Hakodate Hotels - Japan

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <h2 align="center">Hakodate Hotels</h2> <p>Find a hotel in Hakodate, Japan. Get the best discounts on <a href="http://www.hotels-travelnow.com/asia/japan/">Hakodate hotels</a> - up to 70% off the regular rate. Make reservations online. Japan travel information.</p> <p>Hotel Jal City Hakodate</p> <p>Hakodate Harborview Hotel</p> <p>Any tour of Hakodate should kick off at the atmospheric Asa-ichi , the morning market (Mon-Sat 5am-noon) immediately to the west of the station. Even if you arrive at the relatively late hour of 9am, there's still plenty to see at the hundreds of tightly packed stalls in this waterside location. Old ladies in headscarves squat amid piles of vegetables and flowers at the back of the market, and huge, alien-like red crabs, squid and musk melons are the local specialities. Don't leave without stopping in one of the noodle stalls .</p> <p>A ten-minute walk west from the market will lead to Hakodate-yama and the Motomachi district - alternatively, you can take a tram and get off at Jyujigai. The 334-metre-high peak, crowned with television signal transmitters, is an excellent spot from which to soak up the town. On a clear day the view is spectacular, but best of all is the night-time panorama, when the twinkling lights of the port and the boats fishing for squid just off the coast create a magical scene - though be prepared for hordes of tourists hanging off the platform railings for a better view. The energetic can climb to the summit along a trail (May-Oct), but most people opt for the cable car (daily 10am-10pm; Ľ640 one way, Ľ1160 return), which is a seven-minute uphill walk from the Jyujigai tram stop. The cheaper alternative is to take the bus (30min; Ľ360) from Hakodate Station, which runs from April 25 to October 15 between 1.15pm and 9pm, while, for drivers, the serpentine road up the mountain is open to private vehicles after 10pm. The viewing platforms are above the summit cable-car station, along with a couple of restaurants and gift shops.</p> <p>Heading downhill, you'll find yourself in Motomachi , with its Western-style, late nineteenth-century architecture - it's easy when you're here to see why Hakodate is known as the San Francisco of Japan. The best thing to do is simply wander about, stopping to explore some of the churches, which are free (few of the other buildings merit their entrance charges). The most striking is the white Russian Orthodox Church , seven minutes uphill from Jyujigai tram stop, and built in 1919, complete with green copper-clad onion domes and spires. Inside, the icon-festooned carved wood altarpiece is impressive and piped Russian choral music adds to the atmosphere. Nearby, the Episcopal Church , with its unusual modern architecture, is more interesting to observe from outside than in, while, slightly downhill, the Gothic-style Motomachi Roman Catholic Church is worth stepping into for its decoration based on the stations of the cross.</p> <p>Walking west for a couple of hundred metres across the hillside streets will bring you to the extraordinary Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward (daily: April-Oct 9am-7pm; Jan-March, Nov & Dec 9am-5pm; Ľ300), a sky-blue-and-lemon-painted confection with pillars, verandahs and fancy wrought-iron and plaster decoration. After a fire destroyed the original hall, this replacement was completed in 1910. In front of the hall is the small Motomachi Park, below which stands the rather twee Old British Consulate , which looked after the Empire's affairs in Hokkaido from 1859 to 1934. The cream and blue building now houses a highly missable museum, a stuffy British tearoom and a giftshop.</p> <p>Far more interesting is the Hakodate City Museum of Northern Peoples (daily: April-Oct 9am-7pm; Jan-March, Nov & Dec 9am-5pm; Ľ300), in an old bank down the Motoi-zaka slope, which leads away from the consulate. The museum's superb collection of artefacts relating to the Ainu and other races across Eastern Siberian and Alaskan islands, has good written English explanations and is well worth the entrance fee. Some of the clothes on display are amazing - look out for the Chinese silk robe embroidered with dragons, an example of the trade that existed between China, the islanders of Sakhalin and the Ainu.</p> <p>Hakodate's other attractions include the heavily hyped remains of Goryokaku , a Western-style fort some 3km northeast of the station and five minutes' walk north of the Goryokaku-koen-mae tram stop. Built in the late nineteenth century, the star-shaped fort was originally designed to protect Hokkaido against attack from Russia. In the event, however, it was used by Tokugawa's naval forces in a last-ditch battle to uphold the shogun against the emperor in the short-lived civil war that ushered in the Meiji Restoration of 1869. What's left of the fort today - a leafy park, the moat and outer walls - looks best from the top of the rather ugly, sixty-metre-high viewing tower (daily 8am-7pm; Ľ630) by the main entrance. It's best to visit here between late July to mid-August, when open-air plays about Hakodate's history are performed enthusiastically by five hundred amateur actors on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.</p> <p>Also rather disappointing is the Trappistine Convent , 10km southeast of Hakodate Station, established in 1868 by eight French nuns. You can't go inside - home-made cakes and biscuits are the real reason tour buses stop here. It takes at least one hour by public transport to reach the convent, either by an infrequent bus from Hakodate Station, or by tram to Yunokawa, then a bus.</p> <p>On the way to the convent you'll pass the drab seaside area of Yunokawa, the oldest onsen resort in Hokkaido and definitely looking it. A better (and cheaper) onsen option, closer to the town centre, is the huge public bath at Yachigashira (daily 6am-9.30pm; Ľ340), a couple of minutes' walk from tram terminus #2 on the eastern side of Hakodate-yama.</p> <p>Goryokaku is the city's main drinking area. More central are the converted warehouses in Motomachi that serve the local ji-biiru (microbrewery beer), Hakodate Beer; try Beelongs on the waterfront near the morning market and Hakodate Beer , just along from the Kokusai Hotel , towards Motomachi.</p> <p>Aji-no-ichiban . Noodle stall in the morning market serving up the local speciality for Ľ1800, and plenty of cheaper dishes, plus delicious, freshly squeezed melon juice. Open daytime only.</p> <p>Akachochin , 18-21 Wakamatsu-cho. The name means "red lantern" and there are plenty of these hanging inside this lively robatayaki (grilled food) restaurant, a couple of minutes' walk from the JR station. Expect to pay around Ľ2500 per head.</p> <p>BAY Hakodate , 11-5 Toyakawa-cho. Stylish buffet-style restaurant in one of the converted warehouses by the waterfront in Motomachi. The menu features a wide range of Western dishes, with lunch at Ľ1500 and dinner at Ľ2500 per head - both are good value. Daily 10am to 10pm.</p> <p>El Paso , 30-3 Goryokaku-cho. Funky little Mexican café close to the fort, serving tacos, burritos, chilli and nachos. The lunch deals are all under Ľ850. In the evening the place turns into a bar and has a more extensive food menu. Mon-Sat 11.30am-11.30pm.</p> <p>Hishii , 9-4 Horai-cho. Elegant teashop, bar and antique clothes shop in this eighty-year-old wooden building, draped with ivy, near the Horai-cho tram stop. There's a tatami area on the second floor and the shop sells secondhand kimono from Ľ5000. The café is open daily from 10am to 10pm, the bar daily from 8pm to midnight.</p> <p>Lucky Pierrot , just west of the Jyujigai tram stop, towards the waterfront. Cheap fast food, Japanese-style, at this hamburger and curry restaurant. The shop sign says "Santa Claus has come to Hakodate" and there are plenty of the jolly red men decorating the front. Daily except Sat 10am-12.30am, Sat 10am-1am.</p> <p>Nihombashi , 7-9 Motomachi. Good-value Japanese restaurant halfway along the pedestrianized street running across the top of Motomachi. Huge set meals and bowls of noodles are served in a relaxing atmosphere.</p> </body>