Hokkaido

Start with the distances

Planning Hokkaido starts with a sense of scale. Most flights land at New Chitose Airport (新千歳空港), about 33–40 minutes from Sapporo by JR. From there, it's easiest to think in travel time from Sapporo: • Otaru — about 33–46 min by JR • Noboribetsu Station — about 1 hr 15 min by limited express • Asahikawa — about 1 hr 25 min (change here for Biei) • Furano — about 2 hr 35 min • Hakodate — about 3 hr 45 min to 3 hr 56 min by limited express • Niseko — about 2 hr 10 min by car Try to fit two regions into one day and you'll spend most of it staring out a train window. Stay a night in each and move on slowly — that's the pace this island suits.

Sapporo, the starting point

Sapporo (札幌) is the base camp for most trips around the island. If you had to sum the city up in one scene, it'd be Odori Park (大通公園) in February. The Sapporo Snow Festival (さっぽろ雪まつり) that fills it began in 1950, when local junior high and high school students put up six snow statues. The park was where residents used to dump the snow they'd shoveled — and that same snow became the sculptures. For dinner, try jingisukan, lamb grilled on a skillet domed like a helmet, or a soup curry loaded with big chunks of vegetables.

Otaru, where the port lingers

Take the train west from Sapporo, and once the sea fills the window, you're nearly in Otaru (小樽). The Otaru Canal (小樽運河) was completed in 1923, a waterway where small boats ferried cargo in from the harbor. Today it's split between a stretch reshaped into a walking path and the North Canal, which still keeps its original 40-meter width. At dusk, the 63 gas lamps along the stone path light up all at once. The canal is at its loveliest in February. During the Otaru Snow Light Path (小樽雪あかりの路), about 200 candles made from old glass fishing floats sit on the water, and snow lanterns — candles lit inside shaped snow — line the old JNR Temiya Line (手宮線) tracks. Its dates usually overlap with the Sapporo Snow Festival, so one winter trip can take in both.

Biei and Furano, painted by farms

Head south from Asahikawa (旭川) and the rolling hills of Biei (美瑛) and Furano (富良野) begin. The first thing to know: every one of Biei's hills is a farmer's field. Potato blossoms, golden wheat and yellow flowers trade places because of crop rotation, and since soil on your shoes can harm the crops, you stay out of the fields. Furano's lavender has a story, too. Grown for perfume oil, it lost value as cheap imported and synthetic fragrances took over, and more farmers had to plow their fields under, holding back tears. When the fragrance companies stopped buying in 1973, lavender all but vanished from the hills. Then in 1976, a lavender field appeared on a JNR calendar, and visitors started to come. The flowers bloom from late June to early August, with timing that shifts from place to place. The Blue Pond (青い池), about 20 minutes by bus from Biei Station, changes color with the seasons. From late autumn to around April it's lit up every evening (the exact dates shift a little each year), and in deep midwinter, white snow blankets its frozen surface.

Hakodate, an early open port

Near the island's southern tip, Hakodate (函館) opened to free trade with the world in 1859, along with Kanagawa (now Yokohama) and Nagasaki. That era lives on in Motomachi (元町), a hillside neighborhood where Western-style churches and old consulate buildings line the slopes running straight down to the sea. Hakodate Morning Market (函館朝市) began in 1945, just after the war, when farmers from nearby started selling vegetables on a corner of the station plaza. Today about 250 shops fill it, busy with people starting the day over kaisendon topped with salmon roe and sea urchin. At night, head up Mt. Hakodate (函館山). It's about three minutes by ropeway, and from the top the city lights trace a narrow waist of land pinched between two seas.

Hot springs, volcanoes and a name

Southwest of New Chitose Airport, a string of hot spring towns sits on volcanic ground. Noboribetsu's (登別) Jigokudani, or Hell Valley (地獄谷), is an explosion crater about 450 meters across, with steam rising all over. At Noboribetsu Onsen, about 10,000 tons of hot spring water a day well up on their own, from nine types of source — hence its nickname, the "department store of hot springs." Farther west at Lake Toya (洞爺湖), fireworks go up over the water for about 20 minutes every night from late April to around late October. In winter, Niseko (ニセコ) draws skiers chasing powder known as "silky snow." On clear days, Mt. Yotei (羊蹄山), the "Ezo Fuji," rises beyond the slopes. In Shiraoi (白老), between the airport and Noboribetsu, Upopoy (ウポポイ) is Japan's first national museum dedicated to Ainu history and culture. The name Hokkaido dates to 1869 and grew out of 北加伊道, a name put forward by the explorer Matsuura Takeshiro (松浦武四郎). He wrote that "kai" was what the people of this land, the Ainu, called themselves.

Sample itineraries by season

Summer, 6 days (July) Day 1 — New Chitose Airport → Sapporo, jingisukan for dinner Day 2 — Otaru (canal walk → sushi → gas lamps at dusk) Day 3 — Biei via Asahikawa: the hill roads and the Blue Pond; stay in Biei or Furano Day 4 — Furano lavender fields → back to Sapporo Day 5 — Noboribetsu's Hell Valley → a night at an onsen ryokan Day 6 — Upopoy in Shiraoi → New Chitose Airport Winter, 5 days (early February) Day 1 — Arrive in Sapporo → the Snow Festival after dark Day 2 — Otaru Snow Light Path Days 3–4 — Skiing in Niseko or soaking in Noboribetsu Day 5 — Sapporo → New Chitose Airport Adding Hakodate? Give it two extra days so you get both the night view and the morning market.

What to eat

• Jingisukan (lamb grilled on a domed skillet)
• Soup curry (Sapporo)
• Kaisendon (Hakodate Morning Market)
• Ramen (Sapporo miso, Hakodate shio, Asahikawa shoyu)

Handy tips

• Every seat on JR Hokkaido's limited express trains is reserved — there are no unreserved seats. Even with a Hokkaido Rail Pass (sold to non-Japanese passport holders; ¥22,000 for 5 days if bought in advance), get a seat reservation before you board.
• Renting a car in winter? When you book, confirm it has studless tires and carries chains and a jack. Japan's national tourism organization recommends avoiding snow driving as much as you can.
• Hakodate Morning Market opens at 5 a.m. from May to December and 6 a.m. from January to April, and usually closes a little after 2 p.m. (it varies by shop). Have your kaisendon for breakfast.