My partner and I are planning a two week trip to Japan March 2024! It’s my third time in Japan, his first, and while I feel pretty confident about my itinerary I’d love to get feedback about this component. We’re spending the first leg of the trip in Kyushu and then flying to Tokyo.
On day 7, after spending two days in Yakushima, we will be taking the ferry back to Kagoshima and then traveling by bus to Kirishima to stay in a ryokan near the airport. The ryokan is mid-level budget, dinner and breakfast included, beautiful location by the Amori river but I doubt we will be able to use the onsen as we both have tattoos. We fly out of Kagoshima Airport to Tokyo the following day at 330pm, check out is at 10am. The buses connect at the airport, so we’ll be dropping our luggage off in a coin locker before heading to the ryokan.
**Option 1:** take the bus from the airport to the ryokan, we should arrive around 3pm, check in and relax on the property/in the room. After we check out the next day there are few small temples within walking distance, the Kumaso no Ana Cave, and it looks like the airport itself has some restaurants and bakeries nearby. It’s approximately a 30 minute bus ride from where we’re staying to the airport but unfortunately the buses are infrequent so we’ll probably need to kill a decent amount of time around the airport (although the airport does have natural hot spring foot baths which is neat!).
**Option 2:** rent a car at the Kagoshima Airport for a day. It’d be about $50 USD, our ryokan is only a 15 minute drive away, and my partner is already getting an international license to drive in Yakushima.
On the one hand Option 2 would allow us to explore the area, both in the afternoon on day 7 and day 8 before our flight. The Kirishima Shrine and Kagoshima Shrine both look neat, as does the Kirishima Open Air Museum. The ryokan is pretty remote so it would also allow us to pick up snacks and drinks for the evening/before the flight, and parking is free!
On the other hand I don’t know if we’ll be completely bushed by day 7/8 and wanting calm downtime. We’re planning on doing one of the easier hikes on Yakushima and we have a lot of travel the week before (2 nights Fukuoka-1 night Kurume-1 night Kagoshima-2 nights Yakushima). $50 won’t break the bank but I’d hate to spend the money and not use the car. I also recognize we don’t have a ton of time to do things as we should be at the airport at least 2 hours before our flight.
We could always wait until the day and decide on renting a car then, but my concern there is that $50 is cheap and the rental car price could be way higher. Maybe this is also incorrect?
Thoughts on options? If you’ve been to the area, is it worth it to rent a car to explore Kirishima? Is there stuff to do around the Kagoshima Airport? Is it better to plan a lazy/chill day before heading to the chaos of Tokyo?
Thank you in advance!
5 comments
Imo remote areas are always better with a car. But since your partner is the one driving, maybe you should let your partner decide if he/she will be too tired
lol, that’s Myoken onsen area, was there in April.
The cave is really easy to access from the main road, no idea what the other temple you are thinking of (actually the case have a torii gate so if anything more shinto than buddhist), the only nearby place I know is Wake-jinaja (a shrine) and Inukai falls, that are walking distance but also not THAT close. Yeah, the bus are infrequent and actually someone stopped in his car while I was returning from Wake-jinja (he was going to the airprot) and he did a 1km detour to drop me where I wanted to go.
Also there is no store in the area, so if you want snacks or anything buy it before.
For sure renting a car would make it much easier to go see Kirishima-jingu or other sights in Kirishima that is just a pain to reach from there by bus.
And even if you want to so simple things like go to the much closer Wake-jinja and check the waterfall, or if you like history and know who Sakamoto Ryoma is, there is a small park nearby where he went with his wife Oryo during their honeymoon, that is know at the first honeymoon in Japan. I did limit myself to these place (and Kareigawa station that is an old train station from where I took the train) and while it was kind of doable, bus schedule was a bit of a pain, no food options was really inconvenient (obviously went the day the only cafe was close…) and it went really well for me only because I got offered two different rides by car passing by, so it reduced my walking time for section without bus and waiting time for sections where there is the infrequent bus.
If you look here, zoom on the area you can read a couple of article I wrote about what I did in the area right next to Myoken onsen. [https://en.japantravel.com/profile/guillaume-dore/89231220](https://en.japantravel.com/profile/guillaume-dore/89231220)
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also ask for the onsen, you never know they might be ok with tattoo.
That area is best explored with a car, prices from rentals like Toyota don’t change. But the cheapest car might be sold out. If you’re going on a weekend/public holiday etc I would make a reservation.
Just drove all around Kyushu last month with Kirishima being a stop – definitely get a car. $50 is worth for the potential flexibility if you want to do anything
Car absolutely. Just freeing yourself from the bus is worth it. Side trips are bonus