Kyushu travel

Hi,

We will be visiting Tokyo and Kyushu from 10 to 25 Dec, spending 11 to 19 Dec in Kyushu and flying out to Tokyo on 20 Dec.

Am planning to self drive wherever possible and economical in Kyushu. We would need a 7 seater multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) such as the toyota estima or similar. Would we still be able to book a rental car now for our pick up on our arrival in Fukuoka on 10 Dec? Any recommendations on car rental companies?

Do we need a car to travel around in Fukuoka and Nagasaki? Probably staying for 3 days 2 nights in each of these 2 places.

As of now, we also have Takachiho, Yufuin, Beppu, Yanagawa in our tour plan. Thinking of skipping Mt Aso and Kumamoto area due to some areas being inaccessible after the April earthquake. Any other recommendations on places to visit would also be highly appreciated. We are not keen in onsen, but keen in historical stuffs and sightseeings.

What is the best routing for our tour? Do we pick up the car upon arrival in Fukuoka airport and drive straight out to Nagasaki and end our Kyushu tour in Fukuoka?

When should we start to rent the car and return the car? How does car rental in Japan work? On a 24 hour rental basis ie pick up today at 7am, return tomorrow at 7am?

Thank you very very much for any advice anyone has to offer.

Regards

Maybe you urgently need to read the Kyushu and Car Hire sections of the main Japan-guide website?

Probably best to start the car rental from wherever you entry Kyushu.

As for route, Just go in a big circle. Fukuoka, Beppu, Yufuin, Takachiko, Yanagawa, Nagasaki, Fukuoka.

Up to you where you stay the nights in each town. Yanagawa is probably the only one you don't need to stay a night, the canals etc can all be visited on route from Takachiko to Nagasaki or vise versa as a day trip.

Hi,

Just wanted to add that I have the option of arriving in Fukuoka, from Tokyo, either in the early afternoon at 12.25pm or at night at 10pm on 10 Dec.

Thank you.
Desperate traveller

Hi Hakata14,

Thank you very much for your response.

Is driving necessary in Fukuoka and Nagasaki? Or would it be easier and cheaper if we just use the public transport in these 2 places?

Do you know if it would still be easy for me at this time to find a rental car for my trip?

Thank you.

Toyota is a highly reputed car rental option, just that sometimes their rental fee is higher than others. ToCoo used to be a budget rental agency but nowadays their charges seem to be less competitive.

Even if you arrive Fukuoka at noon don�ft start driving right away. Save a day�fs rental fee and pick up the car early the next morning to maximize the rental period.

For the time in Fukuoka don�ft drive to rid yourself the problem of parking and city traffic. If like us (flying into Kyushu from N. America) it would be better to settle first in Fukuoka for at least a day to ease oneself of the issue of jet-jag. Use public transports to tour around town before starting to drive after a day or two.

The issue of parking and city traffic also applies to Nagasaki, just that it would be difficult to single out Nagasaki from a road trip to and from Fukuoka. If you use public transports to go to Nagasaki and start your road trip there it would involve an additional drop-off charge for the rental car if you return it in Fukuoka.

Indeed Kumamoto Castle interior is off-limit due to the earthquake damage but you can still see it from the outside. It may not be a bad idea as it would be once in a lifetime opportunity to see the damage castle walls and roof tiles before they are restored! Mt Aso is too inaccessible, but most of the roads nearby are repaired and driving around scenic Kusasenri is quite rewarding.

A suggested driving route: Fukuoka – Imari/Arita – Nagasaki – Unzen/Shimabara – (by ferry) – Kumamoto – Aso/Kusasenri – Takachiho Gorge – Beppu – Yufuin – Yanagawa/Dazaifu – Fukuoka.

Hi William,

Thank you so very much for your very useful response. I really highly appreciate it.

We are flying in from Singapore and it would take in all 10 hours to reach Fukuoka.

So I guess we have no choice but to have a rental car in Nagasaki. But no worries, I can resolve this after I find out more about the fee for dropping the car at different location from point of car pick up and make the comparisons.

A question: If I collect the rental car at 3pm in the afternoon, I return the car the next morning? Or I return it 3pm the next day too?

From the bits that I have researched so far, I had actually considered your recommended routing. However, I thought I would not have enough time to do it if I have only full 9 days in Kyushu with 6 days already spent in Fukuoka and Nagasaki. If I were to do that routing, would I need to cut down on the days in Fukuoka and Nagasaki? We would prefer to cover the places we visit alittle more in depth as opposed to covering more places at a touch and go pace. For example, I plan to visit Hashima Island too in Nagasaki.

Besides William, I would highly appreciate it if anyone else could offer me any advice too.

Thank you very much.

As William5 wrote, driving in the city of Fukuoka is stressful, and in the city of Nagasaki is VERY stressful due to Tram lines and many slopes. So I highly recommend you to avoid to use rental car in these places. On the contrary, rental car is recommendable in the countryside of Kyushu such as Kumamoto-Aso-Takachiho-Yufuin-Beppu.

Hi Frog1954,

Thank you very much for your advice on Nagasaki. Yes, I totally agree that if a city is already well served and more convenient with public transport, it certainly makes no sense to drive and incur the unnecessary stress and $. Hence am hesitant and asked at this forum.

