Kyushu itinerary questions

Hello,

I have finalised my itinerary for the coming Kyushu trip and greatly appreciate any comments with respecto the below please:
OVER NIGHT IN
1 FUKUOKA FERRY TO FUKUOKA FROM BUSAN
2 BEPPU TRAIN FUKUOKA TO BEPPU ARRIVE AROUND 10 AM, VISIT BEPPU HELL, SAND BATH
3 YUFUIN PICK UP RENTAL CAR AT BEPPU STATION, BEPPU TO YUFUIN, STROLL AROUND YUFUIN TOWN
4 ASO YUFUIN TO ASO STATION, STOP BY KUROKAWA ONSEN (UNDERSTAND THAT KUROKAWA ONSEN IS A GOOD OPTION TO STAY OVERNIGHT BUT IT'S OVER MY BUDGET)
5 ASO DAY TRIP ASO TO TAKACHIHO GORGE, AMANOIWATO SHRINE AND BACK, OVERNIGHT IN ASO
6 KUMAMOTO AREA AROUND ASO (DAIKANBO LOOKOUT, KIKUCHI GORGE, RETURN RENTAL CAR AT ASO STATION AROUND 3 PM, ODAN BUS TO KUMAMOTO STATION LEAVE ASO AT 4:20 PM (TRY TO AVOID DRIVING IN DOWNTOWN AREA)
7 KAGOSHIMA SHINKANSEN KUMAMOTO TO KAGOSHIMA, VISIT SAKURAJIMA IN MID MORNING AND AFTERNOON
8 YAKUSHIMA FERRY KAGOSHIMA TO YAKUSHIMA
9 YAKUSHIMA YAKUSHIMA, DRIVE/ BUS AROUND ISLAND, DO SOME SHORT HIKES
10 YAKUSHIMA YAKUSHIMA
11 KAGOSHIMA FERRY YAKUSHIMA BACK TO KAGOSHIMA IN EVENING, OVERNIGHT IN KAGOSHIMA
12 FUKUOKA KAGOSHIMA BACK TO FUKUOKA IN MORNING, FUKUOKA SIGHTSEEING
13 FUKUOKA FUKUOKA SIGHTSEEING (ANY GOOD DAY TRIP SUGGESTION NEAR FUKUOKA?)
14 LEAVE JAPAN

Some of my questions are below;
- Is it better to travel the other way around (i.e To Yakushima first from Fukuoka and then onwards to Beppu and back to Fukuoka)?
- Due to the above itinerary, i think the 5 days Kyushu JR pass may not work out. Any ideas of how to make good use of the Kyushu JR pass?
- I may probably be able to squeeze in an extra day in Japan. If so, what other places should i add on? I am more in interested in sightseeing and nature and i will travel to Japan in early November.


Thank you so much in advance! :)

The itienerary is fine. You can do it in the opposite direction, but will make no difference.

You wont be able to make any JRK pass pay off. You just don't have enough shinkansen travels.

If you wanna save some money, research highway buses. Especially between Fukuoka and Yufuin/Beppu and Kumamoto and Kagoshima. To Yufuin/Beppu option, the buses are actually quicker.

As Hakata wrote, any JR Kyushu pass is not suitable for your itinerary. From Hakata to Beppu and Kagoshima-Chuo to Hakata you may better pre-book via JR Kyushu's website. It makes substantial discount if you book beforehand (maybe 3 days before, I am not sure).

https://train.yoyaku.jrkyushu.co.jp/jr/pc/inbound/TopInitAction.do;jsi...

