Arriving in Sapporo: the Rapid Airport Train, the Bus, and IC Cards
How to get from New Chitose Airport into Sapporo: the JR Rapid Airport at 1,230 yen non-reserved, the reserved seats in car 4, the airport buses to the city centre, IC cards and the Sapporo subway day ticket.
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New Chitose Airport is south-east of Sapporo, so the train or bus into the city takes longer than in most Japanese cities. Japan’s online arrival registration is worth doing before you fly. If you are using a rail pass, whether the JR Pass is worth it runs the numbers.
The JR Rapid Airport
JR Hokkaido lists the adult one-way fare from New Chitose Airport to Sapporo as:
- Non-reserved seat: 1,230 yen.
- Reserved seat: 2,230 yen.
For a non-reserved seat, “You can use non-reserved seats with just an IC card.” Reserved seats “are available only in car 4”, and “A reservation is required”. JR Hokkaido sells them through JR-EAST Train Reservation.
The airport puts the journey at “about 30 minutes without transfers”. JR Hokkaido’s own airport page gives the fastest train as 37 minutes, so allow a little more than half an hour.
The airport bus
Hokuto Kotsu and Hokkaido Chuo Bus run buses direct to Sapporo city centre, with the last stop at Nakajima Park. They leave from the bus stops at both the domestic and international terminals. The airport’s sightseeing page puts the bus at about 1 hour 50 minutes to Sapporo Station, against about 40 minutes by train. Fares are not on the airport’s page.
Booking a reserved seat or checking the next Rapid Airport is done online. A Saily eSIM set up before departure has you connected at New Chitose. If Sapporo follows Tokyo or Seoul, the same Saily profile takes a plan for each country.
IC cards
JR Hokkaido says Suica, PASMO, TOICA, manaca, ICOCA, PiTaPa, SUGOCA, nimoca and Hayakaken all work in its Kitaca area, and on the train to and from the airport. The city of Sapporo says its own SAPICA card and those same IC cards work on the subway and streetcar.
The Sapporo subway day ticket
The city’s fare page lists a one-day subway ticket at 830 yen for an adult and 420 yen for a child, and a weekend and holiday ticket, the Donichika, at 520 yen and 260 yen. That page was last updated on 18 February 2021, so check the price at the machine.
Emergency numbers
The Japan National Tourism Organization lists 110 for police and 119 for fire and ambulance. Its Japan Visitor Hotline, 050-3816-2787, runs 24 hours a day in English, Chinese and Korean.
Travelling south by Shinkansen? Hakodate’s airport buses and streetcar passes cover the other end of Hokkaido.
Saily, a data eSIM you install before you fly and top up per country Our full write-up. (affiliate link)