Daytrips from Fukuoka

We are booked into a hotel for three days in Fukuoka, before catching a train to Hiroshima. I would like to spend one day in Fukuoka, one in Nagasaki and one in Beppu. Are Nagasaki and Beppu feasible as day trips? My husband definitely wants to see Nagasaki. If we can't make it to Beppu, is there anywhere closer to Fukuoka that has hot springs/geysers like those in Beppu? I am not meaning Onsens, rather that volcanic landscape to view.
I hope that someone can give me some advice! Thank you in advance. Aleph

If you have a JR pass, I would recommend going to Kagoshima. From Hakata Stn in Fukuoka, you can make it down to Kagoshimachuo Stn (by Sakurajima) via Shinkansen in less than 2.5hrs. We took the 3hr bus tour on Sakurajima and then ended the tour early (almost at the end of the tour) to go to Furusato Onsen which has an awesome rotenburo right on the ocean.

Correction: I meant to recommend going to Sakurajima for your day trip (not Kagoshima...which is the "gateway" city to Sakurajima). You could have dinner in Kagoshima before returning at night to Fukuoka. Sakurajima is an awesome sight, if you are into volcanoes. You might be disappointed by Beppu for that. It is very commercialized.

Thanks for your advice, Warren! Could you tell me a little more about Sakurajima? Do you have to do the bus tour, or can you wander around from the train station and see the sites on foot? Thank you!

Official Sakurajima Information
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/kagoshima/sakura...

Just the ferry ride from Kagoshima to Sakurajima was great, with the volcano looming impressively above the water. You can walk around and see stuff (museum and some shopping) by the ferry port on Sakurajima, however, walking to see the rest of Sakurajima would be impossible. If you don't want to do the bus tour, you couuld hire a taxi for a little more to take you to the sightseeing points.

The bus tour is all in Japanese, but they provide you with a big guidebook in English that is numbered for the various points of interest. The guide will then say something like "Number 16" before she starts talking about whatever is at that point. Our guide also entertained us with some local songs.

You can start the bus tour from Kagoshimachuo station or meet up with it on Sakurajima for a little less money (we took the streetcar and ferry ourselves after getting to Kagoshimachuo).

See "See Sakurajima Nature Tour" at this link for a description of the bus tour we took. (near bottom of page)
http://www.synapse.ne.jp/~update/transport/transport-e.html

Sakurajima is definitely worth seeing, but it is best done as a leisurely day-trip from Kagoshima. From the Sakurajima ferry pier, you can rent a car, scooter or a bike to explore on your own with time set aside for the beautiful rotemburo (open-air onsen) by the ocean in Furusato Onsen. Even if you opt for a bus tour, doing it as a day trip from Fukuoka is a bit too much. To join the morning tour, you have to leave Fukuoka around 6.00, joining the afternoon tour (slightly more feasible), you will be back in Fukuoka after 20.00. And going down that far south without a visit to Kagoshima seems ''in-complete''.

If volcanic landscape/geyser is what you're after, there are Mt. Aso near Kumamoto or Uuzen near Nagasaki.

Thanks so much for all of your advice....I am just a bit worried though that this might all be a bit far from Fukuoka...our accomodation is booked, and so we really need to be operating from Fukuoka as a base - are any of these sites do-able as day trips??

I actually do think it's still feasible from Fukuoka. Yes - the train ride is ~2.5hrs each way. You will only be able to see Sakurajima and not the rest of Kagoshima except for dinner. Sakurajima though is probably the most impressive "classic" looking volcano I've seen. Aso is cool too, but I believe getting there from Fukuoka is tougher without a car. And you also wouldn't be able to get around easily once you got there. Unzen is a nice day trip from Nagasaki, but you can't do Nagasaki and Unzen in the same day.

If you're going to Sakurajima, I would recommend aborting early from the bus tour to get dropped off at Furusato Onsen to do the rotemburo there. Doing this, you will miss the last free shuttle bus from the hotel back to the ferry port, however, there is a public bus that stops at the Furusato Hotel that you can catch to get back to the ferry. Then have dinner in Kagoshima. As long as you are OK getting back to Fukuoka late, I think it's worth doing... especially if you like seeing the volcano :)

I guess I did not mention it, but we did the aforementioned Sakurajima bus tour as a day trip from Kumamoto (only a 1hr Shinkansen ride from Kumamoto to Kagoshimachuo). We left late morning from Kumamoto to get there. You would need to leave earlier, and would get back later than we did...

Aleph, by the way, we also toured Nagasaki as a day trip. The day before Nagasaki, we ferried from Kumamoto to see Shimabara and Unzen, and then spent the night at Obama. We then went on to Nagasaki the next day, and then returned to Kumamoto in the evening.

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+53722