I would appreciate it if someone can assist me on my other questions.

Thank you very much.

If I collect the rental car at 3pm in the afternoon, I return the car the next morning? Or I return it 3pm the next day too?

You can return the car whenever you like, but as far as I know the contract is hour-base. If you rent 1 day it means 24 hour. In the case you specified your return time is 3pm if you rent 1 day.

Indeed there will not be enough time for my suggested route if you only have less than a week to do it. Even with a full 9-day trip it would be quite packed. You have to take your pick and go for those places that you like most. My personal view is that you don�ft need 3 full days for Fukuoka. Nagasaki does deserve more time, at least 2 if not 3 days.

As for the car rental question it is dictated by the policy of different companies. With Toyota a 24-hr rental deal is possible but the rate is higher when compared with the daily rate per day. They may charge 8500 yen for a 24-hr rental whereas the daily rate per day (for 2 or more days) is 7000 yen or less.

Hi,

Thank you all for your kindness to offer all your prompt advice.

I was asking about the car return timing as I also have to book my domestic Fukuoka to Tokyo flight. So I now know how to sort this out after yr help.

Thank you very much once again. Am really grateful for all your advice thus far!

Wish you all a good weekend ahead!

Best regards

Forget to mention one thing – the weather! We drove around Aso and Takachiho Gorge during spring (mid March) and still encountered snow, so be careful and monitor the weather and the road condition during the winter month of Dec.

Perhaps you misunderstood my response. I wasn't suggesting you get a car. If you 'thought' you needed it, I suggested where to do you pickup.

The only place you really need a car from your list it Takachiho, due the the irregular buses to and from. The rest have good public transport options.

Personally I'd use public transport for your situation. And use a hire car/van from Beppu to day trip to Takachiho.

Yufuin a simple day trip from Beppu also. Plenty of buses and trains though.

When trains and/or buses are available, using a hire car isn't really needed and becomes a burden. Hotels will charge you for parking also etc 1000-1500 yen normally.

You'd have to do some costings. But you could train or bus Fukuoka to Nagasaki, Nagasaki to Beppu, Beppu to Fukuoka. with day trips to Yanagawa, Yufuin and Takachiho etc.

Or drive from Nagasaki to Beppu, visiting/staying at Yanagawa and Takachiho.

Lots of options. Just gotta find what works best for you.

Hi Hakata14,

Thank you for your clarifications. No worries, I understand you.

Thank you so much for highlighting the many options. They will help me in my tour planning.

Thank you once again.

Regards

Hi William5,

Sorry, jusr saw your tip on the weather. Thanks!

Hi there,

I would strongly recommend you reconsider giving Mt Aso a miss. Its absolutely beautiful and the area closed off is very small (basically only around the summit of the volcano itself).

In particular, the "Milk Road" (Route 339) that runs along the northwestern rim of the caldera will give you incredible views looking down into the farmland below and the volcano peaks beyond them. (As will the viewpoint a bit further round on Route 11, south of the junction with Route 45)

https://myjapantravels.wordpress.com/2016/09/19/toi-gold-mine-oguni-as...

Parts of Route 11 going from Mt Aso to Yufuin are also spectacular.

https://myjapantravels.wordpress.com/2015/06/30/day-18-2/

Finally, if you are not interested in onsens, I'd recommend giving Beppu a miss. Its really not much more than a big city. Rather, I'd recommend you head a bit further south and do Usuki and the Buddha statues nearby instead.

https://myjapantravels.wordpress.com/2016/08/23/days-38-39-usuki/

One more thing: unless you are constrained by budget, I would ABSOLUTELY recommend hiring a car - you will save piles of time and be able to easily see things/get to places that may be hard/time-consuming to access by public transport.

Thank you very much for your superb advice, Andy.

Budget is not really a constraint for me. Most importantly, I just want to get the best and max out of my 9 full days in Kyushu for my family with my sons aged 16 to 18. And yes, we are only interested in history, culture and scenery, onsen is out.

How do I get onto the various routes like Route 339 etc using the GPS?

Where would you recommend me to pick up da rental car? Outside of Nagasaki, where can I make as my base to pick up and return the car for my self-drive to Mt Aso/Kumamoto, Takachiho, Yufuin, Usuki, Yanagawa and Daizaifu? After returning the car,, I would need to get back to Fukuoka airport.

Thank you very much in advance.

Regards

Hi fellow Singaporean,

I did a self drive to Kyushu last year and got my car from Times Rental. Picked up from Miyazaki, drove to Takachiho, Kuju, Yufuin, Kumamoto and dropped the car off finally in Fukuoka. I incurred a hefty service charge due to the distance between the pick-up and drop off locations though.

At Times Rental, there is good English support via email and the GPS in the car can be configured to English mode. Be sure to have on hand the phone numbers/mapcodes of all the places you wish to drive to. You can key the numbers into the GPS in the car and the navigation will bring you there.

We rounded off our trip by staying in Fukuoka city for a couple of days, then took a cab to the airport (it's very near to the airport so it was not very expensive)

Hope this helps!