All things bright and beautiful: (2023) 6-days in Kyushu, Japan --- Overview

Our first overseas holiday trip in three years finally materialized at the end of May this year. Being able to be away for only 6 days, we opted for a fairly leisurely trip to North Kyushu. We had visited Kyushu two times before, but both of those were fairly brief visits, and there were still a lot of places we would like to see. Not wanting to be tired out by driving long distances, the JR 5-days North Kyushu rail pass was the perfect option for us.

It turned out it was not the best time of the year for travel to Kyushu, weather-wise at least. June is always the start of the rainy season. This year, our time in Kyushu happened to coincide with the passing by of Typhoon Mawar, which had wrecked much havoc not only in Guam where it originated, but also in the Philippines, before it made a rather unusual U-turn northwards and passed directly over Okinawa. We could count as being fortunate in Kyushu as the typhoon only brought torrential rain on two days and not flooding or more severe damage.

Overall, we were pleased to see all that we had planned, and more. Here is an overview of our itinerary.

Day 1: Afternoon arrival at Fukuoka International Airport. Take Airport bus to Hakata Station. Picked up our pre-booked JR North Kyushu Rail Passes.

5-days JR North Kyushu Rail Pass

Day 2: Morning: Yusentei Park 友泉亭, Fukuoka. Afternoon: Take Yufuin-no-Mori train to Yufuin.

Yusentei Park, Fukuoka

The Yufuin-no-Mori train about to depart from Hakata Station, Fukuoka

Day 3: Morning: Yufuin --- Lake Kinrin 金鱗湖. Afternoon: Train to Nagasaki. View of Nagasaki night scene from Mount Inasayama Observatory 稻佐山展望台.

Lake Kinrin, