Chitose

Chitose is the gateway city of Hokkaido, home to New Chitose Airport, where most visitors to Japan's northern island first touch down. It sits on a plain south of Sapporo, but its western edge climbs into Shikotsu-Toya National Park, which gives the city far more scenery than airport towns usually manage.

Lake Shikotsu is the prize, a caldera lake ranked among the clearest in Japan, ringed by forested volcanoes and edged with lakeside hot springs. In autumn, salmon crowd up the Chitose River, and the Salmon Hometown Aquarium lets you watch the run through underwater windows set into the riverbank.

Winter brings a festival of frozen sculptures to the Shikotsu lakeshore, lit in color after dark. Most travelers use Chitose as a first or last night before a flight, and the lake makes that stopover feel like a proper trip. Rental cars and buses cover the short run from the airport.