APA Hotel Sapporo Susukino-Ekinishi

Rooms and decor

APA Hotel Sapporo Susukino-Ekinishi is a 3-star business hotel from APA Hotel, the Japanese chain that runs more than 700 properties nationwide. It opened in 2012 with 236 rooms. Standard rooms run roughly 13 to 17 sqm — compact in classic APA style, with everything sized just-right for one traveler or a couple. You get a work desk, a fridge, a kettle, a large-screen TV and a bathroom with a smart toilet. The front desk runs 24 hours and there is a self check-in kiosk to trim the queue.

Food and amenities

This is a working APA business hotel through and through. The lobby has vending machines for both drinks and snacks, plus a coin laundry and dryer that earn their keep on multi-night stays. There is a breakfast buffet in the ground-floor restaurant (charged separately), free Wi-Fi throughout, free luggage storage, and the APA Card points scheme that regulars already use. Real-guest scores land around 8.3 on Trip.com and 8.2 on Agoda.

Location and getting there

The hotel sits at Minami 4-jo Nishi 7 on the western side of Susukino. It is about a 5-minute walk from exit 4 of Susukino station on the Namboku line. What wins food-focused travelers over is that you are only a few minutes' walk from Sapporo Ramen Yokocho, the legendary alley that gathers Hokkaido's original miso-ramen shops. From here it is roughly 400 metres to the covered Tanukikoji shopping street, about 900 metres to Nijo Market, and around 1.5 km to JR Sapporo station.

Things to know before booking

Two honest caveats. First, this carries the lowest guest score in our roundup at about 8.3 — still solid, but a notch under the others here. Second, the rooms are small in typical APA fashion, so this is a stay you pick for location and price rather than space. It also sits on the western edge of the district, which puts Tanukikoji a touch further off than the more central picks. The breakfast buffet is an add-on, not included, so budget for it if you want it.

Our take

APA Hotel Sapporo Susukino-Ekinishi is the right call for ramen pilgrims and anyone who wants a familiar Japanese business brand in Susukino at an accessible price. What we like is that a few minutes out of the lobby drops you into the original ramen alley to work your way through one shop after another. Rooms start near $40 a night — pick it if you value being close to the ramen and do not mind a compact room.