Beer Flight, consisting of Sapporo Black Label, Sapporo Classic(only sold in Hokkaido) and Sapporo Kaitakushi Pilsner. If you are a beer enthusiast, you have to have the Sapporo Beer Museum included in your Sapporo trip itinerary!

TOUR MEETUP POINT

SAPPORO STATION @ 9:00 A.M.

After exiting the main JR gates of Sapporo Station TURN LEFT. Walk towards the
South Exits(南出口) of Sapporo Station. After a very short walk(in the near distance)
you will surely notice “MYOMU”(The Circular White Stone Structure/see above picture). Your guide will be standing in front of this stone structure wearing a SNOW MONKEY RESORTS tour tag. You are kindly asked to be at this meetup point at 9a.m.

NOTES

Included

• English speaking tour guide
• Transportation fee from Sapporo Station to all listed destinations and activities as stated on each tour itinerary
• All entry/admission tickets to each attraction/sightseeing spot listed on the tour itinerary
• Beer Tasting

Excluded

• Lunch
• Accommodation

Other Information

• Please check the weather forecast before heading to the meetup point and prepare umbrella or raincoat if necessary.
• Clothes worn should be appropriate for the given season.
• In winter, ice and snow will be prevalent on the ground. Thus, caution is advised to all  guests while walking on the tour. 
• Tour members must be 20yrs of age or older to participate in the beer tasting at The Sapporo Beer Museum.  Non-alcoholic drinks are available for non beer drinkers. 
• Do take some extra slip-on shoes or slippers with you when touring The Historical Village of Hokkaido(open-air museum).  When entering the various houses, etc., in the village, you will need to remove your outside walking shoes before entering. This is due to fragile flooring such as tatami mats. In sum, at least wear easily removable shoes so that you can enter and exit easily all the many buildings throughout The Historic Village/open-air museum.