Sapporo Snow Festival

The Sapporo Snow Festival, which aims to make the terrible cold of Hokkaido's mid-winter bright and enjoyable, showcases hundreds of gigantic and exquisitely crafted ice and snow sculptures embellishing the city of Sapporo. The festival's primary location is Odori Park, but the surrounding Susukino area and the Tsu Dome in Higashi Ward both have a beautiful range worth seeing.

The Sapporo Snow Festival has a brief and humble history when compared to many of the other festivals on this list. It began when a group of local high school students began creating sculptures out of snow that had been plowed and discarded in Odori Park. It is definitely one of the most famous festivals in Japan.

Each year, more professional and enthusiastic sculptors would arrive to try to outdo each other, rapidly expanding the event's scope. Beautiful illuminations, projection mapping, ice skating, food stalls, snow slides, and more add to the festival's allure, making it well worth battling the cold for!

Location: Sapporo, Japan

Date: Late January - Early February