internetwiz

It seems like a group of us are planning trips to Kyushu, with different starting points and dates. I'd really like help firming up our itinerary. We are using award miles, with decent flight schedules, flying in and out of KIX, arriving on October 2. I tried to fly into Fukuoka so we wouldn't have to backtrack, but nothing was available. We were in Japan last fall, visiting Nara, Kyoto, Hakone, Kanazawa, Takayama, Kamikochi, Matsumoto and Tokyo.

We enjoy scenic beauty and traditional crafts. I know there will be some castles in the equation, but I'm trying to keep our visits to temples to a minimum. I love to hike, but my husband isn't as mobile, so I can't plan for any kind of all day trek.

This is what I've come up with. If you have suggestions on a better sequence of where to go, or if I haven't devoted enough time anywhere, please let me know. I've added the days in Kyoto as filler days. We loved it there, but hadn't really planned on going back there unless we had the time.

Day 1 – Arrive at KIX early evening (overnight in Osaka, other suggestions for easy access to JR in morning)
Day 2 – Himeji, overnight Kurashiki
Day 3 – Kurashiki
Day 4 – Hiroshima
Day 5 – Miyajima
Day 6 – Fukuoka
Day 7-9 (3 nights) – Nagasaki (this is the same time as Nagasaki Kunchi Festival as well as Sports Day - we went to the Takayama Autumn Festival, so we'd just as soon miss this one)
Day 10 – Kumamoto
Day 11 – Kumamoto
Day 12 – Kurokawa (by bus or rental car)
Day 13 – Kurokawa (want to visit Takachiho Gorge and Mt. Aso)
Day 14 – return to Kumamoto, then train to Kagoshima
Day 15 – Kagoshima
Day 16 – Fly to KIX, Kyoto
Day 17 – Kyoto
Day 18 – Kyoto
Day 19 – Kyoto
Day 20 – Osaka
Day 21 – depart from KIX late afternoon

Thank you in advance for helping me fill in the blanks. I've read most of your trip reports and really appreciate the generous advice you've given in the past. I know I need to start making reservations soon, so I need to get moving.

kalihiwai2

I've been thinking about this itinerary.
For myself IMHO I think it may have a bit too much travel.
The 3/4/5/6 is a lot of moving from place to place.
14/15/16
Unless you rent a car the Takachiho day trip may be a bit of a stretch.
Also the just one day south in Kagoshima would be a little hurried. The time might be better spent in Fukuoka or Kyoto as an extra day, leaving from Fukuoka to KIX.
Editing a trip is really a hard thing to do but it all depends on ones own travel style.
A lot to see in Kyushu but with limited time North Kyushu may be enough, a lot here to see.
http://www.welcomekyushu.com/
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv...ves100706.html
In any case have fun

Kavey

I would agree with Kalihiwai2... I'm not sure it makes sense to include Kagoshima in what is otherwise a north Kyushu itinerary. Better to plan a return visit to see the rest of Kyushu another time. It's what we hope to do some day, after visiting Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Kurokawa and Yufuin/Beppu back in 2013.

Kurashiki to Hiroshima and then to Miyajima looks fine to me but after that I'm not sure the one night in Fukuoka makes a lot of sense, you won't have time to see Fukuoka really plus you'll have to hotfoot it out of Miyajima.

You can readily go from Miyajima (via Hiroshima) directly to Kumamoto, either on no-change train or with one very quick change at Fukuoka.

Then if you move your Kumamoto and Kurokawa time to here (I doubt you'll have time for Takachiho Gorge) and then head on to Nagasaki. Either with the car, or look at where makes sense to return it and then hop onto the train.

I've put your Fukuoka night after Nagasaki, as if you're flying back to Kyoto, it works just as well from there. However, if you skip Fukuoka, you could add one more night following Kurokawa, which might allow you to get to Takachiho Gorge) and then do your three nights in Nagasaki and head directly back to Kyoto.

Oh and you can see I've given you an extra night in Kyoto, because (by my purely personal mileage), it felt too short!

Alt 1:

Day 1 – Arrive at KIX, overnight in area
Day 2 – Himeji, overnight Kurashiki
Day 3 – Kurashiki
Day 4 – Hiroshima
Day 5 – Miyajima
Day 6 - Miyajima
Day 7 – Kumamoto
Day 8 – Kumamoto
Day 9 – Kurokawa (get rental car out of Kumamoto)
Day 10 – Kurokawa (Mount Aso)
Day 11 - Nagasaki
Day 12 - Nagasaki
Day 13 - Nagasaki
Day 14 - Fukuoka
Day 15 - Fly to KIX, Kyoto
Day 16 – Kyoto
Day 17 – Kyoto
Day 18 – Kyoto
Day 19 – Kyoto
Day 20 – Osaka
Day 21 – depart from KIX late afternoon

