**Day 1: Arrival**
* Arrival in Osaka (KIX)
* Check in hotel, get dinner
**Day 2: Osaka -> Fukuoka**
* Transit to Fukuoka (\~ 3hr)
* Ohori Park
* Canal City
* Rent a car just to see Hamanoura Rice Terrace (doable???). Return it afterwards.
* Come back in the evening to eat at Yatai
**Day 3: Fukuoka -> Nagasaki -> Kagoshima**
* Transit to Nagasaki (\~2 hr)
* Atomic Bomb Museum + Peace Park
* Sanno Shrine
* Chinatown & Dejima
* Nagasaki -> Kagoshima (\~3.5 hr)
**Day 4: Kagoshima -> Yakushima**
* Early morning ferry to Yakushima
* Rent a car, hike Shiratani Usuinkyo
**Day 5: Yakushima**
* Hike Jomon-sugi- any thoughts on this hike and whether its worth the commitment? By commitment I mean peeing and pooping in a bag. And overloading my travel buddy with hikes…
**Day 6: Yakushima -> Ibusuki**
* Drive around, return car.
* Yakushima -> Ibusuki ferry
* Ibusuki onsen & sand bath
**Day 7: Ibusuki -> Kirishima**
* Would like to rent a car before Kirishima but don’t know where’s a good place to pick one up
* Hike in Kirishima (recs appreciated)
**Day 8: Kirishima -> Takachiho -> Kurokawa Onsen**
* Transit to Takachiho
* Takachiho Gorge
* Kurokawa Onsen
**Day 9: Kurokawa Onsen -> Mt Aso -> Yufuin**
* If open: Hike Nekodake and Takadake, or Mt Kishima (recs and info on Mt Aso open status appreciated)
* Kuju Flower Park
* Yufuin Onsen
**Day 10: Yufuin -> Hiroshima/Miyajima**
* Ditch car somewhere, public transit to Hiroshima/Miyajima
* Depending on tide situation, go to Miyajima, else hang out in Hiroshima
**Day 11: Hiroshima/Miyajima**
* Miyajima or Hiroshima depending on previous day
* transit to Kyoto
**Day 12: Kyoto**
* Uji, Arashiyama, or Nara
**Day 13: Kyoto Free Day (as requested by my travel buddy)**
**Day 14: Kyoto -> Home**
* Morning in Kyoto, fly home
Not our first time in Kyoto or Osaka, just would be nice to see some more things in Kyoto especially because we chose to fly from KIX.
Will be my first time renting a car in Japan, which I’m a bit nervous about because I’m used to very wide roads and driving on the opposite side… Japanese lanes are so narrow! Also wondering if we should get a car for the whole trip as opposed to three separate rentals, but don’t know how to fully utilize it.
Help on the Kyushu leg would be much appreciated. Could potentially put Day 12 as padding for more time in Kyushu instead. Thoughts on more time in Fukuoka vs Nagasaki?
3 comments
>Day 2: Osaka -> Fukuoka
Transit to Fukuoka (~ 3hr)
Ohori Park
Canal City
Rent a car just to see Hamanoura Rice Terrace (doable???). Return it afterwards.
Come back in the evening to eat at Yatai
Day 3: Fukuoka -> Nagasaki -> Kagoshima
Transit to Nagasaki (~2 hr)
Atomic Bomb Museum + Peace Park
Sanno Shrine
Chinatown & Dejima
Nagasaki -> Kagoshima (~3.5 hr)
Just these two days are super busy so Assuming the rest are just as bad.
Day 2, even if you leave at 7am from Osaka, you arrive at 10am, an hour for Ohori, an hour for Canal City, an hour for lunch puts you at 1pm to then rent a car and drive an hour and a half, see the rice paddies, then drive back an hour and a half. Call it getting back at 6:30pm by the time you have everything returned and checked into your hotel,
You could technically do it, but on day 2 with potential jet lag and delays? Then to travel(by different method) to nagasaki the next morning..
To me, it would make more sense to head to Nagasaki after the rice paddy and save a whole lot of travel time. It’s still a lot of travel in 1 day, but at least the next morning is a bit easier.
If you are traveling on Golden Week, make sure you have all your accomodation booked in advance, and probably the car rentals as well.
For the Osaka – Fukuoka trip, you can save some (day)time by taking the overnight Meimon Taiyo ferry. They have 2 sailings per day, it’d be ideal to catch the 2nd sailing to give you more time in Osaka. Not sure how long your flight into KIX is / jet lag issues, but that would require taking the ferry on Day 1 instead of sleeping over at Osaka.
Day 3 is extremely busy. You probably won’t have time do do anything in Kagoshima (ex: Sengan en).
For Yakushima, I wasn’t able to hike Jomon Sugi as it was closed off due to snow, but I understand there are toilets available on the trail (remember this is a very popular hike undertaken by people of all ages, including kids). I assume you will be starting from the Arakawa trailhead.
I had a nice time being lazy in Yakushima if your travel buddy isn’t up for it and you all need a slow day. We stayed in an amazing cabin called Umi no Tida, owned by a couple, one of whom was a chef. Had the best okonomiyaki of my life at Komorebi – the tomato okonomiyaki is FIRE. We didn’t do the BIG hike but there are smaller hikes that are just gorgeous. Yakushima is amazing and worth taking it slow to just enjoy.