Getting from Takachiho to Mount Aso?

Hello everyone!

Me and my soon-to-be wife are currently planning our honeymoon trip to Japan. On this trip, we will be in Kyushu for 5-6 days to visit Fukuoka, Yufuin, Beppu, Takachiho and to clim on Mount Aso. I already found almost all the informations I need for all of these routes, but I fail to find any information about the route from Takachiho to Beppu.

So, I would be very grateful if you could help me with this. We want to spend one night in Takachiho, and on the next morning we're planning to take a bus/train to Mount Aso to spend another day there. Are there any trains or busses that connect Takachiho and Mount Aso? Up until now, I only found bus schedules for the route Kumamoto to Takachiho, but nothing about the way back.

Hi!

Doing a quick search I found this old response on Japan-Guide:

This is what I posted for someone in TA recently with updates for your case.
There are three ways to go to Mt. Aso�@from Takachiho. The bus leaves 8:31 at Takachiho.
1. There are direct buses from Takamori Chuo only on weekends & holiday.
2. Get off at Takamori Chuo(arr. 9:39) and take a scenic Minami Aso train to Tateno, dept. 9:45 (Torokko sightseeing train (470yen+500yen) on weekends+holidays Mar.1- Nov. 30) arr. 10:32 or a reg. train dept.10:28, arr.10:54(470yen).
2.1 Then, take either connecting JR train to Aso station & a bus to Asosan-Nishi ropeway station
2.2 Or the Cross Kyushu bus(Aso 1-Go from Tateno(dept.11:20) to Asosan-Nishi rope way stationi(1,120yen). See Aso 1-Go below.
3. Another is to get off at Kumamoto/Aso airport(arr.10:28) and catch a Cross Kyushu bus coming from Kumamoto to Asosan Nishi Ropeway station(Aso 1-Go dept.10:50, Arr. 12:06, 1,490yen).
This Aso 1-Go has 90 min. lunch & volcano sightseeing break from 12:06-13:36. The fare from Kumamoto AP to Kurokawa onsen is 3,850yen including lunch(1,050yen) but the cable car ride is extra. The fare is higher due to additional RT legs from JR Aso to Asosan Nishi station+lunch box.
If you get off (w/o lunch) here & take the later Kujyu 5-Go bus from JR Aso dept. 16:26, Kurokawa onsen arr.is 17:14 & 960yen
Aso volcano sightseeing info.
http://www.kyusanko.co.jp/aso/english.html

As of right now, #2 is not an option as the train route between Takamori and Tateno is down. No one knows when it will be up and running again.

I do not know if option #1 would still be possible either since Takamori Station does not currently have any trains going to it.

You should be able to do #3 though, even if it involves some back tracking. It might be your only viable option without renting a car.

I admit, I am planning to go to some of the same places as you and I am renting a car. I think it will be a lot easier.

Good luck!

You might have read this already, but Mount Aso as of today still remains partially closed: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4552.html
It might change however later this year.

If car is an option, I think it would be much preferable as you can also visit easily other spots on route.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

I would look at hiring a car. Two of you locations aren't the easiest to access. And a car will make it quicker and easier.

If you fly into Fukuoka, you can get a car right out the front of the airport.

If you're completely opposed to renting a car or just can't for whatever reason, (and there are people who live in big cities who just don't have a driver's license or perhaps OP lives in a country where getting an International Driver's Permit that is accepted by Japan is difficult.) While renting a car is the easiest, OP wanted to know how to do this without renting a car. I guess I would possibly try as a route:

Fukuoka to Kumamoto (around 30 minutes by shinkansen)
Kumamoto to Takachiko (3 hours by bus)
Takachiko to Nobeoka to Beppu (1:24 minutes by bus and then ~2 hours by train if you take a limited Express)
Beppu to Yufuin (about 2.5 hours)
Aso to Kumamoto and back to Fukuoka (about 2 hours back to Kumamoto and 30 minutes by shinkansen back to Fukuoka.)

It's counter intuitive because Aso looks much closer to Takachiko, but service between the two is very poor and you will be doing a lot of backtracking, this circle route would help with that. There are a lot more buses from Nobeoka to Takachiko than from Kumamoto as it is a much shorter trip.
http://takachiho-kanko.info/data/guide/image/pdf_1467851671_4.pdf

Going by that old information there seems to be some sort of 90 minute layover you can do from Aso station to Aso itself, but you would have to do some searches to get the details. As @LikeBike said the Ropeway at Aso is currently closed. You can get about 1km from the crater and visit the museum.

Good luck!

And oops for bus times, that should be about 2.5 hours from Yufuin to Aso and then 2 hours from Aso to Kumamoto.

Hope this is useful.