If you choose to go by train from Sapporo, you can either take the Furano Lavender Express from Sapporo to Furano – or the limited express train from Sapporo to Asahikawa. That is where you change to the local Furano train which winds slowly through the landscape. The Lavender Express is faster and direct – probably ideal for returning to Sapporo in the evening – and lets you explore the valley next to the Takisato Lake and follows the course of the Sorachi River between the mountains before joining the north-south-bound Hakodate Line.