Kagoshima/Miyazaki. Which is better for me?

Hello. I'm going to visit Kagoshima and Miyazaki this December with my girlfriend.
13th- 18th. For 5 nights and 6 days.

We love sightseeing and foods and don't need anything fancier. We prefer making our plan flexible and we've heard that Miyazaki is more famous and has more things to do. So we decided to stay 2 nights in Kagoshima and 3 nights in Miyazaki.

Itinerary :

13th Dec. : Arrives Miyazaki airport in the morning and take JR to Kagoshima. Visit Meiji Restoration
Museum. Stay in Kagoshima.
(We booked round trip tickets for Seoul-Miyzaki and don't want to spend the last
moment of this trip in a boring train, which is the reason why we are visiting Kagoshima
first.)

14th : visit Mt. Sakurajima, the aquarium and maybe something more? stay in Kagoshima.

15th : See around. take JR back to Miyazaki at night. stay in Miyazaki.

16-18th : visit Aoshima island, museums, shrines and see around. stay in Miyazaki.
(maybe visit another city for famous local ramen?)
leave for Seoul at night.


And my question is : In which city should we stay longer? Would 2 nights be too short or too long seeing around Kagoshima? We are open to any suggestions. Please tell us about beautiful places or things to do that we don't know yet.

Plus, is there something we can do only in winter season so we should in Kagoshima and Miyazaki?

I would probably forget the train and hire a car instead. While both are accessible by public transport. Both the Nichinan Coastline and sights south of Miyazaki, and Sakurajima are better explored by car.

Kagoshima - don't miss the garden. Well worth an hour or two. There's a sightseeing loop bus which will take you to both places. Also, be prepared to be flexible about Sakurajima. We spent two nights in Kagoshima, in a hotel looking out over Sakurajima, and never saw the whole mountain in one go because there was always some part of it that was covered by low cloud.

The other thing to think about (and a car will help you here much more than public transport) is to go down the peninsula - have a sand bath at Ibusuki, visit the fighter pilot museum at Chiran and see the old houses there also. You can spend a nice day doing this.

I haven't been to Miyazaki...

Miyazaki is a reasonably large and not very populated prefecture. I've driven around Miyazaki for around a week and found it a nice place to visit. If you can hire a car - this is the best way of getting around Kyushu period! I'm also the opposite of Winter Visitor, as I've visited Miyazaki but not visited Kagoshima.

For me, the highlight of Miyazaki was Takachiko which is located near Oita. If you hire a car - it might be possible to visit Miyazaki and Oita - as Oita has some really interesting places to visit. My favourite locations are basically the Kunisaki peninsula and Usuki.

Some other nice places in Miyazaki includes Obi Castle Town which for me is one of the more impressive traditional towns in Japan and I've visited enough of them.

I'm planning on visiting Kagoshima/Kumamoto for 2 weeks at another stage and there seemed to be some interesting things to do there. However, 1 week in Miyazaki by train does seem a bit long (but with a car is another story). Miyazaki City is nice but there is not really that much to do. If you want to see more of what Miyazaki and Oita has to offer, I think I have some posts on my profile from Jan/Feb 2017....

I visited Kagoshima & Miyazaki for the first time about 6 months ago. I stayed in Kagoshima, and went to Miyazaki by train (it's kind of a long ride, too bad the Shinkansen does not go to Miyazaki). For me, Miyazaki was a lot more interesting. Probably because I already live on a volcanic island (with active volcano), Sakurajima did not impress me. The garden did not impress me, either. My impression of Kagoshima was all about Mr. Saigo and its history. Every corner you look, there is Saigo-san, Satsuma-han, or Meiji Restoration, which do not interest me. I did enjoy the exhibit of Hiroshige wood-block prints that was featured in Kagoshima City Museum when I was there (the special exhibit is over now).

Miyazaki coast line was very unique and a lot more picturesque. I have visited many shrines and temples in Japan, but the combination of palm trees in temple was new to me in Miyazaki. My favorite was Udo-jingu (Udo Shrine), and you need to take a bus (or a car) to get there.

day 1 - See Miyazaki city sights
day 2 - Nichinan coastline (Aoshima, Udo Shrine, Obi Castle ruins etc)
day 3 - To Kagoshima via Kirishima
day 4 - Kagoshima city sights (Aquarium, Sengan-en etc)
day 5 - Sakurajima
day 6 - Keep free for any catch-up or follow-ups (Or protentially down to Ibusuki/Satsuma Peninsula if quick)

p.s. I found the Tenmonkan shopping area interesting also. If you like old school shopping malls where you can just explore for hours, then you'll like this area.