Alt 2:

Day 1 – Arrive at KIX, overnight in area
Day 2 – Himeji, overnight Kurashiki
Day 3 – Kurashiki
Day 4 – Hiroshima
Day 5 – Miyajima
Day 6 - Miyajima
Day 7 – Kumamoto
Day 8 – Kumamoto
Day 9 – Kurokawa (get rental car out of Kumamoto)
Day 10 – Kurokawa (Mount Aso)
Day 11 - XXX Extra night to allow visit to Takachiho Gorge XXX
Day 12 - Nagasaki
Day 13 - Nagasaki
Day 14 - Nagasaki
Day 15 - Fly to KIX, Kyoto
Day 16 – Kyoto
Day 17 – Kyoto
Day 18 – Kyoto
Day 19 – Kyoto
Day 20 – Osaka
Day 21 – depart from KIX late afternoon

someotherguy

If you are going all the way to Kyushu, I suggest allocating more of your time there. Kagoshima is one of the more interesting towns in Japan and deserves a couple of days. Takachiho (there's both the scenic gorge and the shrine of legend) is an excellent trip. Then there's the stunning Tsujunkyo bridge (actually viaduct), but you need to check the dates as there are only a few discharges per month. If you are interested in crafts, then consider the pottery villages around Onta with the fascinating water-powered clay hammers.

someotherguy

BTW. Japanese domestic flights often don't open for booking until two months before, though international connections usually open at six months. So check back later for the KIX-FUK connections and add them to your FF bookings (shouldn't cost anything).

mrwunrfl

>>Day 16 – Fly to KIX, Kyoto

You mean: Fly to OSA

Use OSA in a fare search to see flights to KIX or to ITM (Osaka Itami airport).

PatrickHarnett

Kagoshima and the south of the island are very nice - my last visit I ran out of time (across three days) to do everything, but I am back this moth for another few days (and also a trip across to Yakushima).

There are some other options around some other parts of your trip that I would do differently (two rather than three days in Hiroshima/Miyajima), and probably skip Fukuoka and add Beppu, and maybe you could do the drive from Beppu via Aso to Kumamoto (it is nice country side - I drove this area in 2013).

mrwunrfl

>>Day 1 – Arrive at KIX early evening (overnight in Osaka, other suggestions for easy access to JR in morning)

A good option is to go from KIX to Kobe (Sannomiya) for the first night. There is a limo bus or you could take a ferry to Kobe Airport and then subway.

Sannomiya to Himeji is only 39 minutes and ¥970 on a JR Rapid train.

If you stay in Kobe then consider visiting here the next morning: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3563.html

It is next to Shin-Kobe station, so after your visit you can take the shinkansen to Himeji though that would be expensive without a JR Pass. Or subway back to Sannomiya and then the JR train.

kalihiwai2

someotherguy ,
Great tip for Onta village ceramics, check out "Folk Art Potters of Japan" if available at library for in depth study of Onta ceramics and Mingei ...(folk art revival movement)
Two of our most prized souvenirs are two Onta cups my wife and I use to split a beer every once and awhile.

I agree about spending time in Kyushu although as a tourist with limited time we want to check off the "big" sights.

One could spend two weeks in any small provincial Japanese town in any prefecture and still not have enough time to sample the food, crafts and sights of that region
I think that is what makes Japan such a good destination.

With the upturn in Japan tourism worldwide it may be a strategy for the long term Japan visitor to explore areas and sights off the more well trod tourism trails.

Internetwiz's three days in Nagasaki could allow for a Unzen, Shimabara day trip, this is is still on my list of want to's, even after spending two days in Nagasaki years ago. Not to mention the south of Kagoshima Satsuma peninsula Mt Kaimon area.
These sights would be less crowded than Miyajima, but not as well known.
What ever your final itinerary have fun and enjoy.

internetwiz

Thank you for all your suggestions. I've rearranged things, spending an extra night in Fukuoka. We will be taking the ferry from Kumamoto to Nagasaki, so we'll stop in Shimabara enroute. We will definitely look into going to Onta, someotherguy, in addition to flying into either Osaka airport. I looked on Peach and they did have October flights posted, but I didn't try to make a booking. I don't think I can add anything to my FF booking without incurring a change fee.

I still am going to explore the viability of going to Kagoshima, but I'm always trying to do too much with our trips, so I will continue to give it some thought.

Besides the Dormy Inn, are there any hotels or ryokans you really loved? Our budget would be about $300 USD/night max (although we'd stretch it for Kurakawa and the other smaller towns).

