Japan Guide
Hokkaidō
Accommodation
1 Hakodate Kokusai Hotel 5-10 Ōtemachi 
0138/23-5151 
www.hakodate.ne.jp/kokusaihotel Hakodate's top hotel could do with a new look. Its public areas lack sparkle and the rooms, though spacious and comfortable, with harbour views, are far from state of the art. However, visiting VIPs do stay here and if you book online there are substantial discounts. Price: ¥20000-30000
2 Hakodate Youth Guesthouse 17-6 Horai-chō 0138/26-7892 www.youthhostel.or.jp/English/menu2.htm The highlight of this guesthouse with Western-style rooms is its top-floor lounge with a view of Hakodate-yama. Free home-made ice cream is offered every night at 9pm to tempt people back before the 11pm curfew. Take the Yachigashira-bound streetcar to Horai-chō, from where it's a three-minute walk. Price: ¥3800–4700
3 Kokian 13-2 Suehiro-chō 0138/26-5753 www.hakodate.or.jp/hotel/kokian This pleasant pension incorporates a pale-green painted nineteenth-century Motomachi wooden house, where you will find a stylish Japanese restaurant and bar. Note they lock the doors at midnight. Price: ¥10000-15000
4 
Nagashima 18-5 Horai-chō 0138/26-2101 www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~m-naga Good-value, spotless minshuku near Hakodate-yama, offering mainly tatami rooms, plus a couple of Western-style ones. The shared bathroom has a hinoki pine tub. Rates are the same throughout the year; for two meals, add ¥3000 per person. Price: ¥7000-10000
5 Niceday Inn 9-11 Ōtemachi 0138/22-5919 Friendly hostel conveniently located between the station and Motomachi. All the rooms have two bunk beds and are very small, but if it's quiet you may get one to yourself. The owners speak English and there's free tea and coffee. Price: ¥5000-7000
6 Pension Hakodate-Mura 16-12 Suehiro-chō 0138/22-8105 bb-hakodatemura.com/english2.htm Friendly and tidy B&B in a handsome wooden building just off the waterfront at the start of Motomachi is this. Offers both Western- and Japanese-style rooms, with most sharing a common bathroom. Breakfast included. Price: ¥10000-15000
7 Pension Jyō-Kura 9-8 ōmachi 0138/27-6453 
j-kura@vmail.plala.or.jp Cutesy pension with a façade styled like a kura (storehouse). There's a homely common area where breakfast is served and a choice of Western- or Japanese-style rooms. Price: ¥7000-10000
8 Hotel Route Inn 21-3 Wakamatsu-chō 0138/21-4100 www.route-inn.co.jp This chain hotel opposite the station is good value, offering standard business-style rooms. A plus is the huge common bath on the roof with a great view across the city. Price: ¥7000-10000
9 Tabiji 8-12 Ōtemachi 0138/26-7652 
0138/27-3997 Simple minshuku in a pale-yellow painted wooden building on a side road, directly opposite the Hakodate Kokusai Hotel. The clean tatami rooms have TV but no a/c and share the bathroom. Price: ¥5000-7000
10 Tōyoko Inn Hakodate Ekimae Asa-ichi 22-7 Ōtemachi 0138/23-1045 www.toyoko-inn.com Great value business hotel next to the morning market. Singles for as little as ¥5000 from October to May; rates include a simple breakfast. If they're full, there's the nearby Hakodate Daimon branch. Price: ¥7000-10000
11 Winning Hotel 22-11 Suehiro-chō 0138/26-3600 www.hotel-winning.jp In a modern but Art Deco-styled building facing the harbour, this is as close as the city gets to a boutique hotel. Rooms are fresh, large and some have lovely views. It's also home to a museum devoted to GLAY (one of Japan's top pop groups who hail from Hakodate). Price: ¥10000–30000