Yes, at all three main venues, per the official FAQ. The separate Snow Sports Park event afterward (Feb 12–14) is a distinct, ticketed event.

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Sapporo Snow Festival 2027: Confirmed Dates and When to Actually Book

Sep 5, 2026

By Haru, Honest Yen editorial team · Last verified Sep 24, 2026 · How we verify

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This guide is current as of September 2026. The Sapporo Snow Festival Executive Committee confirmed the 2027 dates on its official news page on July 13, 2026^[1], though at the time of writing the site’s own English and Korean landing pages still displayed leftover 2025 placeholder text — a gap worth knowing about before you trust any single source. Here is what is actually confirmed, what is still an estimate, and when the calendar says you should book.

The confirmed dates: February 4–11, 2027

The 77th Sapporo Snow Festival (さっぽろ雪まつり) runs for eight days, Thursday, February 4 through Thursday, February 11, 2027^[1]. This is not a projection based on past patterns — it is the date range published by the festival’s own organizing committee, and it is corroborated independently by Hokkaido’s official prefectural tourism site^[2] and by the Sapporo Tourist Association^[3], both of which list the identical 2/4–2/11 window. When two or three independently maintained official pages agree, treat the date as locked in; the festival has never moved its dates once the committee’s own news post goes live.

Infographic showing the 77th Sapporo Snow Festival runs Feb 4-11, 2027, an 8-day event, with the closing day falling on a national holiday. — 77th Sapporo Snow Festival at a Glance (Sapporo Snow Festival Executive Committee; Cabinet Office of Japan · As of Sep 2026)

One detail most planning articles skip: February 11, 2027 (the closing day) is National Foundation Day (建国記念の日), a Japanese public holiday confirmed in the Cabinet Office’s 2027 holiday calendar^[4]. Because it falls on a Thursday with no substitute holiday attached, it won’t create a four-day weekend for Japanese visitors, but it does mean the final day draws the heaviest domestic crowds of the whole run — plan an early morning visit if you’re going near the end.

Source reliability, ranked

Source	What it says	Why it matters
snowfes.com official news post (Jul 13, 2026)^[1]	2027/2/4–2/11, 77th edition, confirmed	Primary source, but buried in the news archive — the homepage and translated pages lag behind
Visit Hokkaido (prefectural tourism board)^[2]	2027/2/4–2/11	Independent official confirmation, already updated in its Korean-language event listing
Sapporo Tourist Association^[3]	2027/2/4(木)~2/11(木・祝)	City-level tourism body, matches the other two exactly

If a blog or tour operator cites 2027 dates without linking to one of the above, that’s a copy of a copy — not a fresh check of the source.

Festival basics: 77th edition, three venues

The festival began in 1950 when local students built six snow sculptures in Odori Park; 2027 marks its 77th running^[1]. The most recent edition gives a sense of scale: the 76th festival (February 2026) drew roughly 2.54 million visitors over its eight days, according to the organizing committee’s post-event report^[5].

There are three official venues, and they serve different purposes:

Odori Site — the main venue, spanning West 1-chome to West 11-chome of Odori Park. This is where the large-scale snow sculptures (some multiple stories tall) and the International Snow Sculpture Contest entries stand^[1].
Susukino Site — along Ekimae-dori between South 4-jo and South 6-jo, in Sapporo’s nightlife district. This venue focuses on illuminated ice sculptures and is best seen after dark^[1].
Tsudome Site — at the Sapporo Community Dome, a covered venue with snow slides and hands-on activities, better suited to families and cold-averse visitors^[1].

All three venues are free to enter — the official FAQ states plainly, “All venues are free of charge”^[6]. A separate, ticketed spin-off event, Sapporo Snow Sports Park 2027, runs immediately after at a different venue (Daiwa House Premist Dome) from February 12–14 and should not be confused with the main festival^[1].

When to book flights

Airfare into New Chitose Airport (CTS) for snow festival week behaves like any fixed, well-publicized peak-demand event in Japan: seats don’t sell out overnight, but the cheapest fare buckets do. As a practical rule, international carriers typically release their lowest-tier fares 4–5 months out and progressively close them as the date nears, so booking in the September–October 2026 window (5–6 months ahead) gives you first access to those buckets, while waiting until December or January means choosing from whatever’s left — usually the same flights, just pricier. There’s no official published fare calendar to cite for exact numbers, and this site won’t guess at specific yen or dollar figures without a verifiable source, but the demand pattern itself is predictable: this is peak Hokkaido season, competing for the same seats as Lunar New Year travelers (more on that below), so earlier is structurally better than later.

When to book hotels — and the golden window

Accommodation is the tighter bottleneck of the two. Sapporo’s hotel inventory is small relative to the roughly 2.5 million people who pass through the festival over eight days^[5], and demand is compressed further by an overlapping event most planning guides miss entirely: Lunar New Year 2027 falls on Saturday, February 6^[7], right in the middle of the festival window. That means the first weekend of the festival (Feb 6–7) coincides with the start of a multi-day Lunar New Year holiday across Hong Kong, mainland China, and other markets — a second wave of travelers booking the exact same hotels, on top of the domestic and Western tourists already coming for the snow sculptures.

