yakushima one night visit

I am exploring Kyushu this fall.. I am thinking about visiting Yakushima and I wonder if somebody can help me with the organization. I am traveling alone, and I would like to use the fast service Toppy to reach the island from Kagoshima (early morning), visit the island (by bus?) stay one night in Yakushima (where do you suggest it is logistically better?) and come back to Kagoshima next day. your help is really appreciated, I am checking all website but it seems that I found nothing interesting.. thank you!!

I did something similar last year December.

Took the shinkasen from Fukuoka to Kagoshima Chuo.
Ate lunch at Juan. (Kuro buta Shabu shabu with 6 spices)
Took the approximately 2pm ferry to Yakushima.
I stayed in a home, but would recommend Yakushima seaside hotel instead.
For two reasons, it serves food and Yakushima requires long walks just to find anything resembling an eatery. Never saw a Family Mart or 7-11 while I was there too.
Has onsen, it was winter. Onsen good for morning or evening walks.
Next morning, i went on a guided walk.
Took cab to ferry terminal and left.

You can book guided tours online. If you take the bus... you would be wasting too much of your precious one day time. Besides a tour, the only other way to get picked up and dropped back at your accomodation is to rent a car. Also a good way to traverse around the island.

All in all, one day is not enough for Yakushima.

Thank you. I was thinking about leaving Kagoshima early in the morning, stay overnight and leave in the afternoon. So it will be one hour and a half. Do you suggest any website to book a tour in advance? I have checked but we no results. Thanks for your hrlp

Try this:
http://www.yesyakushima.com/

Yup. The above site was what I tried. But they only accept full day bookings. I was there for one afternoon to the next afternoon. So it wasn't a full day (they don't count by 24 hours).

I instead used a Japanese travel site. Add on Google Translate. Send an email. I somehow got it to work. Sounds risky, and indeed it was. Didn't know whether it was confirmed because the confirmation email was not clear at all. Only found out I was secure when the home I stayed at informed me that arrangements had already been made between the tour company and him. Lol.


I recommend googling 'yakushima tours' for assistance.

I doubt you need to join a tour.
I did Yakusugi Land as well as Shiratani Unsuikyo in 2 days without joining a tour, and found everything was easy and problem free. By the way, we did hire a car, which I really recommend.

I would use the Kotsu bus tours A & B. They will pick you and your luggage up, take you on their A tour, and drop you off at the JR Green Hotel. The next morning, they will pick you up again, do the B tour, and drop you off at Ando port in time for the Jetfoil. This link has loads of information:

http://www.yakumonkey.com/

Get tickets for the 7:45 Jetfoil to Yakushima, and for the 13:30 Jetfoil back to Kagoshima.

Here is the tour bus information that fits with the jetfoils:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/207387678/Yakushima-Kotsu-bus-2013-14

I hope this helps.

thank you everybody for your precious suggestions...

Hey! I've been to Yakushima a couple times and I really do recommend staying at least 2 nights. Lots to see and do, and you can cover a lot of it in 2 days.

Also, I would very highly recommend renting a car. It's all easy to do via yesyakushima, no hassle. The driving on the island is extremely easy as well. Just one main road, really low speed limit. That way, you can get around at your own pace!

i am a little scared to drive a car in Japan, cause we drive in the opposite side of the road here in Italy.. i'am thinking about it but at the end I suppose I will use the bus instead.