10D9N Kyushu Itinerary

Dear forumers, my family of 4 will be in Kyushu from 20-29 November. We intend to drive. Please advise if the following rough itineray is doable:

20/11- Arr in Fuk early morning, pick up rental car to drive to Nagasaki. Overnight in Nagasaki
21/11- Nagasaki-Kagoshima. Overnight in Sakura Sakura Spa
22/11- Kagoshima-Kirishima. Overnight in Sakura Sakura Spa
23/11- Kirishima-Takachiho-Kumamoto. Overnight in Kumamoto
24/11- Kumamoto-Aso
25/11- Aso-Kurokawa
26/11- Kurokawa-Beppu-Yufuin. Overnight in Yufuin.
27/11- Yufuin-Fuk. Return rental car.
28/11- Fuk
29/11- Fuk-Sin

Some questions:
1) We intend to visit Sakurajima, anyone has an idea how far it is from Sakura Sakura Spa?
2) The drive from Kirishima to Takachiho seems very long from google map, is it advisable? We are staying the night in Kumamoto instead of Takachiho because accomodation is expensive in Takachiho.
3) I have read in other thread that the drive down Takachiho Gorge is steep & winding and can be dangerous in Winter. Will we be ok driving there in late Nov?

Any suggestion/feedback would be appreciated. Thank you.

Cloudybay

Approaching from the east it is just under 90 min drive from Sakura Sakura Onsen to Sakurajima.

The drive to Takachiho Gorge from Sakura Sakura Onsen is just under 3 hrs and from Takachiho it is less than 2 hrs drive to Kumamoto. So time-wise if you can start early from Sakura Sakura Onsen you can tour Takachiho Gorge around noon, have lunch and continue to spend the night in Kumamoto without feeling rush. Yes the access down to the gorge is steep, narrow and winding so extra care should be taken. We drove there during Mar and still encountered a brief period of snow!

According to your initial plan if you go to Kumamoto after Takachiho and then drive to Aso, Kurokawa, Beppu and Yufuin you will be backtracking part of the Takachiho-Kumamoto route. If possible consider putting Kumamoto between Nagasaki and Kagoshima so that after Takachiho go to Aso, Kurokawa, Beppu and Yufuin. An enroute overnight stay can be made in Kurokawa.

Thanks for the response William5.

Will it be better if i do the following:

23/11- Kirishima-Aso-Kumamoto
24/11- Kumamoto-Takachiho-Nightstop in Aso/Kurokawa
25/11- kurokawa
26/11- Kurokawa-Beppu-Yufuin
27/11- Yufuin-Fuk

Any recommendation for a good meal in Kumamoto & Takachiho?

Also, do you have any info to share re: fruit picking around the areas where I'd be? Some of the links I have loooked at were in Japanese.

I still feel Kumamoto is best placed between Nagasaki and Kirishima/Kagoshima, but if it cannot be arranged consider the following route. After Kirishima go to Kumamoto first and then followed by Aso, Kurakawa, Beppu and Yufuin. Monitor the condition of Mt Aso as the top is still not accessible due to volcanic activity.

May not be everybody�fs cup of tea but horse meat is a popular dish in Kumamoto. A friend highly recommends the following restaurant which has 3 branches in town. Unfortunately their website is in Japanese but you can ask your Kumamoto hotel to make a reservation for you if you want to go. They have picture menu.
http://www.suganoya.com/

In Takachiho Gorge worth trying is nagashi somen. There are 2 eating places you can go for it but they may not be open during bad weather. Both of them were closed when we were there.
http://takachiho-kanko.info/gourmet/detail.php?log=1338518653&cate=&na...
http://takachiho-kanko.info/gourmet/detail.php?log=1338279048&cate=&na...

For fruit picking we went for strawberry u-pick in the following farm near Aso, but I am not sure if it will open during Nov as normally the u-pick season there does not start till mid Dec. And again their website is only in Japanese.
http://www.kinouchifarm.com/

Nagasaki-Kagoshima is a long way...you can go the motorway, but you'll be driving basically via Kumamoto area and see not that much along the way, or you can do island-hopping and take in Unzen (very recommended) and the dolphins at Amakusa (also fantastic, hundreds of them!), but I'd say you'd be EXTREMELY pushed to do that in a single day...

