Two boutique hotels in Hokkaido, UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Sapporo and UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Otaru, are offering Christmas-only stay plans for the period from December 1 (Tuesday) to December 25 (Friday), 2026. Bookings open on November 4 (Wednesday), 2026. Both hotels are part of LIVELY HOTELS, a collection of boutique and lifestyle hotels across Japan.
A Cozy White Christmas in a Hokkaido Boutique Hotel
Built around the concept of a boutique hotel that draws guests into a world apart from everyday life, UNWIND HOTEL & BAR offers Christmas stay plans inspired by "JULEHYGGE," a Nordic way of spending Christmas. The word combines "HYGGE," which describes the warm, comfortable atmosphere that comes from time spent with others, and "JUL," meaning Christmas. Each hotel puts its own spin on the idea, so couples and close friends can spend unhurried time together in their room, away from the crowds.
UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Sapporo gives guests the feel of a lodge deep in the mountains and the ease of home, right in the middle of Sapporo. UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Otaru is a classic Hokkaido hotel reborn with a contemporary sensibility.
UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Sapporo: Christmas Surrounded by Warm Wood
Christmas Decoration and Dinner Stay Plan
This plan recreates the JULEHYGGE way of spending Christmas, decorating a tree in a warm room and slowly enjoying a home-style meal, inside the guest room. The room is decorated with a Nordic Christmas theme, using white as an accent to suggest falling snow, and the wood-toned interior adds warmth. Guests can decorate a Christmas tree, read a book with a warm drink, and enjoy a Christmas dinner delivered by room service at a time of their choosing.
The dinner has five dishes popular at Christmas in the Nordic countries:
- Rosolli: a colorful diced root vegetable salad with beets and carrots, served with yogurt sauce
- Flæskesteg: roast pork, a Danish Christmas staple
- Fisk gratin: a gratin of salmon layered over mashed potatoes
- Beef stew pot pie: a hearty, chunky beef stew wrapped in golden pie crust, a welcome treat in the cold season
- Kladdkaka: a Swedish chocolate cake served with berries and cream
The dishes are prepared over time in the hotel kitchen. Guests warm them in the toaster provided in every room and eat them freshly heated. Watching the food warm up, smelling the aroma filling the room, raising a toast, and chatting are all part of the evening.
Dinner menu
- Rosolli (diced root vegetable salad) with yogurt sauce
- Fisk gratin (salmon and mashed potato gratin)
- Flæskesteg (roast pork)
- Beef stew pot pie
- Kladdkaka
Served with bread (campagne) and sparkling wine (can be changed to a non-alcoholic drink).
Plan overview
- Plan: Christmas Decoration & Dinner Plan: A heartwarming white Christmas and dinner with someone special (breakfast with soup of the day included). Double rooms only
- Period: December 1 (Tuesday) to December 25 (Friday), 2026
- Price: from ¥22,800 for 2 guests per room
- Booking: Reserve here
Set your preferred stay date on or after December 1 (Tuesday) to check availability.
Plans with only the room decorations or only the Christmas dinner are also available.
Room Decoration Stay Plan
- Plan: Christmas Decoration Room: A heartwarming white Christmas with someone special (breakfast with soup of the day included)
- Period: December 1 (Tuesday) to December 25 (Friday), 2026
- Price: from ¥15,800 for 2 guests per room
Notes:
- This plan is for double rooms only.
- Dinner is not included.
- Set your preferred stay date on or after December 1 (Tuesday) to check availability.
Christmas Dinner Stay Plan
- Plan: Christmas Dinner Plan: A heartwarming Nordic Christmas dinner with someone special (breakfast with soup of the day included)
- Period: December 1 (Tuesday) to December 25 (Friday), 2026
- Price: from ¥17,500 for 2 guests per room
Notes:
- Room decorations and the Christmas tree are not included.
- Set your preferred stay date on or after December 1 (Tuesday) to check availability.
UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Otaru: Christmas Filled with the Scent of Fresh Greenery
Mini Christmas Tree Kit Stay Plan
In keeping with the hygge spirit, this plan lets two guests build small Christmas trees together in their room. Branches of blue ice, himuro cedar, eucalyptus, and other greenery are bundled together and finished with dried nankinhaze (Chinese tallow) and small pinecones. Beyond the fun of making the trees, the scent of greenery fills the room.
Guests can pour a favorite wine into the wine glasses in the room, sip it slowly, line up the two trees to compare their different looks, or give them to each other as presents. The finished trees can be taken home. During the stay they can be displayed on the doorknob or the table, and at home the lingering scent of the greenery keeps the memory of the trip alive.
Plan overview
- Plan: Limited Time: A small forest-scented Christmas tree kit to make together (high tea-style breakfast included)
- Period: December 1 (Tuesday) to December 25 (Friday), 2026
- Price: from ¥17,000 for 2 guests per room
- Booking: Reserve here
Notes:
- The kit makes two mini trees, each about 10 to 15 cm tall.
- Set your preferred stay date on or after December 1 to check availability.
Christmas Offerings Open to Non-Guests
Limited-Time Christmas Cocktails at Both Hotels
Bar Ignis Sapporo, on the 10th floor of UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Sapporo, and Bar Ignis Otaru, on the 1st floor of UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Otaru, will serve two Christmas cocktails from December 1 (Tuesday) to December 25 (Friday), 2026. A shime-parfait (a parfait to end the night) is also available at the Otaru bar only.
24 Windows (¥1,500, tax included), left in the photo
This cocktail is inspired by the baked sweets associated with Christmas. It combines sweetness and toasty flavors with notes of spice, fruit, and nuts. It is meant to bring the excitement of opening an advent calendar each day as Christmas approaches in December.
