Sapporo Hokkaido, Japan - Day 3 (2/5/2016): Maruyama Park 円山公園

Maruyama Park

The first thing in the morning after breakfast is to go to Maruyama Park. From our hotel, we walked to the Odori Station and took the Tozai Line 'West' to Maruyama Koen Station. We followed the exit 1 towards Maruyama Zoo & Park.


We became more excited when we reached the Maruyama Park Station. Since we didn't know what is the meaning of Golden Week here in Japan, we didn't expect to see so many people in the subway. Many of them were carrying a lots of picnic stuffs. We just follow the crowd heading towards the exit in a walkway with lots of animal sign.

The moment we exited the station, we saw many cars queuing to enter the Maruyama Park.

Entering the amazing Maruyama Park. I hope I can come back again to visit the zoo!

The moment we enter the park, we were like 'wow'! The park was filled with people gathering around for picnic and taking pictures of the sakura flowers. On the day, it was announced by the Japanese official as the full blossom. We were so lucky to be there to experience our first spring and cherry blossom - amazing!

We were blessed with good weather - a sunny day!

This place is so relaxing - feel like going back there again and again!

While enjoying the flowers, there is a mini-Suzuki van selling coffee to visitors

We then walked further in to visit the Hokkaido Shrine, a holy place for the Japanese to worship the ancestor. It is a very calm and nice Shrine.

Before entering the Shrine, we are supposed to purify ourselves with the water at the purification fountain.

On our way out of the Maruyama Park, we tried out some food at the stores along the walkway connecting the Hokkaido Shrine with the park.

Wrapping of vegetables with egg and dried bonito flakes on top, added BBQ sauce and Mayonnaise - for 500 Yen

There is a dining area where beverages are available. However we choose to dine like this...

We left the park in the afternoon for the Sapporo Chocolate Museum at Miyanosawa.

By the way, we were traveling with the subway using the free One-Day pass when we bought the Sapporo-Otaru Welcome Pass.