Enjoy a handpicked culinary journey through Kyushu, where every meal is crafted to highlight the region’s seasonal ingredients and rich food culture.
Join our 2027 Kyushu Cherry Blossom Tour (March 26 – April 1), an exclusive small-group journey led by an English-speaking guide. Explore serene temples, ancient castles, and the dramatic landscapes of Mount Aso during the height of the sakura season. Travel by private bus for the region’s most spectacular views and savor locally inspired meals that define Kyushu’s rich culinary heritage.
Wander beneath blooming sakura trees, explore ancient castle ruins, and immerse yourself in the vibrant traditions that define spring in Kyushu.
Enjoy a handpicked culinary journey through Kyushu, where every meal is crafted to highlight the region’s seasonal ingredients and rich food culture.
Welcome to Fukuoka. After arriving, check into your hotel in the vibrant Fukuoka City. The rest of the day is yours to explore at your own pace. Wander the neighbourhood, browse local shops, and sample some of Fukuoka’s renowned street food and ramen. It’s a gentle, unhurried start to the week.
Overnight: Nishitetsu Grand Hotel, Fukuoka City
Meet your tour leader and fellow travellers in the hotel lobby, and head out for your first full day. The morning begins at the atmospheric ruins of a 17th-century castle, one of Fukuoka’s most celebrated cherry blossom spots. Petals drift over crumbling stone walls in a setting that feels entirely removed from modern life.
Lunch is at a specialist eel restaurant. If you haven’t tried it before, you’re in for a pleasant surprise — the meat is tender, the glaze rich, and it’s been a staple of Japanese cuisine for centuries.
The afternoon brings more blossom at a striking shrine, its vermillion torii gates framing the sakura beautifully. We’ll also stop at a local sake brewery before finishing the day in Mameda Town, Hita’s beautifully preserved Edo-period merchant district. Narrow lanes, timber shopfronts, and a display of traditional hina dolls make it one of the most charming townscapes in Kyushu.
Evening cherry blossom viewing may be possible depending on conditions.
Overnight: Kizantei Hotel, Hita
After breakfast, the route heads into the dramatic highland interior of Kyushu. The first stop is a hilltop temple that has blended Shinto and Buddhist traditions since its founding 1,200 years ago. Its hundreds of stone statues make it one of the most striking and photogenic sites of the tour.
A roadside station in the Oyama farming district offers a glimpse of rural Kyushu before a tofu lunch prepared using local ingredients.
The afternoon is dominated by Aso, one of the world’s largest active volcanic calderas. From a highland lookout you’ll take in the full sweep of the caldera, then move to a second vantage point for closer views across the volcanic landscape. Entry to the crater rim is subject to conditions on the day.
Tonight’s accommodation is a traditional ryokan with indoor and outdoor hot-spring baths set against a natural backdrop. Dinner is a kaiseki meal prepared with seasonal local produce.
Overnight: Oyama Ryokan, Aso
The morning begins at a classical Japanese garden in Kumamoto, laid out over 350 years ago. The meticulously maintained grounds reference the 53 stages of the old Tokaido road in miniature — a quiet, elegant start to the day.
From Kumamoto, we cross Ariake Sea by ferry to the Shimabara Peninsula. The journey itself offers fine views across the bay. On arrival, we visit a hillside flower park where cherry blossom and bright yellow rapeseed bloom against a mountain backdrop, one of the tour’s most striking combinations of colour.
The afternoon is spent in Shimabara’s well-preserved castle town. Stroll the old samurai streets and the picturesque canal district, where carp glide through clear spring water beneath the blossoms.
Overnight: Hotel Seaside Shimabara, Shimabara
The morning takes us to Unzen, a mountain resort town famous for its bubbling, sulphurous hot-spring vents. The geothermal area is a vivid, otherworldly landscape with a sobering history.
Lunch is a picnic at a park in Omura, one of Japan’s top 100 cherry blossom spots, where over 2,000 trees of 20 different varieties bloom across the grounds of a 17th-century castle. It’s the kind of setting that stops people mid-sentence.
The afternoon includes a visit to a seaside tea plantation on the coast, where the terraced fields meet the sea in a way that’s distinctly Nagasaki.
Tonight’s accommodation is a ryokan in Ureshino, a spa town whose hot-spring waters have been enjoyed for over 1,300 years. The water is famously silky — an effect of its alkaline mineral content — and the evening kaiseki dinner is the culinary highlight of the tour.
Overnight: Hotel TBD, Ureshino
The morning begins in Ureshino with a hands-on tea-making class, learning to brew green tea properly — your own pot, your own leaves, guided by someone who knows exactly what they’re doing.
Lunch is at a pottery gallery in Arita, where contemporary local tableware sets the scene for a meal that’s as much about craft as it is about food.
The afternoon takes you into Okawachiyama, the Village of the Secret Kilns. For centuries, this mountain enclave was sealed off to protect the closely guarded techniques of Imari porcelain production. Today you can wander freely through the workshops and studios, and take your time choosing a piece to bring home.
By evening you’re back in Fukuoka, with the rest of the night free to explore. If the timing is right, a cherry blossom festival in the grounds of Fukuoka Castle — lined with street-food stalls — is an easy stroll from the hotel.
Overnight: Nishitetsu Grand Hotel, Fukuoka City
As your journey comes to an end, you’ll check out of the hotel after breakfast and continue on your own path. The tour may be over, but the memories you’ve created during your springtime Japanese adventure will surely be yours to cherish endlessly. Thank you for entrusting Kyushu Journeys with your unforgettable journey through Kyushu. We hope you carry these memories with you as you embark on new adventures in the future. Safe travels, and until we meet again!
Price based on double/twin sharing. Single traveler staying in a room alone will have an additional charge of ¥145,000. For triple sharing price, please contact us for more information.
Our Lifetime Deposit Guarantee: We understand that travel plans can be affected by unforeseen circumstances. If you are unable to travel for any reason, your deposit is protected as a Lifetime Credit. It will be held securely for you to use toward any of our future tours at a time that suits you.
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Find answers to your most pressing questions about our Cherry Blossom Group tour. If you don’t see your question here, feel free to ask us!
You will stay in a mix of clean and comfortable city hotels and traditional Japanese ryokan inns with onsen baths. In the city hotels you will be sleeping in western beds. In the Japanese ryokan inns you will be sleeping in a mix of western beds and traditional Japanese-style futonbeds on tatami mat flooring.
Your trip planner is a passionate foodie. She has carefully selected every eatery to highlight the quality cuisine that Kyushu is so famous for throughout Japan. If you have any dietary restrictions please ask us about alternatives available before booking your tour.
A comfortable private bus.
We love small group intimate travel. Maximum participants will be 12 people.
Definitely yes! You will be travelling by private bus and accompanied at all times by an English-speaking tour leader. There are no long hikes on this tour but of course you will need to walk around various attractions. There will be some non-paved paths and steps to climb (especially in shrines or temples). It will be no problem if you prefer to skip any activity and wait for the group on the bus or in a seated area.
This tour has been commissioned by Walking Wise Tours & Travel (UK) after extensive discussion of the itinerary with ourselves (Kyushu Journeys). It is based on our recommendations and we will operate and manage all aspects of the tour here in Japan.
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