Timeline showing four crowd phases across the festival week, with the Feb 6-7 weekend overlapping Lunar New Year as the busiest period for hotels. — Two Demand Peaks During the 2027 Festival (Sapporo Snow Festival Executive Committee; GovHK · As of Sep 2026)

Practically, that gives the 2027 festival two distinct crowd peaks to plan around:

Feb 4–5 (Thu–Fri): opening days, moderate crowds, best sculpture-viewing conditions before foot traffic packs the walkways.
Feb 6–7 (Sat–Sun): the weekend, amplified by Lunar New Year arrivals — expect the tightest hotel availability and highest rates of the whole run.
Feb 8–10 (Mon–Wed): a relative lull, weekday and post-holiday.
Feb 11 (Thu, national holiday): closing day, heaviest domestic crowds due to the public holiday.

Because central Sapporo hotel supply is fixed and two demand spikes stack on the same city, book centrally located hotels as soon as your travel dates are fixed — realistically, the moment you’ve confirmed you’re going, not “a month or two before.” If you’re flexible, targeting the Feb 8–10 stretch gets you the festival experience with less competition for rooms.

If Sapporo is sold out: alternate bases

When central Sapporo hotels fill up, most guides simply say “book early” without a fallback. Two realistic alternates, both on the same JR line as Sapporo Station:

Area	Distance to Sapporo Station	Trade-off
Otaru	~32 minutes by JR rapid train	A scenic canal town with its own hotel stock; workable as a base if you don’t mind a daily round trip and don’t need to be out late in Susukino
Shin-Sapporo	~10 minutes by subway/JR to Sapporo Station	A commuter hub with business hotels, much closer than Otaru and often the first place rooms free up when central Sapporo sells out

Shin-Sapporo is the better fallback for most travelers: it’s a short, frequent commute rather than a full side-trip commitment. Otaru works if you’re planning to visit it anyway as a day trip and want to fold your lodging into that plan.

Getting from New Chitose Airport to the festival

The JR Rapid Airport train is the standard route from New Chitose Airport Station to Sapporo Station: the fastest Special Rapid service takes 33 minutes, the regular Rapid service 37 minutes, and the one-way non-reserved fare is ¥1,230^[8]. Trains run frequently — six per hour during the daytime window — so there’s no need to reserve a specific departure if you’re using a non-reserved seat^[8]. From Sapporo Station, the Odori Site is a roughly 10-minute walk or one subway stop; Susukino is a further subway stop south. If you’re carrying ski or snowboard gear along with luggage, note that Sapporo Station and the airport both have coin lockers, but they fill up fast during festival week — a same-day luggage forwarding service (takkyubin) to your hotel is worth arranging in advance if you’re arriving and sightseeing on the same day.

Weather and what to pack

Using Japan Meteorological Agency 1991–2020 normals for Sapporo, February’s average high is 0.4°C, average low is −6.2°C, and the average total snowfall for the month is 116 cm^[9]. In practice this means daytime highs hover around or just below freezing while early mornings and evenings drop well below it — cold enough that ordinary sneakers and a city coat are not enough for several hours outdoors at Odori or Susukino after dark.

Infographic listing Sapporo's February climate normals: average high 0.4°C, average low -6.2°C, and about 116 cm of snowfall. — Sapporo in February: What to Expect (Japan Meteorological Agency (1991–2020 normals) · As of Sep 2026)

Insulated, waterproof boots with grip (sidewalks get packed with ice)
Thermal base layers, not just a heavy coat
Hand and toe warmers — widely sold at convenience stores and drugstores in Sapporo
A hat and gloves rated for sub-zero wind chill, not just light autumn wear

If you’re combining the festival with a resort day, the gear calculus is similar to what applies at any Hokkaido ski area — see this site’s beginner-friendly Japan ski resort guide for base-layer and rental advice that carries over directly to festival-going.

FAQ

What are the exact 2027 Sapporo Snow Festival dates?

Thursday, February 4 through Thursday, February 11, 2027 — eight days, confirmed by the organizing committee and two independent official tourism sources^[1][2][3].

What edition is this, and where is it held?

The 77th edition, held across three venues: Odori (main sculptures), Susukino (ice sculptures), and Tsudome (family/indoor activities)^[1].

Exactly when should I book flights and hotels?

Flights: aim for 5–6 months out (September–October 2026) to catch the lowest fare buckets before they close. Hotels: book as soon as your dates are fixed, since Sapporo’s fixed room supply faces two overlapping demand spikes — the festival itself and Lunar New Year, which falls on February 6, 2027, inside the festival window^[7].

Is admission free?

Yes, at all three main venues, per the official FAQ^[6]. The separate Snow Sports Park event afterward (Feb 12–14) is a distinct, ticketed event^[1].

What’s the weather like, and what should I pack?

Average highs around 0.4°C and lows around −6.2°C, with roughly 116 cm of snowfall typical for the month^[9]. Pack insulated waterproof boots, thermal layers, and hand/toe warmers.

What if Sapporo city hotels are sold out?

Shin-Sapporo (about 10 minutes from Sapporo Station) is the more practical fallback; Otaru (about 32 minutes away) works if you’re already planning to visit it as a day trip.