yestravel

We are planning a trip back to Japan in October for ~a month. We want to return to Tokyo for about 5 days and return for ~4 days in Kyoto. We will fly home from Osaka where we will spend 2 nights. The rest of the time ~18 days I want to spend in Kyushu. Looking for suggestions of what you loved in Kyushu. We are comfortable renting a car to explore and want to stay at a couple ryokans. We enjoy hiking, exploring towns, museums and soaking in the culture. Thanks for your thoughts.

mrwunrfl

Kyushu for 18 days? Yay! I Kyushu.

Loved:
Fukuoka - have been there at least four times. It is a comfortable city, somehow.
Matsumoto - the castle is a gem and I loved the train ride from there up to Beppu, pretty and green (it was on the train that does a switchback to get up a mountain)
Takachiho for a few reasons that I can explain.

Other places I have visited and can comment on: Nagasaki, Ibusuki, Kirishima Onsen, Miyazaki, Aso, Beppu.

I travel by rail and bus in Japan. Visits to Kirishima (hiking) and Takachiho would be better by car.

My Kyushu to do list, in order:
Unzen Onsen and Shimabara Peninsula
Kurokawa Onsen or other onsen town in that area (car would be good for this)
Saga and/or the other two nearby places famous for pottery
Return to Nagasaki
Actually stay in Kagoshima and visit Sakurajima

yestravel

Thank you so much! I will check out the places that I am not familiar with.
how much time would you stay in Fukuoka? Nagasaki?

Where is Matsumoto castle? Am I confusing it and it’s in Kyushu? Thanks!

mrwunrfl

It is in eastern Japan.

I meant Kumamoto! It is also a gem.

I would say two full days for each of those cities would be necessary.
Nagasaki has some unique foreign influences due to history.

yestravel

ah, yes! We visited Masumoto on our last trip-loved it. When I was planning a trip for 2020 Kumamoto was closed due to earthquake damage from 2016. Have you been recently?
so 3 nights=2 full days for Fuk and Nagasaki?

Mara

I have been to Kyushu three times. Most recently two weeks ago when I went to Fukuoka - mainly to see Sumo but also to sightsee for four days there.

I'm not sure what condition Kumamoto castle is in now because of the EQ in 2016 - luckily for me I saw it before then.

A place that mrwunrfl did not mention that I enjoyed was the small town of Usuki and their famous Buddha statues. I traveled only by public transportation and with a car it would be much easier.

In Nagaski I visited Dejima which is a reconstruction of the Dutch trading station - I read recently that there might be another restoration but don't know any more.

yestravel

Thank you,Mara. More to research.

mrwunrfl

IDK the status of Kumamotojo
>>so 3 nights=2 full days for Fuk and Nagasaki
Yes, that is what I meant. Or, on the 3rd night you travel, say Fukuoka to Nagasaki (there used to be, maybe still is, a really nice train on that route, Kamome Limited Express, with wooden floors and leather(ish) seats, but I the shihkansen goes part way now). Or, stay longer, e.g. Saga is a short trip from Hakata station

The Fukuoka airport (FUK) is really convenient to the city and has many destinations. I paid 13,640 yen to fly to Tokyo in business class last month.

Kavey

We did a week only in Kyushu back in 2012, with rental car which allowed us to really enjoy the local landscapes.

We took the shinkansen to Kumamoto (2 nights) and started our Kyushu trip there. Met an online friend there for dinner first night. LOVED the castle and the local town vibe to the city centre.

Drove to Kurokawa Onsen (2 nts) via Takachiho Gorge and Mount Aso - boats weren't running in the gorge because of weather which was a shame but still beautiful to visit, and we loved seeing the volcano.

On leaving there we went to Yufuin (2 nts) but via Usuki to see the Stone buddhas and Samurai district. We also visited Beppu from our Yufuin base. Yufuin's location was stunning, and the drive in and out, but the place itself didn't wow us at all. It was fine as a base though.

Lastly, we drove to Fukuoka (2 nts) via the Nanzo-in Temple reclining Buddha, and spent the rest of our time in Hakata. We did a great pre-organised day tour with a goodwill guide there.

Driving was a HUGE part of the pleasure in this segment for us and we'd like to go back to see the many Kyushu destinations we couldn't fit in.

yestravel

Kavey, thanks so much! One question for now, when you say for Yufin, “the place itself didn't wow us at all. It was fine as a base though.”. Do you mean the town itself or where you stayed?

mrwunrfil, we will probably fly from Tokyo to Fuk and begin our time in Kyushu there. We’ll rent a car and do a loop back to Nagasaki and take the train to Kyoto.Thats my thinking as of now.

