Hokkaido 7-Day Itinerary — Sapporo, Otaru, Furano, Hakodate

Start the trip without rushing — land at New Chitose Airport and take the train into the city in about 37 minutes. Drop your bags, then stroll the long greenway of Odori Park and stop by the old Clock Tower. At lunch, slurp a bowl of authentic miso ramen, and once evening falls head to Susukino, the entertainment district where neon lights up the whole street. Hunt down some hairy crab or jingisukan (grilled lamb) to close out day one.

Head straight to Nijo Market in the morning for a breakfast bowl of fresh kaisendon (seafood over rice), then tick off the city landmarks — the TV Tower at the end of Odori Park, Hokkaido Shrine, and the Sapporo Beer Museum. As evening comes, ride the ropeway up Mt Moiwa for Sapporo's night view, widely rated as one of the most beautiful city panoramas in Japan.

A half-hour train from Sapporo brings you to this historic port town that once boomed on the herring trade. The highlight is the Otaru Canal, framed by century-old stone warehouses. Wander Sakaimachi Street, packed with glassware shops, music-box stores, and sweet shops. The town is famous for sushi, with a whole "Sushi Street" to choose from. Head back to Sapporo in the evening, or stay a night in Otaru.

Head up into the centre of the island to Furano, the town that turns into rainbow flower fields as far as the eye can see in summer. The star is Farm Tomita, the lavender farm that put Furano on the map nationwide — free to enter, with photogenic rows of purple set against ribbons of rainbow blooms. Try the lavender or Furano-melon soft serve, sweet and refreshing. In winter, Furano becomes a top-class powder-snow ski town.

A short drive north from Furano brings you to Biei, a land of rolling hills nicknamed "patchwork" because its multi-coloured fields line up like stitched cloth. The highlight is the Blue Pond (Aoiike), an almost unreal turquoise pond with dead trees rising from the water — one of the most-shared photo spots in Hokkaido. The water shifts colour with the light and the season, beautiful year-round.

Drop south to Hakodate, a port that opened to the West early on, leaving behind the Motomachi quarter full of churches and Western-style buildings. The highlight everyone talks about is the night view from the summit of Mt Hakodate, where the city narrows into an hourglass shape between two bays — ranked among the top three night views in Japan alongside Kobe and Nagasaki.