The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps
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So what are the things to do in New Chitose Airport Sapporo? Firstly, EAT! We arrived at New Chitose Airport in time for dinner! It was a long flight from Singapore, with a transfer at Narita Airport. There are many things to do at the airport, but we arrived after most of the shops’ opening hours.
Looking at the offerings, one can easily spend a few hours in the airport! So be sure you get to the airport early to explore. In this way, you wouldn’t miss your flight too!
Ramen is a noodle soup dish that is well known as a specialty of Hokkaido. There is a huge variety of Ramen in terms of its soup base, noodles and toppings across Japan. There are also variations between the regions within Hokkaido: Sapporo’s miso broths, Hakodate’s salt-based broths and Asahikawa’s soya sauce based ones.
Even if you don’t travel out of New Chitose Airport, you will get an opportunity to try one of the famous ramens. There’s an alley called Hokkaido Ramen Dojo (北海道ラーメン道場) at Domestic Terminal Building 3F. The alley is lined with Hokkaido’s most famous ramen shops, each with their signature cooking style.
We tried the ramen at Ebisoba Ichigen. Ichigen is famous for its shrimp-based ramen. It’s a bit like Singapore’s prawn noodles, but the noodles is a bit more taut or “QQ” as compared to Singapore’s ramen.
There are 3 kinds of soups: a regular shrimp based straight soup, a straight soup mixed with tonkatsu soup, or a thicker version of the mixed. We ordered the first two, and preferred the former for its strong prawn taste.
Ebisoba Ichigen is apparently the more popular one among others at the alley. It usually has a snaking long line, so thank God for empty seats when we arrived. The queue started forming only after we ordered. If you want to try, it’s the first shop on your right. Otherwise, you can go to other branches in Sapporo or Tokyo.
Hours: 10:00am – 9:00pm (L.O. 8:30pm)
Location: Domestic Terminal Building 3F
www.ebisoba.com
There are many famous sweet treats in Hokkaido that you can buy back as souvenirs. And the best part is… they are all packaged nicely! Aesthetically pleasing and definitely a good buy as gifts.
We went to Otaru and were so tempted to sweep up the many treats from Rokkatei, Kitakaro, and LeTAO. And also the famous Ishiya Shiroi Koibito cookies (白色恋人) when we visited its factory in Sapporo. But since we are not buying super a lot from each shop to qualify for tax refund, hubby suggested a better idea!
Consolidate our food buys at a tax free shop in New Chitose Airport. There are a few tax free shops, such as ANA Festa and Tokyu Store, that carry a variety of food souvenirs from the different brands, including Royce’, and also instant noodle ramen. These shops are located in the public and not transit area, that is before you go through the immigration counters.
Thank God we bought these souvenirs at New Chitose airport. Other than the tax savings, we didn’t have to pack and carry them in our luggage as we travelled around Hokkaido. What’s more, it’s fresher to buy them just before we board our outbound flight!
If you cannot find what you want at these “consolidated” shops, you can still search for the respective brand outlets in the airport for your buys. For example, I wanted this chocolate by LeTao, but it was not sold in ANA Festa or shops alike. Thus I went to the LeTao outlet at New Chitose airport and got what I wanted. Yays!
Do check out the many more food available at New Chitose Airport. There’s the freshly fried potato chips at Calbee+, the mouthwatering bake cheese tart at Kinotoya, and the fluffy Snaffles cheesecake. I really miss the tart and cheesecake…..
ANA Festa
7:10am-8:30pm
Domestic Terminal Building 2F
www.anafesta.com
Tokyu Store
7:30am-8:30pm
Domestic Terminal Building 2F
www.tokyu-dept.co.jp/sapporo
Image Credit: www.hokkaidolikers.com
Royce’ is Hokkaido’s local chocolate maker and it has set up Royce’ Chocolate World, the first chocolate factory and museum located inside of a Japanese airport.
Learn about the process of chocolate making, history of chocolate and view collections from around the world. Then with a self guided factory tour, see the various steps of chocolate making. Of course, there’s a shop for you to buy their tasty treats! But you should go to the tax free shops in New Chitose Airport to consolidate your Royce’ purchase with other souvenirs and qualify for tax rebates! ;)
Pricing: Entrance Free
Hours: 8:00am-8:00pm | Factory: 8:30am-5:30pm | Bakery: 9:00-8:00pm
Location: Connecting Path, 3F
www.royce.com/contents/english_rcw
Image Credit: new-chitose-airport.jp/en/doraemon
If you are a big fan of Doraemon, be sure to visit the Doraemon Waku Waku Sky Park. With many large Doraemon figurines, have fun exploring the themed attraction. View Doraemon animation and read its books. Or participate in Doraemon Craft workshop (buy and colour plain plaster figurines) or take photo in sticker booth.
