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00the route
Route

Hakodate: the market, Motomachi's slopes and the mountain at dusk

September 25, 2026Sora Nakamura

One day in Hakodate: a rice bowl you build yourself at the locals' market, coffee in an old office building in Motomachi, salt ramen, tea with the bay in the window, the ropeway up Mount Hakodate as the lights come on, a brewery, and a five-room hotel in a building from 1920.

The ropeway stops for statutory maintenance from 20 October to 8 November 2026. The market closes on Sundays and the tea shop on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so go on a Monday, Tuesday, Friday or Saturday.

Where
Hakodate
How long
1 day
Stops
7
Distance
6 km · 5.6 km on foot
On the clock
about 12.5 h
Pace
steady
Season
all
Mood
first-time · sea · night
See it on the map →All routes →Just landed? First 24 hours →

Times are the editor’s plan, not a timetable. ≈ marks our own rough estimate; check the train times before you go.

01what it costs
Day 1¥4,848–¥5,503≈ $33 / €29fares ¥0 · places ¥4,848–¥5,5033 stops not priced yet
Priced so far¥4,848–¥5,503≈ $33 / €29midCovers 4 of 7 stops and the trains · the hotel is not priced

Per person, one adult. Each place’s figure is what its source printed, and the stop names the source and the date; the fares are the operators’ own published figures. Meals and rides with no printed figure are not in the total, and a figure printed more than a year ago says so. Converted at the European Central Bank reference rate of 2026-09-24, not a bank rate.

02the day
  1. はこだて自由市場

    The market cooks and locals use, where visitors are welcome: fish, dried goods and vegetables. Buy the sashimi you like and vinegared rice and make your own bowl on the spot, or grill at the charcoal corner.

    函館市 · Hanako · 75 min

    Hours8:00–17:00 (charcoal grill last order 13:00, tables until 16:00); closed Sundays · Hanako, Aug 2026

    The place →Open in maps ↗
  2. Walk≈31 min · 1.9 km
  3. MORIHICO. 函館元町

    In part of the old Jinju Life Insurance building. The Hakodate Motomachi blend lets you choose how much coffee and how strong, ¥748 to ¥803; the fruit cube sandwich is ¥1,276.

    函館市 · Hanako · 45 min¥748–¥803per personas printed by Hanako July 2

    Hours10:00–18:00 (last order 17:30); open every day · Hanako, Jul 2026

    The place →Open in maps ↗
  4. Walk≈3 min · 0.1 km
  5. ヤマザキ洋服店

    Salt ramen and nothing else, with nine tenths of the ingredients from Hokkaido. The shio ramen is ¥1,300; the scallop egg-over-rice ¥600, eaten three ways.

    函館市 · Hanako · 45 min¥1,300–¥1,900per personas printed by Hanako August 2

    Hours11:00–15:00 and 16:00–19:00, all day Friday to Sunday; last order 30 minutes before closing; open every day · Hanako, Aug 2026

    The place →Open in maps ↗
  6. Walk≈29 min · 1.7 km
  7. ティーショップ夕日

    A wooden former quarantine station with a counter along the window over Hakodate bay, ferries and freighters going by. The rare cheesecake set with tea or coffee is ¥1,000.

    函館市 · Hanako · 75 min¥1,000per personas printed by Hanako July 2

    Hours12:00 to sunset; closed Wednesdays and Thursdays · Hanako, Jul 2026

    The place →Open in maps ↗
  8. Walk≈24 min · 1.5 km
  9. Mount Hakodate Ropeway 函館山ロープウェイ

    Up the mountain as the city lights come on. ¥1,800 an adult return, ¥1,200 one way.

    Hakodate Mount Ropeway · 90 min¥1,800per personas printed by Hakodate Mount Ropeway September 25checked 2026-09-25

    HoursFrom 1 October: 10:00, last car up 20:30, last down 21:00; suspended 20 October to 8 November 2026 for statutory maintenance · 334.co.jp, checked 25 Sep 2026

    Source ↗Open in maps ↗

    Plan BClosed 20 October to 8 November 2026: see the bay from the tea shop's window instead.

  10. Walk≈7 min · 0.4 km
  11. ozigi brewing 函館麦酒醸造所

    A brewery in the warehouse of a liquor shop from the end of the Taisho era, opened by a Hakodate native to brew in his home town.

    函館市 · Hanako · 90 min

    Hours17:00 (14:00 on weekends and holidays) to 22:00; open every day · Hanako, Aug 2026

    The place →Open in maps ↗
  12. Walk≈3 min · 0.0 km
  13. T9 HAKODATE

    The fishery co-operative's hall of 1920, its curved modern front kept, is now a hotel of five rooms, each named for Hakodate: Gunjo for the night view and the sea, Midori for the mountain's new leaves.

    函館市 · HanakoBooking requiredThe place →Open in maps ↗
See it on the map →
03the map
This route on our map7 stops · 6 kmOpen the map →
04if it rains, or it is shut
  1. 5. Mount Hakodate Ropeway 函館山ロープウェイ

    Closed 20 October to 8 November 2026: see the bay from the tea shop's window instead.

05where to sleep
Where to sleepT9 HAKODATE

The fishery co-operative's hall of 1920, its curved modern front kept, is now a hotel of five rooms, each named for Hakodate: Gunjo for the night view and the sea, Midori for the mountain's new leaves.

The placeOpen in maps ↗Trip.com ↗
06music for the way
Music for the way
For the morningOpen in Spotify ↗
By the seaOpen in Spotify ↗
For the nightOpen in Spotify ↗
07the editor

Sora Nakamura was born in Kanazawa, grew up between a fish market and a grandmother's kitchen, and spent her twenties cooking in Tokyo, Lyon and Melbourne before she put down the knife to write. Back in Tokyo since 2019, she keeps a spreadsheet of every place she has eaten at since 2011 and a bicycle she rides to most of them. She writes routes, not rankings, and believes the best restaurant in any town is the one that has been open long enough to have a regular who died there.