Mt. Moiwa

Pretty good experience at a mountain top during winter. Snow winter view feel pretty different compare to non winter season view. Overall good for 1 time visit if you happening to go Hokkaido. Be careful if you dislike crowds. It will be crowded because it is the easiest near city area ropeway to access

Redemption of tickets is seamless. Staff are really helpful. Claim the ticket and keep it throughout the entire stay you’ll need it on and off the ropeway and cable car. Visit the top in snowy weather and unable to see the Sapporo above but the snowy mountain and the cold breeze were absolutely incredible.

We went up at about 4.20pm to try to catch the sunset. It became rather cloudy, so the clouds ended up blocking the sunset. The night view was great but you had to stay for quite a while for the sky to darken. A lot of people were still coming up the ropeway at 6pm when we were heading off, so it seemed like the night view was way more popular than the sunset view. Heads up that by 530/545pm, you will need to queue to take the ropeway down.

Nice place to view Sapporo. It is possible to drive up, but need to pay a small fee, which is less than the ropeway. Driving and the ropeway do not lead you to the top, so you’ll either need to take a paid mini cable car or hike up. The hike is generally easy and can be completed quite quickly.

If you want to go here, make it in midafternoon and stay for about an hour after sunset to see the great view of Sapporo without the lights aa well as the dark city illuminated by a bevy of colors.

We started our day early (riding Uber) with a visit to 藻岩山 Mt. Moiwa taking the scenic ropeway and then mini cable car to the summit where panoramic views of Sapporo unfold against a backdrop of snow-dusted mountains. We met a lot of hikers walking up to the summit with bear bells and sprays. I guess it is because of the recent bear problem in Japan. Mt. Moiwa is cherished as a symbol of harmony between nature and urban life in Sapporo, offering us breathtaking vantage points especially beautiful in late Autumn.

Hiked up this mountain at 7am in the heavy snow with just a windbreaker. Negative temperatures were still quite warm for me. Whole place was dead quiet. The ski lifts and the ropeway are all not working. ChatGPT do not recommend wearing Asics Novablast and hiking up this mountain with no bells or winter wear. But ChatGPT doesn’t know I’ve got balls of steel. Almost became bear food but alas the cameraman never dies. - 22nd December 2025

It's ok. I give this attraction 3 stars because you never really know if you would have the thick fogs blocking the scenery. We got unlucky when we went up and because our itinerary was tight, couldn't afford to use the coupon on another night. It was icy cold at the top and nothing to see but we made our own fun.