yufuin on day trip for sight seeing only

Hey all, I am planning a trip to Fukuoka by end of this month, and want to see some mountain or old style Japanese culture near by with some nice view and adventure. Please suggest some nice places for enjoying scenery near by fukuoka for day trip. I wanted to go to Aso and kumamoto but now will skip it.

is it a good idea to visit yufuin on day trip for sight seeing only, i might try hot spring through public bath but not really interested in resorts.

If i choose to go Yufuin should i get North kyushu pass or just by return ticket ? any nearby place that i can visit along with yufuin for a day trip ?

what is price differnece between yufuin no mori and yufu express as i cant see yufuin no mori on hyperdia.

Thanks all.

I went to Yufuin on a day trip in late 2014. I had a JR Pass so can't comment on what ticket you should buy. The Yufuin no Mori does show up in Hyperdia, but as it's infrequent may just not be showing up for the times you search (or to early for timetable). If you go to the JR Kyushu website, it has the current timetable. It's only released every three months, so the dates you want might not be in the current schedule.

I enjoyed the daytrip, Yufuin is very pretty! I don't think you need more than a day, but I also wouldn't combine it with another place on the same day. The scenery is good with a mountainous backdrop, and the town itself has lovely old shopping streets and the somewhat-tacky-but-still-cute Flower Village with kitsch shops and a small area with different owl breeds. You could fit an onsen visit in easily if you arrived early.

Note that Yufuin was also damaged in the earthquakes that rocked Kumamoto, Oita and the Mt Aso area: https://www.buzzfeed.com/takumiharimaya/dont-forget-about-oita-the-sit...

Yufuin will take about 2 hours to reach depending on which train service you take.

If using hyperdia, because the Yufuin no Mori is a reserved seat only train, you can only viewable on hyperdia 1 month out. A one way trip is 4550 yen on the Yufuin no Mori, Hakata to Yufuin.

I probably wouldn't take th Yufuin no Mori as the first one gets there later than you would like for a day tripper. the first one arrives at 11:13am.

If you take the Yufu limited express, departing Hakata at 7:45am, you'll arrive at 10:01am.

Fortunately, damage in Yufuin was much smaller than in Kumamoto. Close to 90% of the town's ryokan and over 90% of the town's shops have reopened and are eagerly welcoming tourists. There is still a probability of strong aftershocks, but according to recent Facebook photos, the tourists seem to be back (to a certain degree):
https://www.facebook.com/%E3%82%AA%E3%83%95%E3%81%AE%E3%82%86%E3%81%B5...

Thanks a lot guys for your advise. leaving day after tomorrow but haven't planned my itnenary yet for places outside fukuoka.

I am will be taking a 3 day north Kyushu pass, if i leave fukuoka early morning and visit yufuin and Beppu in one day and go back to fukuoka at night is it goood to visit both of these onsen ? i might just try the public bath in either of these places. is Beppu good enough just for sight seeing half day without hell tour ?

Any other place recommended for sigtseeing specially crater near by fukuoka but not aso as avoiding the earth quake region.

how about nagasaki for day trip any fun thing to do for young guys ?