Kyushu by Train

We meet you on arrival at Fukuoka Airport and take you by private taxi to your hotel in the city centre. Before you settle in, we help you collect the train tickets and seat reservations for the rest of your trip, so you can travel with confidence from day one. The evening is yours. Hakata’s riverside yatai food stalls and its famous tonkotsu ramen are a good first taste of Kyushu.

A limited express train takes you west to Takeo Onsen, a quiet hot spring town in Saga Prefecture. Mifuneyama Rakuen was laid out in 1845 by the local lord at the foot of the dramatic cliffs of Mt Mifune, and its ponds, tea house and walking paths change character with every season. Nearby, the smaller Keishu-en garden offers a calm, beautifully kept contrast. In the afternoon, the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen carries you on to Nagasaki.

The morning begins at the Atomic Bomb Museum, which tells the story of 9 August 1945 and the city’s recovery with great care. The Peace Park and Hypocentre are a short walk away. For lunch, try champon, Nagasaki’s hearty noodle soup, which was created in the city more than a century ago. In the afternoon, visit Dejima, the fan-shaped island that was Japan’s only window on the West for over 200 years, with its restored Dutch merchant houses and warehouses. Then take the train back to Fukuoka.

The Sonic limited express follows the coast east to Beppu. Beppu has more hot spring sources than anywhere else in Japan. Its “hells” are a series of steaming pools too hot for bathing, each with its own colour, from the cobalt blue of Umi Jigoku to the deep red of Chinoike Jigoku. Lunch steamed over natural hot spring vents is a local speciality. In the afternoon, the Beppu Ropeway climbs to about 1,300 metres, a short walk below the 1,375-metre summit of Mt Tsurumi, with sweeping views over the town and Beppu Bay. Then the train takes you back to Fukuoka.

A short Shinkansen ride brings you to Kumamoto. Suizenji Jojuen is a 17th-century stroll garden built by the Hosokawa lords, with a grassy mound shaped like Mt Fuji reflected in its spring-fed pond. Kumamoto Castle, completed in 1607, is one of Japan’s great castles. Its main keep has been restored after the 2016 earthquake, and the work on its stone walls is an impressive story in itself. In the late afternoon, continue south by Shinkansen to Kagoshima, where black pork is the dish to try for dinner.

Start at Shiroyama, the hill where Saigo Takamori made his last stand in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. Today it offers the classic view across the city to the smoking Sakurajima volcano. Sengan-en, the seaside villa garden of the Shimazu lords since 1658, uses Sakurajima and Kinko Bay as its borrowed scenery and is the highlight of any visit to Kagoshima. In the afternoon, the Shinkansen whisks you back to Fukuoka.

A day to explore however you like. Walk the covered Kawabata shopping arcade to Kushida Shrine, Hakata’s guardian shrine, browse the craft shops for Hakata-ori textiles and Hakata dolls, or relax in Ohori Park beside the Fukuoka Castle ruins. Fukuoka is the home of tonkotsu ramen, so end the day with a bowl at a local shop or a yatai stall.

After breakfast, check out and take your private taxi to Fukuoka Airport, just minutes from the city centre, or to Hakata Station if your journey continues by train.