Hakodate

Hokkaido, Japan · City

A port wedged onto an isthmus between two bays, which is exactly where the view comes from: seen from Mount Hakodate the city is pinched between two stretches of water, one of Japan's three great night views. Below it are sloping streets of Western architecture and an Orthodox church founded by Russian clergy, the tower that makes sense of Goryokaku's star-shaped plan, and shio ramen, which was born here.

The essentials

Getting there

Train — Shinkansen to Hakodate from Honshu, or a direct flight

Frequently asked questions about Hakodate

What to do in Hakodate: 26 activities

• Goryokaku Tower and the Bugyosho 2.25 h must-see

  The 107-metre tower is the only place from which the star plan of the 1864 fortress reads properly, scene of the 1868 battle of Hakodate, the last episode of the Boshin War and of the short-lived Republic of Ezo. Inside the grounds you can visit the magistrate's hall, rebuilt with traditional techniques and completed in 2010.

• Hakodate shio ramen 1 h must-see

  Hakodate is the birthplace of salt ramen, against Sapporo's miso and Asahikawa's shoyu: a clear pork and chicken broth with thin, straight noodles. It is the city's cheapest and most accessible speciality.

• Night View from Mount Hakodate 1.5 h must-see

  One of the three most famous night views in Japan, cable car included. An honest caveat: the claim that it is one of the three best night views in the world is marketing, with no body certifying it, a phrase that has circulated since Japanese brochures of the mid-twentieth century. What can be verified is that it is on the Japanese list of the three best night views in Japan, which it owes to its isthmus between two bays. In high season the road up to the viewpoint is closed to private traffic at night: bus or cable car only.

• Daimon Yokocho 2.5 h

  An alley of some twenty-six stalls of eight or ten seats beside the station, rebuilt in 2005: yakitori, ramen and seafood. It is much smaller and more intimate than its Sapporo equivalents.

• Hakodate Port Festival 3.5 h only 1-5 Aug

  From August 1 to 5, fixed dates. It opens with fireworks over the harbour and continues with the squid dance parades, where anyone can join the choreography: it is one of the few Japanese matsuri explicitly open to visitors.

• Lucky Pierrot 0.75 h

  A burger chain founded in 1987 with seventeen outlets, all in Hakodate and its surroundings, each with a different themed decor. Its Chinese chicken burger was voted the best local burger in Japan and does not exist outside the area.

• Morning Seafood Market 1.5 h

  Freshly caught sea urchin, crab and salmon, for breakfast. Two warnings. First, the squid crisis is real and serious: in June 2025 the first auction of the season was cancelled because the boats came back empty, the 2024 financial year closed with the second worst figure on record and the price has almost quadrupled in a decade — the squid on the menu may not be from Hakodate, and it will be expensive. Second, the market offers the chance to catch your own squid and have it cut up alive in front of you: if animal welfare matters to you, it is worth knowing beforehand.

• Museum of Northern Peoples 1 h

  In Motomachi, inside the former Bank of Japan branch, with a collection on the Ainu, Nivkh, Uilta and other peoples of the northern Pacific. It is the best cultural counterweight to a visit focused on the Westernised port, and it is worth remembering that these are living peoples, not extinct folklore.

• Onuma by bicycle or canoe 5 h booking

  It is in the town of Nanae, half an hour by train, not in Hakodate. The cycling circuit of about fourteen kilometres rings the lake with the Komagatake volcano behind, and the trails between the islets take under an hour on foot. In winter there is ice fishing and snowshoeing.

• The Hakodate streetcar 1 h

  Two lines in service since 1913 connecting Yunokawa, the station, Daimon and the warehouse district. There are one- and two-day passes that pay for themselves in three rides.

• Cape Tachimachi at sunset 1.5 h

  A cliff south of Mount Hakodate with open views over the Pacific, free and almost without tourists, the exact opposite of the crush at the ropeway.

• Goryokaku Star Fort 1.5 h

  A five-pointed, star-shaped fortress with an observation tower and cherry blossoms in spring.

• Hakodate Beer 2 h

  A microbrewery with the tanks in view and local cooking beside the harbour: a good evening refuge near the warehouses.

• Hakodate Christmas Fantasy 1.5 h only from late November to 25 December

  Through December until Christmas, a giant tree floating on the water of the bay, an annual gift from the twin city of Halifax, with a daily lighting and a Christmas market.

• Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses 1.5 h

  A cluster of 19th-century port warehouses by the bay, converted into shops, a craft brewery, and live music venues.

• Public foot bath in Yunokawa 0.5 h

  Yunokawa is one of the three great onsen of Hokkaido and lies within the city, half an hour by streetcar. Beside the stop there is a free public foot bath for anyone not staying the night.

• Hachiman and Yukura shrines 1 h

  Active shrines on the slope of Mount Hakodate, quiet and with stairways and views. They complement the Motomachi churches in explaining the syncretism of a port open to foreigners.

• Hakodate Meiji-kan 1 h

  A former brick post office from 1911 converted into an arcade of shops selling glass, music boxes and teddy bears. The building is handsome and the contents very commercial: worth knowing in advance.

• Hakodate Orthodox Church 0.5 h

  A church with Byzantine domes founded in 1859 by Russian clergy, Japan's first Orthodox church and a symbol of the Motomachi district.

• Hakodate Racecourse 3.5 h

  The summer meeting is held between June and July. Warning: these are horse races with betting, in case you would rather not take part in events involving animals.

• Historic Motomachi District 1.5 h

  Sloping streets lined with Western-style architecture from the Meiji era.

• Hokkaido Museum of Art in Hakodate 1.5 h

  Next to Goryokaku, with a collection strong in calligraphy and in the art of southern Hokkaido.

• Macaque bath at the Yunokawa botanical garden 1.25 h

  From December to early May, some ninety Japanese macaques bathe in undiluted thermal water. An honest warning: this is an enclosed display, not a wild population like the one at Jigokudani, and the bath is opened during the hours the park sets. If animal welfare matters to you, it is worth knowing before going.

• Onuma Quasi-National Park 2 h

  Lakes dotted with small islands beside the Komagatake volcano, a short train ride from Hakodate. Geographical precision: it is in the town of Nanae, not in Hakodate, about twenty-five to thirty minutes away by train.

• Yunokawa Onsen 2 h

  A seaside hot spring district with more than 400 years of history, with free hot-water foot baths overlooking Hakodate Bay.

• Trappistine Convent of Hakodate 1 h

  Japan's first Catholic convent for women, founded in 1898 by French Trappistine nuns, known for its garden and its handmade dairy products and butter. A clarification: there are two Trappist monasteries and they get confused with each other. The women's convent of Our Lady of the Angels is indeed in Hakodate; the men's monastery of Tobetsu is in Hokuto, a different municipality.

What only happens on specific dates

• Hakodate Port Festival 1-5 Aug
• Hakodate Christmas Fantasy from late November to 25 December

Chains well with

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