Every February, Sapporo turns its city-centre park into an open-air gallery of snow and ice. The 2027 Sapporo Snow Festival, the 77th edition, runs from Thursday 4 February to Thursday 11 February 2027, as confirmed by the organisers, with sites in Odori Park, the Susukino entertainment district and the family-focused Tsudome. This three-hour guided walk covers the two central sites in the evening, when floodlights and colour bring the sculptures to life.
We meet at the foot of the Sapporo TV Tower, at the eastern end of Odori Park, as the lights come on. From here the festival stretches west for eleven city blocks, from West 1-chōme to West 11-chōme. Your guide leads you past the five large snow sculptures planned for blocks 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10, building-sized works shaped over several weeks, as well as medium and small pieces, and explains how the event grew from six snow statues made by local students in 1950 into one of Japan's best-known winter festivals. At 11-chōme you can see entries in the International Snow Sculpture Contest, carved by teams from around the world.
Along the way there is time to warm up at the food stalls, where Hokkaido favourites such as grilled seafood, butter corn and potatoes are usually on offer, and to catch any projection-mapping show scheduled on the large sculptures that evening. Sculpture designs for 2027 are revealed closer to the event, and the organisers plan to add full site details to their website from mid-December 2026.
From Odori we walk south along Ekimae-dōri to the Susukino site, where ice sculptures line the avenue between South 4-jō and South 6-jō. After dark the clear ice glows against the neon of Sapporo's nightlife district; recent editions have featured an ice-carving competition and the much-photographed sculptures with real fish frozen inside. The tour finishes in Susukino, close to the subway and to the area's many ramen and Genghis Khan (grilled lamb) restaurants.
Odori's illuminations run until 22:00 and Susukino's until 23:00, so you are free to linger once the walk ends. Early February evenings in Sapporo are well below freezing and the pavements are often icy, so dress warmly and wear shoes with good grip.