It might be worth noting that I have found driving times given by google to be very unreliable....

A couple of months ago, I was in a similar conundrum and opted to miss Kagoshima and Kirishima, and I'm glad I did...there's a lot to see in the top half of Kyushu...

My blog of the trip might help you, in particular days 13-31:
https://myjapantravels.wordpress.com/

@William5, I suspect horsemeat might b a tad too exotic for us lol

@lovefood, thank you for highlighting the unreliability of google map, I will take note of it. I will check out your blog for sure.

Aso near the crater is still closed, and looks like it will stay that way for the foreseeable future. If you are driving though, there are alternatives near there. Daikanbo is a nice place for a lookout over the whole area if the weather is clear. The Kuju Flower Park is also very nice, as is the Nabegadaki waterfall just NE of Oguni Town.
Kurokawa is also nice and best reached by car.
For Kumamoto, the most famous sights are the castle of course, but don't miss the Suizenji Garden. It is one of Japan's finest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9xyXmU8U1g
For Nagasaki, there is not much need to drive around the city - parking can be a chore. Many places are within walking distance of one another.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7LcPcmoSg-gbw2yXNLK92siHyNqSNx...
And since the Inasa ropeway is currently down, you can drive to the top at night for a magnificent view. It looks like you have a big interest in hot springs, and Kyushu is full of them, but Beppu has some other places to see as well, including the Hells Tour and nearby monkey park/aquarium.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7LcPcmoSg-hOggZamc2lUNTr46ApKX...
For Fukuoka, don't miss the Nanzoin Temple just 20 minutes outside Hakata Station by train - it is one of the most amazing places in Japan and nearly unknown to the outside world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT4VQFmHFyM
Ohori Park, Nakasu, and Fukuoka Tower are also nice. You can see a good list of places to see and do at
http://www.thejapanfaq.com/fukpic.html
Don't forget to try the tonkatsu ramen in Fukuoka, and in Nakasu be sure to try the chanpon and saraudon.

I find that the drive isn't particularly bad. But beppu, takachiho and kirishima drives can be long. A couple of hours. It is this that makes one lose concentration. On those roads a second of misconcentration is dangerous!

But generally the roads are well kept and though windy, no angles are anything worse than doing a U-turn.

@ Ken & Joshua hugh :
Thank you for the useful links & practical driving advice. One question, is the African safari worth a visit?

There, ....there is an African Safari?? Wow.

Well, according to pictures it is a zoo with African animals. Save your time and money and go to Africa to see the migrating animals. (On my list to do)

For food:
Nagasaki for Champon
Kumamoto too
Beppu and the other onsen towns have onsen manjuus and local snacks/alcohol
Miyazaki is for Unagi, beef, chicken fried, mangos
Kagoshima is for chicken sashimi, black pig meat, beef
Fukuoka has ramen. The yatai stores are great. Original rich soup with skewers. Cheap too. For more pricey yet assurance of quality, Ichiran and Ippudo ramen are chain ramen stores are famed throughout the nation and originates from Fukuoka. If all else fails, or if the queues are too long, go to Ramen Street or Ramen museum at Canal City and at Hakata station mall.

One correction, I should say in Nagasaki be sure to try the chanpon and saraudon. For the Fukuoka ramen there are 2 main places to go - one is in Nakasu, by the Naka River. Some great atmosphere with the lights on the water.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1m8h0q3o0s
But the locals often go eat at Nagahama, near Tenjin. Some say it tastes better.

African Safari is nice. I wanted to go there but we spent too much time in Harmonyland (my wife is a die-hard Hello Kitty fan) that we had to skip the African Safari in the end. With luck you get to hug and take photos with a baby lion in their petting zoo area.
http://africansafari.blog.egoism.jp/ (scroll down to the bottom page)

BTW, I am sorry for leaving out Takachiho Gorge in my last response. It should have read �gAfter Kirishima go to Kumamoto first and then followed by Takachiho Gorge, Aso, Kurakawa, Beppu and Yufuin�h.

Thank you once again Ken, William5 & Joshua hugh, you guys have given me lots of useful info & helpful links :-)) i'll be digesting them & fine tuning my itinerary along the way.

@lovefood, you have an amazing blog & some truely gorgeous photos!