This time, we stopped over at 3 cities: Beppu, Oita and Fukuoka. We got the 5 day Northern Kyushu Japan rail pass, which was 10k yen per person. We bought ours from Changi Recommends!
Beppu
Travelling to Beppu from Fukuoka airport:
1. Take bus 2 to Hakata Shinkansen station (260 yen per pax, 500 yen for 2 pax). Tickets can be purchased from the airport tourist information counter, and the ticket will only be placed into the fare box at the end of the trip, NOT at the start!
2. Take the Shinkansen from Hakata to Beppu: You can check and compare the different types of trains. The information boards are pretty clear on which type of Shinkansen it is and whether it stops at Beppu and how long it takes.
For some reason, most things in Beppu were closed the day we arrived, which was rather strange. So, we actually took the train into Oita, which is the next biggest city, to check out the Rugby fanzone area. The fan zones are cool because they have these HUGE screens that allow you to watch the matches live! We ended up watching Scotland v Samoa for awhile.
One of the many huge posters around in Oita!
Funai Castle Ruins
Mt Kuju hiking
This was the highlight of my Beppu trip. I read that the autumn foliage at Mt Kuju is super pretty!
Travelling to Mt Kuju: This was expensive, but it was the only way if you don't drive. Take bus 2 (Kyushu odan bus) from beppu ekimae honmachi stop, which is right outside the train station. It costs 2500 yen per person and takes about 2h to reach the Makinoto pass, which is the start point for the hike. You should reserve beforehand, but otherwise you can just go on the bus and see if there are vacancies. We were fortunate and we had vacancies! Do take note that the road is a bit winding, so if you have motion sickness do bring something to munch on.
We started hiking at around 1040 and finished at around 1450! But we were considered a bit faster than average. Most people take about 5-6 hours to complete, so you need to see your fitness level and how fast you usually take to hike! Because there are different bus timings that you need to meet. We took the 1534 bus out of the Makinoto pass and stopped at Yufuin (it's cheaper that way). We had dinner in yufuin before returning back to Beppu via train, since we had the pass. Note that most things in Yufuin close by 6pm.
Difficulty of Mt Kuju hike: moderate. A normal fitness level would allow you to climb up to the summit. However, a better shoe would help you more than just normal sneakers, because there were many portions where we were treading over rocky terrain. It will be a nice day workout! Also, there was no autumn foliage when we were there ):
Starting out nice and easy - with ice cream and steamed bun!
One of the typical rocky passes we had to go through
This might be challenging for people who aren't used to it
Always love it when the path opens up!
Multiple signs to go to different summits
No autumn foliage, but still a pretty sight!
View from the Summit
More views from the summit!
Oita
Rugby World Cup day in Oita: take a train in early because there will be a huge crowd of people doing so! The trains were packed.
We also did an early check in at the hotel and ate an early dinner at Ikinari steak (it's a very good steak chain in Japan!)
To get to the stadium: There are shuttle buses provided, but the queue was insane so be prepared to wait! We still managed to reach the stadium 1 hour+ earlier than the start time. So, don't ever take the cab because the shuttle buses are free and the cabs had an insane queue too.
The atmosphere at the stadium was SO GOOD. We thoroughly enjoyed the game even though it was a thrashing match oops. At the end of the match, there was also a long queue for the shuttle bus back and there was a jam at the stop point because everyone was getting down the buses.
Plenty of photo ops throughout Oita
At the stadium!
The tickets are so pretty!
Fukuoka
This isn't our first time in Fukuoka, so we skipped quite a bit of some touristy things and went for things that we really wanted to do.
Marinoa City Outlet: This is quite a large outlet mall with cool Japanese brands (not just the super branded stuff) like Ikka, Earth etc.
Canal City Hakata: We just passed by this, mainly for the food. There are also other shopping malls near Hakata station that are not too bad!
Walking trail: Hakata - Tenjin - Ohori park - Tenjin - Hakata
Ohori park is highly recommended! It's such a nice place for a walk/run.
Stopping for an ice cream break! Japan's soft serves are SO GOOD.
Ohori Park
Managed to catch the sunset there!
That sums up the Kyushu portion of our trip!
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