Biei and Furano

Flower fields and small farms at the base of the Daisetsu-zan mountain range attract thousands of domestic and East Asian visitors hoping to get a taste of the simple country life. Although Western visitors may not be so wowed with lavender farms and potato fields, or the art galleries and cutesy coffee shops that dot the region, it makes an attractive stop-over area while driving to central or east Hokkaido between late May and September. Biei is a small modern village with neighboring rolling hills and a patchwork of crop fields (potato, corn, soba, sunflowers) to cycle around; Furano is a small town famous throughout Japan for its lavender farms and as the setting for a 1970s TV hit drama about city dwellers making a new life in a farming community. There is also a large ski resort.