Asahikawa Snow Festival

Hello,

I'll be spending 2 nights in Asahikawa to watch the snow festival. I am planning to visit the zoo but I think I have enough time to visit other attractions. I'll be using public transportation (no car rental).

1. Is the Ramen Village worth it? I read that the ramen available there are also available near the station. Is the place itself worth a visit?

2. Seeing as Asahikawa Airport is between Biei and Asahikawa city, I was wondering if there is something to see there in winter. The buses seem to be scarce though...

Any other tips are appreciated. Thanks :)

1. It depends if you like ramen or not. The village is more like place to eat rather than sightseeing. There are like 10 ramen shops. The surrounding area has some shopping like uniqlo.

2. Not much to see in Biei during winter especially if you are not renting car. I would suggest going to sapporo.

Thanks, I saw the Ramen village in google maps street view, and you're right, it seems to be a place to eat more than a place to see. I wouldn't mind going but the trains are infrequent.

I'll arrive in Asahikawa at around 3:00pm and was hoping to sneak in a short sight-seeing side trip (an hour or so perhaps?) before heading to the snow festival.

It seems that Asahiyama Zoo is having a winter light-up event as well, so I'm heading there for the second night of my stay. If i went to the zoo after lunch, and stayed for the light up event in the evening, is it enough time? That would leave me enough time in the morning to visit another place in Asahikawa.

The ice museum looks good. A view of the city would be nice as well..

Any suggestions? ^^
Thanks!

Here is a few things more at asahikawa
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g319103-Activities-Asahikawa_Ho...
http://wikitravel.org/en/Asahikawa

Asahiyama zoo isn't too big as far as I remember. If you arrive around 2pm, it should be plenty of time unless you want to observe every animal for a long time.

Check the time for the Penguins march through the main road of the zoo. I think they have two marches, one in the morning (11:00am) and another one in the afternoon.