September 14, 2017

Mount Hakodate Night View

We reached Hakodate, a city and port at the southern tip of Hokkaido after around 4 hours Shinkansen ride from Tokyo. The journey didn't feel that long cos it was very comfortable and I enjoyed the view along the way. Also I slept, played with the phone, ate bento lunch, read a book.. and time just flew by.

Finally! I set foot in Hokkaido!


Our hotel was within walking distance to Hakodate station, so we quickly checked-in, dumped our luggage, refreshed ourselves, solat etc and ready to go out again.

The one thing you should not miss whenever you're in Hakodate is the view from Mount Hakodate. The night view from the mountain is spectacular and included among Japan's best night views.

You can get to the top of Mount Hakodate by ropeway, bus or car.
Ropeway : You can get to the ropeway station by bus from Hakodate Station (250 yen) or take the tram to Jujigai (210 yen + 5 minutes walk). The fare is 1280 yen for the roundtrip and 780 yen for one way, and the ride only takes 3 minutes. Operating at 15 minutes interval.
Bus : Direct bus from Hakodate station (30 minutes). One way fare is 400 yen. Not available during winter.
Car: Only if you go during daytime. The road is closed to individual car from 5pm ~ 10pm.

It was almost 5.30pm when we went back to the station. During spring, the sunset at 6.30pm. I wanted to take the ropeway up to the mountain but we were short of time. I heard usually it is packed and it would be a hassle since we needed to take bus or train to get there. Night view is the best but I also wanna see the view prior to sunset. #kiasu Thought taking the bus would be faster since it would go direct to the top of the mountain. What I didn't know was it took about 30 minutes to reach the top haha. So we missed the sunset T_T cos we missed the earlier bus and had to wait for the next one.

The observation platform was very crowded when we arrived.

When we got a spot, this was our view. Loveeeee!!!


cable car going up


We left after about an hour cos it was sooo windy and cold.

Sometimes the nights can be foggy so the recommended seasons to go is fall, winter and early spring when the night is usually clear. If you want to chill, restaurants with great night view are available. There's also a couple of souvenir shops.

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