Hokkaidō

Hokkaido's cities give the island its urban anchor. Sapporo, the capital, is young, grid-planned and easy to enjoy — the Odori Park spine, the historic clock tower and the TV tower, the nightlife and ramen alleys of Susukino, and the original Sapporo Beer garden and museum. Its world-famous Snow Festival in early February fills Odori Park with enormous, intricately carved snow and ice sculptures lit up after dark. A short train ride away, Otaru is a romantic small port of a gas-lamp-lined canal, restored stone warehouses, glassware and music-box workshops, and excellent sushi. In the south, Hakodate rewards with one of Japan's celebrated night views — the glittering hourglass of the city seen from the Mount Hakodate ropeway — a bustling morning market piled with crab and uni, the historic Motomachi slopes of heritage buildings, and the star-shaped Goryokaku fort, spectacular under cherry blossom or autumn colour.

Hokkaido is a global byword for powder snow. Cold, dry air sweeping across the Sea of Japan dumps enormous volumes of exceptionally light, fluffy snow on the island's mountains, and Niseko — on the slopes of Mount Yotei in the west — has become one of the world's most famous powder-ski resorts, with reliable deep snow, night skiing, backcountry and a lively international village. Furano, Rusutsu, Kiroro and Sapporo's own Teine offer more of the same with fewer crowds. The winter experience is more than the slopes: the deep onsen (hot-spring) culture of the island means soaking in steaming outdoor baths while snow falls is part of every ski day, and the Sapporo Snow Festival, Otaru's snow-light path and the drift ice on the Okhotsk coast add to the season. Winter runs roughly December to March, with the best, driest powder in January and February.

In summer Hokkaido transforms. The rolling central hills around Furano and Biei become Japan's most famous flower landscape — striped fields of lavender, poppies, sunflowers and lupins (the Farm Tomita lavender fields are the icon) beneath a cool, dry, clear sky, with the patchwork farmland and lone trees of Biei making it a photographer's favourite. The cool climate that makes Hokkaido a flower destination also makes it the country's summer escape from the heat and humidity that grip the rest of Japan in July and August, with cycling, hiking and farm-fresh produce. Autumn, from late September, arrives here first in Japan, painting the mountains — especially Daisetsuzan — in early, brilliant colour. The melon, asparagus, corn and dairy of the central farms, eaten at roadside stands, are a delicious part of the warmer-season trip.

Hokkaido's wilderness is its greatest gift. Daisetsuzan National Park, the island's vast mountainous core, is Japan's largest national park — a roadless interior of volcanic peaks, alpine plateaus and hot springs, reached via the Asahidake ropeway, and the first place in the country to colour in autumn. Far to the north-east, the Shiretoko Peninsula is a UNESCO World Heritage wilderness of bears, Steller's sea eagles, waterfalls and, in late winter, drift ice that floats down from the Sea of Okhotsk and can be walked on with a guide. In the south-west, the Shikotsu-Toya area gathers caldera lakes and a string of famous hot-spring resorts, including Noboribetsu, whose steaming, sulphurous 'Jigokudani' (Hell Valley) feeds some of Japan's most characterful baths. Add the cranes and lakes of eastern Kushiro, the volcanic cone of Mount Yotei, and the Ainu cultural park of Upopoy near Lake Shiraoi, and Hokkaido offers nature and hot-spring travel on a scale found nowhere else in Japan.