Huis Ten Bosch on 23rd or 24th of December

Hi,

I'll be arriving at Fukuoka Airport on 23rd of December at 8 am and will stay near Hakata Station for two nights. I'm planning to spend one day in Nagasaki, first half of a day around Hakata, and second half of a day at Huis Ten Bosch before moving on to other cities. I still cannot decide to go to Nagasaki the morning I arrive, or stay in Fukuoka then go to Huis Ten Bosch in the afternoon.

My questions are:

1. Will Huis Ten Bosch be less busy on 23 December (Emperor's Birthday) or 24 December (Christmas Eve)?
2. If I purchase a Moonlight Pass but would like to access the Free Zone before 4pm, how can I get to Thousand Sunny at the back of Huis Ten Bosch from JR station?
3. Should I go to Nagasaki or Huis Ten Bosch on the first day?

I have done day trips to both Nagasaki and Huis Ten Bosche from Hakata Station with a JR train pass. The train ride to each location is about 2 hours.

A two hour train ride each way is not that bad for a full day trip, but if you are going for just an afternoon, The distance (time wise) between Nagasaki and Huis Ten Bosche is less (76 minutes).

the other question is: Do you want to spend the first two days in Japan with four hours of train rides each day? I think this is a bit much.

In addition, the final train from Huis Ten Bosche to Nagasaki (a sea liner) departs about an hour after the train for Hakata Station.

My advice is to switch your location for your first two days to Nagasaki. I would store my luggage at Hakata Station in a locker, and spend the morning in Fukuoka. I would then travel to Nagasaki. I would spend the rest of the day and the following morning in Nagasaki, and travel to Huis Ten Bosche as a day trip returning to my hotel in Nagasaki.

This gives you a two hour train ride the first day, and two 76 minute train rides the second day. This seems a bit more sensible.

I don't know where you are going on the third day, but this does put you away from Hakata, which is a Shinkansen station.

I would suggest that you use Hyperdia to confirm this yourself. Here is a link:

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/

It's going to be a lot of time on a train if you stay in Fukuoka.

Hi,

Thanks for your suggestion, ebaychucky311. I might change my accommodation to Nagasaki as you have suggested. The rate is 1000yen/night higher than Hakata. The higher hotel price was one of the reason I chose Hakata at the first place with JR pass in use, but I found Nagasaki Orion Hotel isn't that pricey. Another reason would be my 3rd day is actually Kumamoto, which is easier to access from Hakata. The luggage on the first day is another issue. If not staying at Hakata, I'll miss Yatai as well. A very difficult decision to make. Now, I'm having two hotel reservation on hand, and one is to be cancelled. At least, time is still on my side :).

This might be a compromise solution.

Why not stay at a station on the Shinkansen line that is closer to Nagasaki and Huis Ten Bosch. Try making accomidations at Shin-Tosu Station. It is on the Shinkansen line between Hakata and Kumamoto.

The Limited Express trains that go from Hakata to Nagasaki and Huis Ten Bosch also stop at Shin-Tosu Station. The train ride is about 30 miutes less to the two places you want to go. It will also drop about 15 minutes off the time it takes to get to Kumamoto.

I would still stay in Nagasaki. For the most part, most places are not opem for tourism until 10 AM. the train ride from Nagasaki to Kumamoto is about 2 hours. There is a 6 AM train, and you can get to Kumamoto around 8 AM if you really had to, but I would probably take the 7:29 train to Shin-Tosu, and a Shinkansen to Kumamoto. This combination gets you to Kumamoto at 9:35, which should be OK.

Thanks again, ebaychucky311. I will have a good think about it. ^^

Doe anyone have some information on these two questions?

1. Will Huis Ten Bosch be less busy on 23 December (Emperor's Birthday) or 24 December (Christmas Eve)?
2. If I purchase a Moonlight Pass but would like to access the Free Zone before 4pm, how can I get to Thousand Sunny at the back of Huis Ten Bosch from JR station?

I believe that Huis Ten Bosch will be less busy on December 23rd. But this is just a guess. From what I have seen from Anime, Christmas Eve seems to be a "date night".

On access to the "Free Zone", I did buy a full day pass when I went, and when I exited the south gate to visit the free zone, a shuttle came up to the gate, and dropped off some people. It then went on into the free zone.

If you look at the map provided by the Japan-Guide page, it shows roads that you can walk, but I believe that the shuttle may have come from around the area where one purchaces tickets.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4477.html