Apart from the picturesque town itself full of souvenir and gift opportunities, Hakodate's premier attractions is the cable car (known as Hakodate Ropeway) for spectacular views from Mount Hakodate which overlooks the bay and surrounding verdant hillsides known to be breadbasket agricultural areas for Japan. Bus route 4 from outside the main JR train station will take you to the mount and cable car for sightseeing.
Around Hakodate you will notice statues, plaques and illustrations of Squid which is the adopted symbol of the city. Live squid are sold fresh from display tanks outside the many seafood stalls. Take a moment to observe the beautiful morphing colours of a live Squid, it really does wear ‘it's heart on it’s sleeve’ and you can almost sense what it’s thinking: ironically it’s also delicious deep fried with mayo! King crabs are aplenty too so bring your favourite nutcrackers.
Also on the Hakodate menu are other colourful sea based delicacies but it seems that salmon roe (ikura) are the top of the list here because most of the window displayed dishes topped with those little salty orange snappy delights. If you’re not a fishy person then I would definitely recommend ramen as Hakodate is well known for it.
Hakodate has a fairly old world feel in the centre and the electric tram cars and overhead cables lend a quaint yesteryear look. Saying that, it does have all the mod-cons including a direct bullet train connection and the JR rain station proudly advertises the latest addition to the shinkansen family which I fondly call the ‘green pointy missile nose one’ (OK... E6 Series)
Hakodate was a great port stop on my cruise adventure on the Costa Victoria. There are many areas and excursions available in the local area including:
