Kyushu, a vast land with unspoiled nature.

Not overcrowded with tourists, full of local pride, the representation of real Japanese quality.

So much to explore, and it just put a spell on you wanting to go back again.

I booked my next flight to Kyushu, heading back in just two months! :P

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~ Quick menu ~

💸 Overall Spending

📝 Itinerary (for a group of 5)

🛏️ Accommodations 

(My stays are generally quite budget except for one-night onsen ryokan) 

🍽️ Restaurants

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💸 Overall spending  (per person)

✈️ Round-trip flight (Hong Kong-Fukuoka) - 2,455 HKD

🛏️ 6 nights accommodations - 2,600 HKD 

🚗 Transport (Car rental + Tolls + Fuel + Parking) - 1,500 HKD

Total: approx. 6,700 HKD 

(without food and misc and we don't talk about shopping...)

🍽️ For spending on meals - it can be quite flexible to be honest. It can be as cheap as 300-500 yen per meal if you don't mind getting onigiri from the convenience store or a quick meal from those regular budget franchise like Matsuya. A standard nice bowl of ramen typically cost around 1,000 yen. If you want something fancy then 2,000-3,000 yen you can get something nice actually. Of course there is nothing called upper limit 😉

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📝 Itinerary

Fukuoka 🡺 Kitakyu 🡺 Oita 🡺 Miyazaki 🡺 Fukuoka

FYI this road trip is a continuous trip from my "grad" trip so I've skipped a few popular destinations I've visited already,  focussing on remote areas that are only accessible via cars. 

🚧🛠️ Stay tuned for my post about our 5 days in Fukuoka, Kumamoto & Takachiho (Miyazaki)!

Day 1

💇🏻‍♀️12pm Hair makeover @ ジーナ 福岡天神(Zina)

🚗 3pm pick up car @ Toyota Rent-a-car Fukuoka International Airport Shop

would recommend the domestic airport shop if you're heading from the city centre, as the train stops at the domestic airport, then another shuttle bus to the international airport

🌃 5pm panoramic nightview @ Mount Sarakura observatory

🛏️ 8pm Check in @ Hotel Relief Kokura Annex

(the quality of the all-you-can-eat curry rice and udon are🤌✨)

9pm 🍻🎵 Night @ MR.LEFTY'S

totally unplanned encounter <3 we ended up spending a few hours here, chit-chatting in half English half Japanese, some impromptu performance and singing, and learnt the true meaning of "Omotenashi"

Day 2

⛩️ 11am shrine visit @ Usa Jingu Shrine

🪻 Flower field and farmer market @ random "michi no eki" highway rest stop

☕🥪🍰 Quick lunch at roadside cafe @ People Station

🌳 4pm forest bathing in a serene buddhist temple @ Futagoji

🛏️ 5pm Check in @ J-Hoppers Beppu Guesthouse

♨️ "Sento" Bathhouse @ Minami Matogahama onsen

We got the free ticket from our guesthouse to use this super traditional bathhouse nearby. There wasn't any shower area and it's just a small pool.

Dinner @ Robata Jin

Drinks @ The Hell bar

Day 3

♨️ 9am "Sento" Bathhouse @ Kaimonji Onsen

The staff said this is a more "modern" sento with shower areas. Maybe because we went in the early morning - it's a boiling pot. In just a few mins my skin was red like a roasted pig XD...

11am "Hell" pudding @ Okoyamotoya light meal restaurant

12pm Coffee @ Apple

3pm @ Shingekinokyojin in HITA Museum

5pm @ Hita Attack on Titan dam statue

Had some fun shooting weird Kyojin-themed photos and videos...

6pm Levi's statue @ Hita station

Check in @ Okuyado Buaiso

Onsen after a long day is the best!!! And the onsen egg are so tasty...

Late dinner @ Joyful

Family Restaurant with Beppu local cuisine!

 

Day 4

Onsen & Breakfast @ Okuyado Buaiso

12pm Strolling along Yufuin

Instead of just the floral village, I think the entire walking street in Yufuin is great. Enjoyed window and actual shopping here - love how it's brimming with local craftmanship.

Lunch @ Yururin

Groceries for dinner @ supermarket in Miyazaki

Check in & cook dinner @ Airbnb Park View Aoshima

 

 

Day 5

10am Morning coffee @ uminoie coffee stand, Aoshima Beach Park

Morning Stroll @ Aoshima shrine

2pm Kirishima Factory Garden

The guided tour was fully booked so we decided to book and come back again the next morning. The salted bread in the bakery was so gooood 🥖

 4pm Udo-jingu Shrine

7pm Dinner @ Waribashi (Izakaya)

First time trying chicken sashimi!! Surprisingly refreshing haha

Day 6

10am Guided Tour @ Kirishima Factory Garden

Guided tour to the factory to learn about the history and processing, ended with free tasting of a wide range of Kirishima shochu 🍶

12pm Organic food hearty lunch @ Tamachan, Miyakonojo

Miyazaki chicken karaage is good!

Check in @ Airbnb at Mifune

4pm-9pm Firework @ Yatsushiro National Fireworks Competition Festival

Of course we must end our trip with Hanabi taikai!

 

Day 7

10am Brook statue @ Mifune Fureai Park (Dinosaur Park)

Just a pleasant surprise that Brook statue is in this town where it's the only available, afordable stay for us that is closest to Yatsushiro, where the firework festival was held, else it's a remote area that most tourists won't visit (except for hardcore One Piece fan XD) I realised the reason why Brook is here when I saw the Music University in the roadsign.

12pm Coffee @ Cafe Bimi, Fukuoka

3pm Return car at Toyota and depart from Fukuoka Airport

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🛏️ Accommodations 

I'm generally satisfied with all my stays in Kokura, Beppu, Yufuin and Miyazaki.

Below is the price of each stay for reference.

*****

🩵 Hotel in Kokura, Kitakyushu: Hotel Relief Kokura Annex

HK$286 for 1 night (double room), so it's HK$143 per person

👍 Insanely cheap, decent room with private bathroom. Free amenities like skin lotion to grab from the lobby.

 👍 24/7 free flow of tasty curry, rice, udon, bread and drinks.

 👍 Spacious lobby for people to chill and eat free food. Manga room at 1/F, mostly in Japanese but it's cool to walk around and recognise your favourite Manga.

 👍 Paid parking area right in front of the hotel. Convenient for moving in/out luggage.

👎Nothing I could think of, actually. No free parking? 10am check-out time is too early? We were trying to savour everything before check out hahaha... but this is the standard check-out time for most of the stays in Japan, and how could we complain with THIS PRICE? 

*****

🩵 Hotel in Beppu: J-Hoppers Beppu Guesthouse

HK$621 for 1 night (family room for 5), so it's HK$124 per person

👍 Traditional Japanese tatami room - it feels like being in a "gasshuku", typical rooms that the students stay for training camp in those sport animes hahaha. The futon are super fluffy and comfy, we got a good night sleep. Room is clean and enough space for four people.

👍 Budget friendly.

👍 Free ticket to use the traditional bathhouse nearby.

👍 Good location, walkable to the town centre.

👎No bath, only shower. But a free bathhouse ticket is included so not a big deal.

*****

🩵 Ryokan in Yufuin, Oita: Okuyado Buaiso

HK$2,925 for 1 night (double room), so it's HK$1,463 per person

👍 Almost everything. Great room with big fluffy futon bed with stunning forest view, in-room private open-air onsen (with electricity switch for water control - truly a combination of modern and tradition hahaha), super spacious room for just two of us, comfy yukata robe and wooden Japanse sandal to wear when you stroll outside, nice and photogenic umbrella provided which is super useful as it was raining in the morning. As mentioned by many of the reviews, one of the highlights of the room amenities is the free L'Occitane travel pack haha! The body lotion smells super good...

👍 The open-air public onsen surrounding by nature, stunning view both daytime and night. Nice quality horse-oil bath products in the shower area. 

👍 The breakfast included in our package - beautifully-presented food with a beautiful view of nature.

👍 Superb service, the quality you can expect from a five-star ryokan (although this is four stars actually). They called my phone to ask when we're going to check in (since we arrived quite late at night haha) After check out, the manager sent us (in the car) off to the gate, bowing to the end, despite the rain.

👎You paid for what you get...but this is actually a pretty good deal with all we got.

👎Situated in the mountain, it's 20-min drive from the Yufuin town. Driving at night was difficult to navigate with the narrow, windy mountain roads, but we got to see deer!

Our room in the morning! The terrace was wet because of the rain overnight. The sky was foggy and gloomy because of the rainy day.

Morning view in the public onsen - the photo was taken when there was noone else except us! Can imagine how beautiful is the mountain if only it wasn't that foggy that day...

*****

🩵 Airbnb in Aoshima, Miyazaki: Park View Aoshima 202

HK$1,960 for 2 nights (entire unit for 4), so it's HK$245 per person/night

👍 Nice host who provided an extra futon in the living room for additional one person.

👍 Good location, walkable to the beach and the Aoshima island.

👍 Apartment unit with two bedrooms, a living room + dining room with an open kitchen (cooking utensils available). Washing machine is useful for a long trip. Nice window/balcony with bright sunlight lighting up the room. Homely decor. Spacious and cozy. Free parking.

👍 Good price comparing to the other options in Miyazaki.

👎The bath towels are not clean.

👎The double-bed bedroom is only separated from the living/dining room via a plastic wall, so not entirely a private room with sound insulation for someone who needs to sleep early while the others are chilling outside. The a/c is shared with the living room, so it could be a bit stuffy if you keep the plastic door closed.

👎The host was nice but left a nasty review. We unconsciously made a mistake, but we were also accused of something we didn't do lol, so I don't know what's going on.

*****

🩵 Guesthouse in Mifune, Kumamoto: Quilotoa Mifune Guesthouse

HK$1,969 for 1 night (entire unit for 5), so it's HK$394 per person/night

👍 It's a cool place that could be one of the highlights of the trip. A unique apartment unit on the first floor (corner), so it's easy to move our luggage in (no stairs!) in rain. Free parking. It's so spacious with the design and furniture we doubt this was a cafe/restaurant in the past. Cool open kitchen with bar seats, full of utensils that we can make coffee and food. Two bedrooms.

👍 Lots of cool, techy stuff - Alexa for the lighting and music, projector on a huge white wall instead of TV, wireless charger, Nintendo switch, etc.

👍 Helpful and responsive host, I got the response almost instantly to find out where to get the dishwashing liquid's refill.

👎While the interior design and furniture are modern and techy, can feel that the apartment is a bit dated.

👎 The cleanliness of the bed - I slept on top of the blanket as it was too comfy (and it wasn't too cold in the room) and slept well, but my friend reflected that she felt itchy sleeping on her bed. My two friends slept on the sofa were okay.

👎 The bathroom was connected to one of the bedroom, instead of in the common area.

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🍽️ Restaurants

I usually don't look for famous/popular restaurants (except for friend's recommendation), and I avoid making reservations as I want to be as flexible as possible. What I always do is to search on Google Map and pick restaurants with higher rating (4.0+). But again I'm not a picky eater - I enjoy franchise food very much haha.

Dinner @ Robata Jin, Izakaya in Beppu

Robata grilled chicken, plenty of sashimi and fresh seafood, local Beppu specialties like dango-jiru (it's a kind of dumpling soup and we called it Japan mee hoon kueh XD), juicy tomatoes, pairing with local shochu and sake.

  

Drinks @ The Hell, bar in Beppu

800 yen cocktails with nice DJ vinyl music - very hipster and young vibes

Lunch @ Yururin, Yufuin

Salmon "noodle" with soba and salmon egg don! Found this hidden gem through Google Map... as a full group of sashimi lovers, how could we miss it after seeing those photos... We queued for around 15 minutes because it's a popular but small place.

Dinner @ Waribashi, Miyazaki

Izakaya in the lively red-light district. First time trying chicken sashimi!! Surprisingly refreshing, taste a little bit like salmon sashimi. Nice service and environment as well.

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