As we all know the coming changes to JR Pass will likely make the nationwide pass obsolete for all, but the most cunning (or very niche) visitors – we foresee changes to the way people approach to Japan with increasing focus on staying in the cities, which enable them to make a full use of regional passes, or to take advantage of many day trips.
We’d like you to share your ideas for using those hubs to the fullest for short-term and medium-term tourism-related stays, including your ideas for itineraries, day trips, eating out, entertainment and just having a general fun all around.
Today we’d like to discuss Fukuoka, which is the largest city in Kyushu and also a major transport hub that would be a starting point to most visitors to the island. **Fukuoka Airport** is very conveniently located near the downtown areas.
|**Info Panel**|**Fukuoka**|
|:–|:–|
| Main transport hubs | Hakata (JR, shinkansen, bus terminal), Tenjin (subway, Nishitetsu, bus terminal) |
| Airport | Fukuoka Airport (subway, buses) |
| Entertainment district | Nakasu, Tenjin |
| IC card | SUGOCA (major), nimoca (major), Hayakaken (major) |
| Peak season | Golden Week, July, September |
| Day trip destinations | Dazaifu, Yoshinogari-Koen, Kumamoto, Karatsu, Arita, Kokura |
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4 comments
Following for my next trip..
I did day trips from Fukuoka to Dazaifu and Kitakyushu by rail. This was really easy, and there are lots of other interesting-looking day trip options from the city.
Note that the most convenient line to Dazaifu isn’t part of the JR system, and I needed to buy separate tickets.
We used Fukuoka as our hub to Kyushu when we visited in April this year. We were there for 8 days.
* The VIP was the Kyushu JR Pass. You can get a 7 day pass for 20,000 JPY which is ~$140 given today’s exchange rate. This pays for itself so quickly it was a no brainer (for our itinerary).
* Hakata station is huge so keep that in mind when trying to navigate through it and find your trains.
* Based out of Fukuoka, we went to Nagasaki, Takeo Onsen, and Kumamoto.
* Kumamoto is a very easy day trip (about 48 minutes on the Shinkansen). Kumamoto castle was great and is the most exciting castle I’ve seen in Japan.
* Nagasaki is a long day trip. It is about 1hr40 minutes one way. You have to switch trains on the way there (you depart Fukuoka on a limited express train, and at Takeo Onsen you get off and then board a Shinkansen that takes you the rest of the way to Nagasaki). The cost is ~12,000 JPY roundtrip so you can see why the Kyushu JR Pass is so valuable. We squeezed in Gunkanjima, the peace park (not the museum), and Mt. Inasa. It was a healthy pace and certainly not overwhelming. Just a long day.
* Takeo-Onsen was a nice taste of the *Inaka*. It’s also about 1hr30 minutes one way so a bit far. We went to Mifuneyama Rakuen to walk the gardens and do the Teamlabs exhibit which was really cool. There were not many other people there, it felt so private compared to our Teamlabs experience in Tokyo.
* Kagoshima is 1hr40 minutes away by Shinkansen. We actually stayed in Kagoshima before our we ended up in Fukuoka so we didn’t make a day trip here. But we talked about it, because we didn’t get a chance to see Sakurajima. It’s possible to do a long day trip here.
Getting around in Fukuoka is not too bad. There are buses and you can also use the DiDi app to call taxis (they didn’t have Ubers when we were there).
When it was time to leave, we took a taxi to the airport which is very close to Hakata station and our AirBnB. It was very convenient and while in the airport we bumped into a Youtuber/rapper we watch…it was one of those small world moments lol.
The obvious targets for day trips:
* Kumamoto (under an hour, the castle, Suzeinji)
* Dazaifu (temples, Kyushu National Museum)
* Yoshinogari-Koen (pre-Yamato era historical park)
* Mojiko (historical pier)
* Kokura (castle, AruAru city – Kyushu’s version of Den Den Town, Toto Museum)
* Karatsu (castle, fishing town)
The farther afield:
* Imari, Owachiyama, Arita (pottery)
* Takeo Onsen (onsen town with teamLab installation)
* Saga (castle and historical town)
* Kurume (for local ramen specialties)
* Yutoku Inari (famous shinto shrine)
The ‘you should consider overnight stay, but doable’:
* Huis Ten Bosch (amusement park)
* Nagasaki (Inasayama, Dejima, Glover Garden, A-Bomb sites, Sofukuji)
* Kagoshima (Sengan-en, Remeikan, Sakurajima)
* Beppu (the hells, Takasakiyama)
[JR Kyushu passes](https://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/railpass/railpass.html) sure have many uses.
The western tip of Honshu part (aka [Hiroshima-Yamaguchi Area Pass](https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/hiroshima_yamaguchi/):
* Shimonoseki (Chofu castle town, Karato seafood market, Akama Shrine)
* Yamaguchi (Rurikoji, Daijingu)
* Hiroshima/Miyajima (hey, it’s doable!)