Thanks in advance.

kalihiwai2

In Kurokawa we stayed at The Sanga Ryokan which was magical.
In Fukuoka we stayed at the Dormy Inn Premium near Canal City
Looking at the trend of tourism in Japan this year I'd suggest you lock in reservations tonight, tomorrow, this week.
Reserve something with easy cancellation and change to a better place if they come available.
October looks to be a popular travel time in Japan this year

Kavey

"In Kurokawa we stayed at The Sanga Ryokan which was magical.
In Fukuoka we stayed at the Dormy Inn Premium near Canal City."

Same here on both. Sanga, definitely magical BUT our meal experience here was less satisfactory than other ryokans we've stayed at, the kitchen was determined to rush us through the courses at breakneck speed, both nights, even though I asked them to slow it down on second night. Consequently, we'd often have dishes queued up on the table with not just one but two dishes brought out while we were still eating a previous one. We are emphatically not slow eaters! That did take the shine off Sanga a little but on the other hand, our hanare room was utterly gorgeous.

And in Kumamoto, we also stayed in a Dormy Inn, great location, decent room, were very happy with it.

internetwiz

Thank you again for all your suggestions. I'm trying to book as many reservations as I can just to have something in place. I've modified our itinerary and would like any input. It's hard to tell how far away places are from the maps I have, so if we're trying to do too much, let me know. I would rather focus on Kyushu for this trip, as it's easier to get back to Kyoto (which we loved). My husband wants to look for knives in Osaka (don't ask), which is the main reason for our stay there (plus it'll be Jidai Matsuri in Kyoto, as we're trying to leave town).

Day 1 – Arrive at KIX (overnight in Kobe)
Day 2 – Kurashiki (stop at Himeji, enroute)
Day 3 – Kurashiki
Day 4 – Hiroshima
Day 5 – Miyajima
Day 6 – Kagoshima (about 4 hours by train)
Day 7 – Kagoshima
Day 8 – Kagoshima
Day 9 – Kumamoto (about 1 hour by train),
Day 10 – Kurokawa (pick up rental car, visit Mt. Aso enroute)
Day 11 – Kurokawa
Day 12 – Kumamoto (via Takachiho Gorge)
Day 13 – Nagasaki (stop at Shimabara enroute)
Day 14 – Nagasaki
Day 15 – Nagasaki
Day 16 – Fukuoka
Day 17 – Fukuoka
Day 18 – Kyoto (train or fly, depending on whether we get JR pass)
Day 19 – Kyoto
Day 20 – Osaka
Day 21 – depart from KIX late afternoon

someotherguy

I believe access to Mt. Aso is somewhat restricted now due to volcanic activity. It'd be best to check.

One of the centers for Japanese knives is Sakai, between Osaka and KIX. There's a Keyhole tomb there, too, and Sen no Rikyu was born there.

internetwiz

Thanks, someotherguy. I know we're at the mercy of the volcano gods in that part of the world, but things could be entirely different by October.

I will have my husband check out the knife information. He dragged me to too many knife shops in Kyoto and Tokyo when we were there last time.

mrwunrfl

You'll be traveling to/from Kurashiki via Okayama. Consider visiting Korakuen and Okayama castle both of which are not far from Okayama station. You can walk, or street car and walk, or taxi to Korakuen. Then visit the castle and short walk to the cute little street car back to the station area.

Kavey

We went to the Knife Museum in Sakai, having read somewhere online that it was a good place to buy knives. I wouldn't recommend it. The knife museum bit was vaguely interesting, but the purchasing options were poor and we gave up in the end. They didn't have anyone available who knew anything at all about the knives on sale. We had a good translation app on the phone which worked very well, but it was more that the three people we spoke to just didn't know much about knives in general let alone the ones they had on sale. Of course they were extremely polite and tried their best to help.

I wish we'd gone instead to one of the recommended knife shops back nearer to central Osaka. Tower Knives I think.

internetwiz

Thanks for your insight, Kavey. We went to several knife stores in Kyoto, but the one my husband liked the best was a smaller, less famous one that was off the beaten path. I'll have him check out Tower Knives.

kalihiwai2

Sorry to be going off topic
I too love shopping Japanese knife stores as well as hardware stores for unique and quality items.
Comparing prices I've found it easier to order via Japanese based storefronts on Ebay, (check ratings, reviews and all shipping fine print).
I use Okatsune pruners and the online prices are very competitive compared to those found in stores in Japanese cities, and if you are buying a knife, saw, sickle,whetstones or other edged tool, having them shipped to you is somewhat easier.
At least shop some of the Ebay Japan storefronts to see what is out there and what is being charged, some great quality specialty items, check out bamboo splitters.

Kavey

Internetwiz, you're welcome. I've not been to Tower Knives but it was the Osaka store I found when researching online, that was recommended.