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Visiting Beppu, Nagasaki, Sasebo, Kumamoto 2014/4/24 04:37
If we stay in Fukuoka and want to visit the places listed, what is the best mode of transportation -- Shinkansen, local train, bus or rental car? Which would be the easiest way to travel for senior citizens? Is it feasible to go back & forth each day to Fukuoka?
by jackie42  

Re: Visiting Beppu, Nagasaki, Sasebo, Kumamoto 2014/4/24 11:28
you would be wasting a lot of time in transit.
by mm (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Visiting Beppu, Nagasaki, Sasebo, Kumamoto 2014/4/24 12:49
No it's not a good idea.
I understand if you want to stay flexible in your itinerary but these places are all too far away from each other. You'd have to book a hotel within each location or else you'd waste a lot of money and time. :/
by zoomingjapan rate this post as useful

Re: Visiting Beppu, Nagasaki, Sasebo, Kumamoto 2014/4/24 14:53
Thank you! Helps a lot in our planning.
by jackie42 rate this post as useful

Re: Visiting Beppu, Nagasaki, Sasebo, Kumamoto 2014/4/24 21:36
I have done Nagasaki as a day trip from Hakata station, but not Beppu. It was a very long day.

I think Kumamoto could be done. Here are the one way times to travel to each of these places from Hakata Station:

Hakata to Kumamoto : 42 minutes
Hakata to Beppu : 105 minutes
Hakata to Nagasaki : 112 minutes
Hakata to Sasebo: 115 minutes

For Beppu, if you wanted to get there early, and you could either catch the Limited Express Sonic 1 at 6:23 AM, or take the Shinkansen Kodama 852 at 6:52 AM, and catch the Sonic 1 at Kokura Station. Either way, you would arrive in Beppu at 8:43 AM, which should be in time to catch the morning "Hells of Beppu" tour bus. The final Limited Express Sonic back to Hakata is at 9:52 PM, so you could have about 14 hours in Beppu.

Similar trips are possible for Nagasaki and Sasebo. There will be about a two hour train ride each way, and about 14 hours of time in each place. It will be a very long day.
by ebaychucky311 rate this post as useful

Re: Visiting Beppu, Nagasaki, Sasebo, Kumamoto 2014/4/25 04:29
If that is the case, use either JR Northern Kyushu Rail Pass or SunQ bus pass:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_05.html
http://www.sunqpass.jp/english/route/index.html
Direct buses are more frequent.
You can also do the loop from Fukuoka, Beppu, (& possibly Kurokawa Onsen), Kumamoto, ferry to Shimabara(included in the bus pass), (Unzen Hell Open Park, better than Beppu, imo) or Rindo direct bus to Nagasaki, then to Sasebo and back to Fukuoka. There are many options depending on how many days or where you stay planned.
by amazinga (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Visiting Beppu, Nagasaki, Sasebo, Kumamoto 2014/4/25 05:16
You could easily stay in Fukuoka while going to see Kumamoto City by bullet train - it is quick and you arrive in about 40 minutes.
See: http://www.visitkumamoto.com for some good info - don't miss Suizenji there - it is one of Japan's most beautiful historic gardens.
The others are a problem. It'd take about 2 hours to reach Nagasaki - big waste of time to spend 4 hours on a train for a day trip. You'd miss out on Mt. Inasa at night also - one of Japan's best mountaintop night views.
See:
http://www.ngs-kenkanren.com/eng/
http://www.at-nagasaki.jp/yakei/en/index.php

Not clear why you'd want to see Sasebo unless you have family/friends there - there are far more interesting places.
Beppu you could see in a day, there are the hot springs, the Hells Tour, plus the Takasakiyama monkey park and aquarium. Plus Mt. Tsurumi in the day if the weather is clear is very good. See:
http://www.city.beppu.oita.jp/02kankou/english/01info/02shisetsu/index...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2NNi8MLcXM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zepPfkuqhok
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBnZneDsKqQ
Worth staying the night there.
Fukuoka has a lot going for it also. It has wonderful shopping and nice parks. See:
http://www.tinyurl.com/see-fukuoka
Lastly, unless you are experienced with driving in Japan, it's better not to drive yourself.You need to know Japanese signs and their driving style to avoid problems. Rail is far more preferable.
by Ken (guest) rate this post as useful

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