Glögg (¥1,100, tax included), right in the photo
This drink recreates the hot wine popular in the Nordic countries, using an authentic recipe. It has the rich flavor of Hokkaido linden honey and a herb-like freshness, finished with hazelnuts, raisins, and almonds for added texture. The hotel suggests it as a way to warm up after a walk around Sapporo or Otaru.
Shime-Parfait "Noël Blanc Parfait" (¥1,700, tax included), Bar Ignis Otaru only
A pure white strawberry parfait inspired by a white Christmas in Hokkaido. Tart strawberries and house-made scones are paired with cream made with Hokkaido yogurt. Crisp white chocolate adds texture, and a hint of lavender adds a floral aroma. It makes a sweet finish to an evening spent walking through snowy Otaru.
Bar Ignis Sapporo
Hours: 6:30 PM to 11:30 PM (last order 11:00 PM)
The top-floor bar of the hotel is known for its large fire pit and fireplace. On the snowy rooftop terrace, guests can warm themselves around the fire while listening to it crackle, or toast marshmallows. Inside, guests can sit by the fireplace, enjoy the warmth of the wood interior, and hum along to the Christmas carols playing throughout the building.
Bar Ignis Otaru
Hours: 7:30 PM to 11:30 PM (last order 11:00 PM)
This lobby bar is known for its beautifully lit back shelf. At the counter, guests can chat with the bartender, and the sofa seats are a place to view works at UNWIND GALLERY, which displays works by artists with ties to Hokkaido.
From December 1 to 25, a Christmas tree about 3 meters tall, made to suit the high ceiling of the lobby, will stand in the space. Guests can enjoy the tree and the Christmas songs playing throughout the building.
Three-Day-Only Candlelit Christmas Dinner (UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Otaru Only)
The Ball Otaru, the restaurant inside UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Otaru, will serve a Christmas dinner on just three days, combining French technique and Hokkaido ingredients in a high tea style. The three-tier high tea stand, popular at the hotel's breakfast, holds appetizers such as low-temperature roasted domestic duck loin, chilled Ezo abalone steamed in white wine, and Otaru cod brandade. Mains include Hokkaido flounder vapeur and Hokkaido beef fillet steak with foie gras Rossini.
The restaurant has stained glass with a history of about 90 years or more, with a snowy landscape beyond it. Guests can enjoy dishes made with local ingredients in a room lit by flickering candles.
Christmas dinner menu
High tea:
- Amuse: Otaru cod brandade, gizzard confit
- Entrée froide: Ezo abalone steamed in white wine and served cold, with basil flavor, four-cheese sauce, and colorful vegetables garden style
- Entrée chaude: low-temperature roasted domestic duck loin, house-made pickles, orange sauce
- Soupe: Hokkaido mushroom consommé baked in pastry
- Poisson: Hokkaido flounder vapeur with root vegetable noodles and saffron sauce made with Otaru Wine Niagara
- Viande: Hokkaido beef fillet steak with foie gras Rossini, truffle sauce, and warm vegetables
- Dessert: the hotel's special Christmas dessert and coffee
- Pain: baguette from a long-established Otaru bakery
Dinner overview (non-guests are also welcome)
- Course: 2026 Christmas Dinner: Special High Tea-Style Course for December 23, 24, and 25 Only
- Dates: December 23 (Wednesday) to December 25 (Friday), 2026
- Seatings: reservation required. First seating at 5:30 PM or 6:00 PM, second seating at 7:30 PM or 8:00 PM
- Price: ¥14,000 per person (tax included)
- Pairing wine (per person): ¥4,000 with advance reservation, ¥5,000 when ordered on the day (tax included)
- Stay plans:
- Christmas Special Dinner 2026, high tea-style breakfast included
- Christmas Special Dinner 2026 and 3 pairing wines, high tea-style breakfast included
- Stay plan booking: Reserve here
Set one of December 23, 24, or 25 as your preferred stay date to check availability.
About the Hotels
UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Sapporo
UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Sapporo is a boutique hotel with a new concept. It recreates the world of a lodge in a city hotel in Sapporo, which removes the inconvenience of access and meals that a lodge stay can involve. With hotel-level specs and service, it offers a stress-free stay that keeps only the lodge's pure appeal: a sense of escape from daily life and the comfort of home.
Facility name: UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Sapporo
Address: 289-111 Minami 8-jo Nishi 5-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido
Access: 4-minute walk from Nakajima-koen Station on the Namboku Line
Website: https://www.livelyhotels.com/unwindsapporo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unwind_hotel_sapporo/
UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Otaru
The building was constructed in 1931 as the former Ecchuya Hotel (旧越中屋ホテル), Hokkaido's first hotel exclusively for foreign guests. During the war it served as an officers' club for the army, and after the war it was requisitioned by the U.S. military. Designated a historic building by Otaru City and included in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "Modern Industrial Heritage Group 33" (近代化産業遺産群33), it was restored after several years. After a bold renovation made possible by its long closure, it reopened as a boutique hotel with a contemporary sensibility, while keeping the atmosphere and architectural beauty of the historic building. The hotel's mission is to create a place for organic exchange between the community and travelers, serving as a medium between the two while valuing what is passed on from past to present.
Facility name: UNWIND HOTEL & BAR Otaru
Address: 1-8-25 Ironai, Otaru, Hokkaido
Access: About 35 minutes by JR Hakodate Main Line from Sapporo Station to Otaru Station, then a 10-minute walk from Otaru Station to the hotel
Website: https://www.livelyhotels.com/unwindotaru/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unwind_hotel_otaru
