Name: Sapporo Snow Festival（さっぽろ雪まつり）
Start: 2027-02-04
End: 2027-02-11
Location: Sapporo, Hokkaido

Sapporo Snow Festival（さっぽろ雪まつり） — Sapporo, HokkaidoNext edition — Feb 4–11, 2027 (CONFIRMED)Crowd size — 2,539,000 visits · 76th (2026)Japan's biggest winter event takes over three sites in Sapporo for eight days: buildings carved out of snow, lit after dark, free to walk among with no ticket of any kind. The 76th edition in 2026 drew 2,539,000 visits. The next runs 4-11 February 2027. Seeing it is easy. Holding a room in the city that week is not.How the date is set — Eight days in early February, announced by the organising committee roughly seven months ahead — the 2027 dates were published on 13 July 2026.Getting a roomGoes first — The middle weekend. Every sculpture is finished and lit by then, and Japanese weekend travel lands on top of an already-full week.Sold out doesn't have to be the end. Plans change, and cancelled rooms come back to Rakuten Travel right up to the night itself — catching that chance is exactly what this vacancy-watching app is for.Watch the rooms — free, no accountWhat happens, and when

All 8 days Until 22:00 — Odori site (West 1-11 chome) — the sculptures, lit. This is the site in every photograph and the one to plan an evening around.

All 8 days 10:00-16:00 — Tsudome site — snow slides and the family attractions. Watch the closing time: it shuts six hours before Odori's lights go out, so it cannot be an evening stop.

Weekdays 15:00-23:00 — Susukino site (Ekimae-dori, South 4 to South 6) — ice sculptures on a pedestrianised street. Mid-afternoon start on weekdays.

Sat & Sun 10:00-23:00 — Susukino site — opens five hours earlier at the weekend.

Final day 10:00-22:00 — Susukino site on the final day — an hour shorter. If the last night is your only night, this is the hour you lose.

How to see itSpectator only — the teams who carve the contest sculptures apply months ahead.Watching for free — All three sites are free: you walk in off the street, no admission, no ticket, nothing to reserve. The only charges are for optional attractions inside them — the skating rink at Odori 3-chome was ¥2,500 for an adult in advance against ¥3,000 on the day (¥800 / ¥1,000 for high-school age and under), so buy ahead if you intend to skate.Where to stayHow hard it actually is — You will find a room in Sapporo. Whether you find one you want, at the price you expected, within walking distance of Odori, is the real question.What a night costs — The festival moves prices and empties the good addresses rather than exhausting the supply — Sapporo is a big city, and rooms are not what runs out. No festival-week rate is published, so price your own dates live — and add lodging tax to whatever you find: ¥200 per person per night below ¥50,000, ¥500 from ¥50,000 up, plus a separate Hokkaido prefectural tax, both new since 1 April 2026.Know before you go

You will be standing still outdoors, which is far colder than walking. Grip matters more than warmth here: the crowd polishes the paths into ice by the second day. Bad fit for: Anyone without proper winter footwear, and small children who cannot say they are cold.

The sculptures do not change across the eight days, so this is a half-day event that people build a week-long trip around. Against the rest of Hokkaido in winter, it competes badly for time. Bad fit for: First-time visitors on a seven-day, multi-city itinerary.

What regulars do

Do not put Tsudome in your evening. It closes at 16:00 while Odori stays lit until 22:00, so the two do not stack the way people assume: Tsudome is a morning, Odori is the night. And take the shuttle bus to it. The alternative is a 15-minute walk from Sakae station on the Toho subway line, which in February means 15 minutes on packed ice — the organiser runs the shuttle from that same station for this reason. (How we know: Hours, the 15-minute walk from 栄町駅 on the 地下鉄東豊線 and the shuttle bus all come from the organiser's Tsudome venue page.)

The 2027 dates are confirmed. The 2027 hours are not, and the venue pages do not make that obvious — each one shows the 2027 date range above content the organiser still labels 2026, with 2027 details due from mid-December 2026. So the hours above are the 2026 pattern: good enough to plan a trip around, not good enough to plan a last train around. Re-check in December. (How we know: The venue pages carry 「2026年開催内容（2027年開催は12月中旬より更新予定）」 above the 2027 dates — the organiser's caveat.)

Do not plan from the festival's English website. It still shows the 75th edition and February 2025 dates — two editions behind the Japanese site, which has carried the 2027 dates since 13 July 2026. If the English page makes you think the dates are not out yet, they are. You are reading a stale page. (How we know: The Japanese top page and the 13 July 2026 news item both show 4-11 February 2027; the English site shows 2025.)

Do not expect the official site to help you find a room. There is no accommodation section on it at all — no hotel list, no lodging advice, not even a link in the navigation. (How we know: No 宿泊 / hotel / ryokan link, menu item or section anywhere in the navigation, sitemap or FAQ.)

Sources

2026さっぽろ雪まつり(第76回)開催結果 — さっぽろ雪まつり実行委員会 (Sapporo Snow Festival Executive Committee) (read 2026-08-09)

第８表旅館・ホテル営業の施設数・客室数及び簡易宿所・下宿営業の施設数，都道府県－指定都市－中核市（再掲）別 — 厚生労働省「衛生行政報告例」 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) (read 2026-08-09)

札幌市宿泊税 — 札幌市 (City of Sapporo) (read 2026-08-09)

つどーむ会場 — さっぽろ雪まつり実行委員会 (read 2026-08-09)

すすきの会場 — さっぽろ雪まつり実行委員会 (read 2026-08-09)

2027さっぽろ雪まつり（第77回）の開催概要について — さっぽろ雪まつり実行委員会 (read 2026-08-09)

さっぽろ雪まつり実行委員会 — さっぽろ雪まつり実行委員会 (read 2026-08-09)

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