I'd say the order is fine. You could of course fly to Yakushima as well, but the fares are quite high and not eligible for the typical foreign tourist discount fares.
If you're doing the day trip to Kurokawa, look into getting a tegata for 1300 yen - you can go to 3 places. You may need to drive to them within Kurokawa though. Some places are much better than others.
https://youtu.be/Xs_JXC6bhkM

Both Kikuchi Gorge and Daikanbo are very good places to see in the area. Another is the Nabegataki Falls, where you can also walk behind the waterfall.
https://youtu.be/fqNCq1kMdac
https://goo.gl/RwpnU8

For Kagoshima, Sakurajima is of course the big elephant in the room. If you can also fit in the beautiful Senganen Garden, it is very worthwhile.
https://goo.gl/ir1cA5

For Fukuoka, you might consider getting a subway day pass - many of the good places to see are not too far from a station.
https://goo.gl/X3LDaE
http://www.thejapanfaq.com/fukpic.html

For an extra day, there are two very good possibilities. One is going to see Nagasaki. There are numerous historical areas to see and it is much more than just a city that got a-bombed a long time ago. Along the way, you could also see the beautiful Yutoku Inari Shrine - it is by far one of the most beautiful on the whole island.
https://goo.gl/hZVjBi
https://youtu.be/2UU_1Aip_l4

Another idea is to go see Kitakyushu + Shimonoseki for a day. You can walk underneath the ocean (rarely can anyone do that back home) through the Kanmon Tunnel and see a number of good places.

For nature and animals I like the trip to Nagasaki Bio Park but it would be a heavy day trip from Fukuoka - Fukuoka to Haus Ten Bosch, then shuttle bus to the Park which would be 3 hours each way at least, depending on transfer times.

Dazaifu is a good day/half day trip destination from Fukuoka. Your itinerary seems to lack any major temple and historical site visit, so Dazaifu should fill in those theme if you're into them.

As for the order, I personally would visit the onsen later in the trip as it would be a sort of a rest day after the extensive travels. Especially with those activities in Yakushima.

However, I see that you're coming from Busan, so I assumed you're visiting South Korea as well. If that's the case, then staying in Yufuin on the 4th day would be a good way to rejuvenate yourself before continuing your holiday.

I would recommend visiting Nagasaki city, it can be done as a full day trip from Fukuoka. However the travel is quite long (around 2 hours+ one way), so there'll be quite a time wasted on the train. Last time I did this, I travel out of Fukuoka in the morning and stop by Yutoku Inari Shrine. I would suggest to skip the Yutoku Inari Shrine as you need to use a bus (or taxi) from the train station to the shrine so more time wasted. The shrine itself is nice, but not spectacular, particularly if you've been to the grander shrines/temple in Kyoto etc. I reached Nagasaki City by almost 3pm as I was distracted by the Cherry Blossom around the shrine, not the shrine itself. There are many things to do in the city yet I only able to visit Peace Park, Meganebashi Bridge, Chinatown (nothing impressive here, maybe because it's on the weekday), and Mount Inasa (planned to view the sunset here but missed them by a hair). There are definitely more things to see such as the Glover Park and Dejima. The city itself is beautiful too. It leaves an impression to me till now as I think it's a very unique city compared to other typical Japanese cities. The tram/street car itself is particularly cute.

I can't thank you enough everyone for taking your time to respond.... really really appreciate it....

Seems like i have a lot of choices now for the day trip from Fukuoka....

After checking the bus timetable and cost, i am thinking of catching bus for the part from Beppu to Yufuin to Kurokawa onsen to Aso and then pick up rental car at Aso station for 1 day trip to Takachiho and 1 day around Aso area.... Car rental over 4 days works out to be around 40,000 yen whereas i can save heaps more by using bus for the first two days....

I saw this website which allows me to make reservations for the Odan Bus tickets. Has anyone used this website before and is it a reliable website?
https://japanbusonline.com/en/Detail/14301010001/0/8442020/8431001/201...

May i ask whether it is doable to use rental car (for about 6 hours) to visit Daikanbo, Kikuchi gorge, and Nabegataki Falls in 1 day?

Thank you so much :)

May i ask whether it is doable to use rental car (for about 6 hours) to visit Daikanbo, Kikuchi gorge, and Nabegataki Falls in 1 day?

https://bit.ly/2jZO3OO

As you see it is 94.6 km drive and Googlemap suggests it will take 2 hours 8 min. There will be normally no traffic jam there (country side road) so it is doable.

Thank you Frog1954 :)