Mara

I second Kavey's recommendation of Nanzoin for the reclining Buddha and a goodwill guide tour...did both last month - very interesting and enjoyable!

yestravel

Thank you, Mara! We used a Goodwill Guide on our last trip to Japan. Nanzoin is now on the list..

mrwunrfl

That will work. I will point out that you can fly nonstop to many Kyushu cities from Tokyo Haneda. I think it was a flight I had from HND to Kagoshima that was on a 747 (it was going on to Taiwain or China). I suppose that rental car prices at airports would vary, maybe less at FUK but more at Saga airport. FUK does have subway and bus access, but taxi to the Grand Hyatt was only $20-$25 which is the right price for me for an airport transfer, door-to-door.

I'll suggest going from one foreign trade settlement (Nagasaki) to another on that final leg for those last two nights, particularly if you would be flying from KIX. That would be Kobe and a full day there couid be well spent. (there is a famous onsten town (Arima Onsen) on the other side of the mountain, if you are/become an onsen fan - oh and and could mention Spa World in Osaka for the same reason, and heck Osaka would be good too or maybe you are Kyoto fan). I haven't done it yet, but you can take a boat from Kobe to Kansai Airport. I would spend some time checking out the airport, maybe staying a night at the hotel at the airport.

There is a car ferry from Kumamoto that you can take from the main, eastern, part of Kyushu on the way to Nagasaki. That would put you in Shimabara (see my to-do list above) where you could enjoy hiking, onsen, and some geothermal features, and where a car would be quite useful.

Starting with your "Fukuoka, ... other Kyushu..., Nagasaki" outline, it could be filled in a bit more as "Fukuoka, ... other Kyushu ..., Kumamoto, Shimabara Peninsula, Nagasaki". But, you have lots of options and travel times are not long.

Kavey

Aah sorry, I should have been clearer! Yufuin town itself was a bit uninspiring for me.
It has a little traditional / shopping area which was smaller than expected and was very busy and touristy - this was back in autumn 2013. There's a pretty lake that is more of a large pond.
But I must caveat that we didn't visit the public bath houses for which its known, so perhaps that would have endeared it to us more!
We did love was driving into and out of Yufuin,

Our hotel was the Yufuin Hotel Shuhokan, which was actually fine (and we had a far better dinner on one of our two nights than I expected from the style of hotel). It was <¥20k per night.

yestravel

Mrwurful- great info, Thanks!

kavey, thank you for the clarification. Would you suggest staying in Beppo?

Mara

I just went to Beppu for the well-known Takegawara sand bath - had flown in to Oita from HND - and after continued on to Usuki....

I'm not a big fan of baths and the other things that Beppu seems famous for - at least in comparison to the other places I was planning to visit in Kyushu....

yestravel

Thank you, Mara . Other than the placed you mentioned in your other post, other recs?

mrwunrfl

I loved Beppu Showaen ryokan last month except for one big thing - the meal featured fugu.

I loved the kagura performance at the shrine in Takachiho. Am not sure if it is offered year round. I attended in November which is about when they start having the kagura at farmhouses, all night,over the winter. The hardwood flloor was painful (take a pillow to sit on) but still it was one of the best experiences I have had in Japan. I was the only gaijin and I looked around the room, the pleasant people, the performance and thought "oh, hey, I am definitely in Japan now". Hard to describe why I enjoyed it so much, so YMMV.

There is a hike up from the start of the gorge walk to the shrine. It starts off innocent enough but I skipped it thinking that it must get quite steep. I walked the gorge the wrong way, from the bridge, with most people going the other way. It would have been easier to get a taxi back if I had been dropped off at the usual starting point.

I had a sand bath in Ibusuki years ago. It was raging hot and I could not stand it for long.

There are several scenic train rides in Kyushu.

japan-guide has good bit about hiking in Japan It mentions Kirishima.

Mara

I took a special train, Umisachi Yamasachi, from Miyazaki, to the castle town of Obi - the castle is no longer but there are several places to visit.
https://www.visit-kyushu.com/en/spots/obi-castle-town/

I ditto mrwunrfl about the Kagura at the Takachiho Shrine. A really fun performance!

mrwunrfl

Good to hear you liked that kagura performance. I took JR from Miyazaki to Obi. Stopped on the way back at a little island that you can walk to. Fun day. There are quite a few scenic trains in Kyushu.