Element, Nakafurano

Four rooms, a farmhouse silhouette, and a small onsen tucked inside a boutique hotel that sits between lavender country and the Furano ski slopes, depending on the season. The Michelin Guide has it among their selected hotels, and it's easy to see why: intimate enough that the husband-and-wife team knows your name before you check in, contemporary enough that nothing about it feels folksy by accident.