Hakodate Morning Market

Top choice in Hokkaidō


With crabs grilling over hot coals, freshly caught squid packed tightly in ice-stuffed styrofoam and the sing-song call of vendors, Hakodate Morning Market does a fantastic impression of an old-time seafood market – though the visitors today are tourists not wholesale buyers. (The commercial market that was here originally has since moved to a bigger space.)


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Hokkaidō attractions

1. Future Center Hakodate

0.23 MILES

This interesting multimedia center has displays mainly aimed at a young crowd, but it is worth stopping at for the events, videos, performances, and…

2. Red-brick Warehouse District

0.54 MILES

These early-20th-century red-brick warehouses on the waterfront are the legacy of Hakodate's status as a historic, international trade port. They've been…

3. Hakodate Museum of Northern Peoples

0.71 MILES

Inside the old Japan Bank building (1926), this museum has interesting exhibitions (labelled in English) about Ainu culture and also some of the other…

4. Old British Consulate

0.82 MILES

From 1913 to 1934, this whitewashed mansion served as the British consulate. You can see the restored interior and have tea (¥540) on the ground floor.

5. Orthodox Church

0.86 MILES

Dating from 1916, this Russian Orthodox church is adorned with distinctive copper domes and spires. It's still in use by the 300 or so (mostly elderly)…

6. Hakodate-yama

1.35 MILES

Mention you've been to Hakodate and every Japanese person you know will ask if you took in the night view from atop Hakodate-yama (334m) – it's that…

7. Foreigners' Cemetery

1.42 MILES

Along the bay, on the western fringe of town (where few visitors venture) is the small, grassy cemetery that contains the graves of sailors, clergy and…

8. Goryō-kaku Tower

2.24 MILES

Take the elevator to the observatory atop this 98m-tall tower to see the star-shaped footprint of Goryō-kaku-kōen. There are also displays on the history…