Getting in
- New Chitose Airport: Take JR Hokkaido’s Rapid Airport to Sapporo Station: about 45 minutes, roughly ¥1,230 for an unreserved seat (2025 fare). It runs about every 15 minutes and is the clear default for central Sapporo. Use the airport limousine bus only when your hotel is near one of its stops—especially Susukino or Nakajima Park—and you value no-transfer luggage handling over the usual 70–90 minute ride and roughly ¥1,500 fare.
- Okadama Airport: This is the close-in regional airport, useful mainly for Hokkaido Air System flights and a few domestic routes. Take a local airport bus/taxi onward rather than trying to treat it like CTS; it is north of central Sapporo and far less relevant to most international or Tokyo arrivals.
- JR Sapporo Station: This is the rail hub and the right base for most visitors. Airport Rapid trains connect CTS in about 45 minutes; limited expresses connect Hakodate (about 3 hr 45 min), Asahikawa (about 1 hr 30 min), Noboribetsu (about 1 hr 10 min) and Obihiro (about 2 hr 50 min). From Tokyo, the train journey via Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto takes about eight hours and costs around ¥29,680 (2025), so fly unless you specifically want the rail journey. Hayabusa and Hokuto services are all-reserved: reserve before travel.