For the first night in Sapporo, I chose to stay at ANA Crowne Plaza Sapporo. The reasons were firstly it was pretty near to Sapporo JR station and secondly it was very reasonably priced for that night I was staying (and very expensive for the other night when I was back from Niseko to Sapporo).
And by staying at the ANA Crowne Plaza Sapporo, which is right close to Sapporo local station, it allows me to go to The Hill of the Buddha via the local Namboku Line to Makomani Eki (or Makomani Train Station).
So after spending one night in 9h Nine Hours Narita Airport, and taking a flight from Tokyo to Sapporo, we tried to check in to Ana Crowne Plaza. However, despite the fact that I am a IHG Diamond holder, I did not managed to get a room till 3pm.
Of course, we took the chance then to go and taste Ramen at Ippudo and then Nemuro Hanamaru at Sapporo Station. So there you have it, some lunch food at around ANA Crowne Plaza Sapporo.
Location of ANA Crowne Plaza Sapporo
ANA Crowne Plaza Sapporo is one minute away from Sapporo Subway Station Exit 21.
Now you need to know that if you do arrive from the Sapporo airport via JR station, this exit 21 is the local Sapporo Subway station.
So you would need to overcome the rather confusing maze of exits from Sapporo JR to Sapporo Subway. And it is NOT easy to do so if this is your first visit to Sapporo. Alternatively, get OUT of the JR station and use the ground level pavements to get that.
ANA Crowne Plaza Sapporo Lobby
The lobby of ANA Crowne Plaza Sapporo is on the second floor (the first floor has a place where you can also deposit your luggage for the day eg. after you already checked out and need to go somewhere else).
Some simple sofa complete the simple check in lobby.
The Room at ANA Crowne Plaza Sapporo
I was pretty disappointed that, despite the Diamond status, I was not given an early check in. Equally disappointing was that I was also not given an upgrade of my room too. The only good thing was I was given free breakfast but that was also only after I reminded them of the hotel status.
All in all, it was not a good experience for a Diamond member for IHG at this hotel. It was much better at the other IHG hotel I stayed for this trip, namely the ANA Holiday Inn Sapporo Susukino.
I have three beds in the room as I have registered for two adults and one child. It is very important in Japan to give the exact number of the guests you have.
Check out the cute little child bed at the end of the room.
A small TV console completes the room.
There is a bath tub in the toilet of the hotel which is pretty small too.
All in all, it was not a very great stay but as it was only for one night, I am okay with it.
Breakfast at ANA Crowne Plaza Sapporo
The breakfast was also a simple buffet one. The restaurant was rather plain looking but clean and has a good selection of food and drinks. Enough to start the day at Sapporo 🙂
And you can have Soup Curry if you want but I prefer the Soup Curry from the night before (see below).
Or a simple Japanese breakfast too
Suage Soup Curry for Dinner
In Sapporo, there are many places to try out the famous Soup Curry. One chain is the Suage chain of Soup Curry. For ANA Crowne Plaza, there is one branch pretty close to the hotel and that is Soup Curry Suage4.
It was just 7 minutes walk from the hotel to this soup curry. It is on the second floor of the building and we had a GREAT MEAL there too !
Photos of our meal at Soup Curry Suage4.
Being quite close to ANA Crowne Plaza Sapporo makes it very convenient for my trip this time round so I am glad to have tried out the Curry Soup dinner.
And after that, we even find time for a visit to the Bakery Cafe Donguri at Odori.
Hope you have a good time in Sapporo too. Share any food you like there too. Like the local Ramen at Ramen Shingen.
And if you stay at this hotel, since it is so near the Sapporo Station, you can easily get back from Sapporo to Tokyo via the Shinkansen too.
