The Charming & Romantic Hakodate

20.1.22

The Charming & Romantic Hakodate

A year after the trip, I finally write the last part of it. Don't you guys miss travelling so much? I especially miss travelling when looking at the pictures and writing about it like now. Well one of the highlight of my Hokkaido trip was spending the night at Hakodate. As I mentioned in my previous post, I used JR Hokkaido Pass to ride Super Hokuto Train from Sapporo to Toya, and continued the journey from Toya to Hakodate.

A long train ride means a lot of food needed. Usually I buy some carbs, desserts, and one sweet beverage. It was the first time I tried Secoma's food, and no doubt, it was all delicious!

I just have this weakness on milk coffee and milk tea, and since boba was so happening, I tried this Emial Tapioca Milk Tea. Well, the pearls were more like jelly than tapioca ones, but it was still legit.

We arrived at Hakodate around 3 PM as I remembered, and stepping out from the station, it felt different already. Hakodate seems like a modern city with a touch of the old time or maybe it's vice versa? But I do love the feel of this city.

The major public transportation in Hakodate are Trems and Buses, which I should say, was quite convenient but made us a bit slower to move from one place to another, but not that slow actually.

I stayed at The Capsule Hotel Hakodate, where I had a very pleasant stay - but too bad, I read that they had to close because of the pandemic. Well, I'll just post the photos I took at the hotel as a memory.

I purchased a 1 Day Tram & Bus Pass at the hotel, which I could just showed to the bus/tram driver.

Riding the tram was quite convenience though it felt much slower than a train. Our first destination was Hachiman Zaka Slope. We stopped at Jiujigai Tram Station and walked from there. The surrounding areas were overall quiet and peaceful. It was a nice afternoon walk track, and a good exercise also since the road is uphill.

And here's the famous Hachiman Zaka Slope with the view of Hakodate Bay.

It was getting dark and we were getting hungry. And the must try food in Hakodate is not any common Japanese food you know but a burger, yes you read it right. Lucky Pierrot is a burger chain you can only find in Hakodate. You can find Lucky Pierrot all across Hakodate, and the store appearance will definitely catch your eyes and remind you of a circus tent.

The interior of Lucky Pierrot reminds you of old American diner you saw on movies.

And their specialty isn't a beef burger but chicken burger. And yes, it was good! The chicken was marinated and fried, the meat was juicy and the overall taste was sweet and savory.

Ow, and they have rice menu too, my friend ordered some curry chicken rice.

After dinner, we headed to Mount Hakodate by bus. "From late April to mid November, there are multiple direct buses per hour between Hakodate Station and the summit of Mount Hakodate in the evenings (30 minutes, 400 yen one way). The buses are operated by Hakodate Bus and covered by the day passes for trams and buses." - quoted from Japan-Guide.

And this is the view from the top:

Cremia before heading down to the town.

The next morning, I had Ippudo instant cup ramen for breakfast. There were too many packagings inside and I was confused.

And after googling, my ramen was ready! It was good tho.

After breakfast I went to the Red Brick Warehouses area. It was right in front the Hakodate Port, and the buildings seems old and historical since they were already there since Edo period for trading. It's no longer used for trading purpose but you can find stores and eateries inside.

Another Lucky Pierrot spotted!

And an industrial looking Starbucks!

I liked walking around this area but too bad it rained that day. And since it rained and we were hungry, we just headed to the closest restaurant we could find. And it was Gram that's famous for in pancake.

So in Hakodate, I had burger and pancake, haha! A bit random but as long as my tummy was happy I'm okay. We tried one sweet and one savoury pancakes. Pancake wasn't bad for lunch, but of course I like rice and noodle better.

Next stop was Goryokaku Tower.

Another Lucky Pierrot spotted near the tower.

From Goryokaku Tower, we could see Fort Goryokaku and its surroundings. Initially I wanna visit Fort Goryokaku but since it was raining, taking a look from the tower was pretty okay already.

Well the visit to Goryokaku Tower closed my trip to Hakodate and Hokkaido. I really wanna go back to Hokkaido and visit more cities. I hope we all can travel comfortably again soon.