Traveling to Kumamoto and Nagasaki

11 comments

1. I hope you enjoy your stay in kumamoto there is a lot for you to see first I recommend visiting
   kumamoto castle
   then suizenji garden
   it’s a small old beautiful garden

   after if you like a quiet place and shrines Kamishikimi Kumanoimasu shrine
   is a good place to visit
   nabegataki falls
   is also a beautiful peaceful spot to visit it has a small waterfall there is a small entrance fee but it’s worth it my personal

   favorite tatsuda nature park
   it’s a peaceful beautiful park I recommend visiting early morning between 6-8am it is far away from big crowds and loud noise

   you can take the train or bus to reach most of these spots avoid the taxi they are expensive I hope this helps websites below are travel guides you can use to help your journey enjoy your stay Traveler ＾＾
   https://kumamoto-guide.jp/en/
   https://explore-kumamoto.com/
   http://www.kumamoto-guide.com/

2. [deleted]

3. This is an unrealistic schedule.

   Day 2: There are two pairs of buses a day from Kumamoto to Takachiho Gorge and this means that frankly all you can do is an abbreviated visit to the area – especially since the journey takes three hours. Frankly, even if you would be renting a car – doing Takachiho Gorge and Mt. Aso in a single day would be a stretch (even without hiking).

   Day 3: Kumamoto to Nagasaki via ferry is a four hour trip. Yes, you could get to Nagasaki and see Atomic Bomb Museum, but this would be relatively late in the day.

   Note that with your schedule, I would probably fly into Miyazaki (and stay the first night in Nobeoka) and fly out of either Fukuoka or Nagasaki.

4. Your second day is impossible. Unless you have a car, you’re not doing both Mt. Aso and Takachiho in one day. Even with a car it’d be a stretch as you’d be driving back to Kumamoto on narrow winding roads in close to pitch black.

   If what you’re interested in is hiking, food, and onsens, I would recommend spending your 5 days based in Kagoshima. Sakurajima is a nice gentle walk / “hike”, the black pork in Kagoshima is amazing, and you’re close to the sand onsen to the south and volcanic onsen to the north. Kirishima also has some fantastic hiking trails if you want to make one day a hiking / ryokan day

5. When did they open Japan up for international travel? Do you already live somewhere else in Japan?

   I’ll visit Kyushu for my 3rd trip, so I’m not sure on what advice to give since I don’t know if this will be your first time in Japan ever. I don’t really recommend just going for 2 sort of out of the way cities. If you were going to Fukuoka, then it would be worth going to the smaller cities since you’ll be in the area anyway but you’ll need a car and stay a bit longer.

6. Nagasaki is a great destination, I was there in Spring 2017. It has quite a few interesting sights I can recommend:

   – Atomic bomb museum and peace park – much smaller in scale than the museum in Hiroshima but still worth a visit. Keep in mind that’s it’s a bit out of the way towards the north of the main city area.
   – Dejima open air museum about the Dutch trading post that was there 100s of years ago. I really enjoyed this one, was my main reason for coming to Nagasaki and it didn’t disappoint. (but im Dutch so your experience might be different lol)
   – Mt. Inasayama Observatory (accessible by ropeway) is one of the top 3 night views of japan. There’s a nice restaurant in the observatory where you can eat while it gets dark. They even serve Toruko Rice which is one of the unique dishes served in Nagasaki.
   – Glover Garden and nearby Oura church. The garden was nice in spring but in this time of year there won’t be many flowers. The church looks amazing from the outside, but i didnt go in.

   I haven’t been to huis ten bosch but afaik it’s mostly replicas of buildings in the Netherlands, so if you ever plan on going to the Netherlands you might want to skip it. The roundtrip to Sasebo will take at least 4 hours of your day by itself. (and if you’re going at this time of year there won’t be any flowers)

7. Nagasaki Bio Park and Kyushu Olle Trails!

8. I’ll suggest to rent a girlfriend 😉

9. Kyushu is hard without a car. Is that an option? If you’re gonna go all the way down there and limit yourself to what you’re able to access easily via public transport you’re gonna miss A LOT. Having said that, if you only have 5 days maybe just pick one or two cities that aren’t too far from one another and spend a little more time in each. If you love to hike maybe start in Nagasaki then head up to Fukuoka and catch a flight to Yakushima? It’s pretty cheap to do so.

10. A) How are you getting into the country if you’re a foreigner? 🤔

    B) Only five days is honestly not worth the trip imo. Depending where you’re from… you lose a lot of time during flights, and your jetlag will be longer than five days most likely. So if you are limited to five due to super tight schedule, you’re gonna have a hard time instantly jumping back in to life when you get back home.

11. I went there November last year as a solo traveller. It was my second time in Japan.

    I flew from Tokyo to Nagasaki. Went to the Museum and peace park. I’m a big fan of history and love that stuff. It’s smaller than the Hiroshima Museum and park.

    The Cultural Museum was pretty cool. I got there by walking along the waterway.. I had a headset that played English descriptions of the exhibits. [http://www.nmhc.jp/global/english/index.html](http://www.nmhc.jp/global/english/index.html)

    I went to Glover Park. It was a beautiful hot sunny day and I was there a few hours exploring the buildings and gardens.

    I had a picnic lunch at the waterfront park (forget what it’s called)

    I took the ropeway up the mountain at dusk. Bought a hot chocolate at the vending machine and sat at the viewing platform for a while.

    I didn’t make it to that Dutch Village but if I went again I would make the time.

    I walked a lot, and took the cable car, which is easy and a novelty.

    ​

    I wanted to take a bus to Kumamoto because it was cheaper than the train. But I’m dumb and couldn’t find the bus station. So I ended up taking the train.

    I never do group tours. But I booked a one day Takachiho and Mt Aso tour. A van picked up about 10 of us. The guide was a British lady. Drove to Takachiho and did the rowboats. I thought it would be lame. But it was honestly awesome. The blue sky made the water blue and beautiful. We had lunch there at the restaurants that are set up for tourists. Walked around the area while our guide gave us info and answered questions.

    There is a place there where you can see 3 bridges from 3 different eras in one place. I dunno why exactly, but seeing that reminded me of my National Geographic-reading childhood dreams. And I got a little emotional. Just grateful that my life turned out in a way that I could travel to another continent and see something like this place.

    Next stop was Mt Aso. We drove as high up as allowed. Took some photos. Everything was covered in ash.

    Drove back down and had free time to walk around the info centre and shops, and the fields with horses and different view points.

    Stopped a few places on the way back to see a fkng beautiful sunset.

    I took a lot of photos which I will upload sometime. This is the first time I’ve written about it. Thanks for giving me the chance to reminisce.

    I would really recommend a group tour rather than using the bus.

    ​

    After this I went to Kagoshima and took the ferry to Yakushima Island. I’ll make a post about that someday 🙂