You can also eat at its cafe with Doraemon themed dishes. They’re super cute! We didn’t actually go to this skypark or eat here, but we went to a similar but bigger Doraemon museum in Tokyo. And the dishes were kawaii and oishii!
Pricing: It’s free except for the entertainment park zone. Adults 800 yen; Students from 400 yen; Free for children below 3 years old.
Hours: 10:00am to 6:00pm | Shop till 6:30pm.
Last admission/order Park Zone: 5:30pm | Workshop 5:00pm | Cafe 5:00pm
Location: Connecting Path, 3F
www.new-chitose-airport.jp/en/doraemon
Onsen Public Bath: There’s an indoor and outdoor public bath, with its hot spring properties helping to improve blood circulation and effective to incision, burn and chronic skin disease as well as children weakness and chronic gynopathy. It is also Beauty Bath (a PH value of 8) that gives you a smooth skin.
Relax: There are also rooms with beds for you to rest or nap after a relaxing time at the hot spring. There are also guest rooms for you to sleep and catch your morning flight.
Spa: There is a variety of wellness treatments, such as bodycare, body treatment, facial treatment and foot treatment.
Food: Dining room with various main dishes and desserts, and also complimentary drinks, including coffee and tea. It opens until 3:00am, good for those who get hungry at night.
Pricing: Check out the price menu at its website: www.new-chitose-airport.jp/en/spend/relax/spa
Hours: 10:00am-9:00am (23 hrs). Public Bath ends at 8:00am (reception time ends at 7:30am); it will also be closed for some days in March because of the legal facility maintenance.
Location: Domestic Terminal Building 4F
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Cheapest domestic flights are purchased 30 days to 3 months in advance.
Cheapest international flights are purchased up to six months in advance.
Either you book as an early bird or book at the last minute to enjoy great airfare deals. Good for the spontaneous. These last minute flights are typically deeply discounted because airlines are filling up the remaining seats.
Generally, the cheapest days to fly are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Also, the best day to book is rumoured to be on a Tuesday (even Scoot Morning Glory promotions are on Tuesdays!).
Image: natalieenaranjo.tumblr.com
An open-jaw ticket is a round-trip ticket in which you arrive and depart from different airports.
Consider booking an open-jaw ticket if your first and last destinations are miles apart. Such as when you have cruises departing and arriving at different ports, or want to explore several countries/cities at one time (by bus, car or train).
This will avoid back-tracking, that is going back to your arrival airport, which costs a lot of time, money and energy.
For example, if it is your first time to Japan and have a week, you will probably do the standard route: Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka. Kyoto and Osaka are close to each other in the Kansai region while Tokyo is located all the way in the east. With an open-jaw ticket, you can fly into Tokyo, en route Kyoto and out from Osaka. In this case, you wouldn’t need to go back to Tokyo for the return flight. You can also fly into Osaka and out from Tokyo.
To save costs on travel, you may wish to explore the miles redemption option. Sign up for the airlines’ frequent flyer program before booking your air tickets. Also, from time to time, your airline might have redemption promotions, which allow you to redeem air tickets for lesser miles.
Be sure to register the names of redemption nominees exactly as per passports! Refer to Part 1, Tip #3 for more information on inputting names. This will save you trouble when doing retrospective mileage claims.
Image: instagram @fooderati
I recommend being covered by travel insurance for all travel. If you travel often, consider getting an annual plan. Single trip insurance coverage can be very affordable as well, with insurers offering 30% to 50% discount during promotional periods. Some credit cards also offer insurance coverage for the cardholders.
If you don’t mind providing the travel and payment details online, the best way to book is through the airlines’ websites.
Travel agents? As mentioned in Part 1, most airlines have cut the commission off travel agents. As such, it is common for travel agents to charge a transaction fee or a service fee to book and issue the tickets for you. Though travel agents provide the flexibility to issue the tickets for you at a later date – giving you a chance to change details without penalty.
Online travel agents? They may include additional cost into your total bill.
After the booking is done, some airlines have modern and sophisticated websites that allow you to access your reservations on their websites. To do this, you will need to input the travellers’ Last Names as well as the airline’s booking reference
The best part with online booking for me is that I can do an online check in — to beat the queue and arrive at the airport later than the stipulated 2 hours before departure time. Usually, you can do the online check in from 48 to 2 hours before your flight, depending on the airline.
Post was written by Christina and Ms S.Koh
Guest Writer: Ms S.Koh, Dedicated Travel Advisor at a Reputable Financial Services Company
Having been a professional in premium and customized travel service for more than five years, I endeavour to continually delight and deliver exceptional travel service with my extensive travel knowledge. Travel is my interest and service my passion!
© 2015 Joogo Travel
Disclaimer: All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. Travel.joogo.sg and/or the author shall not be held responsible for any injury, loss, expense or damage of any kind whatsoever suffered or incurred by any person who accesses or uses the information and external websites stated above. Full disclaimer here.
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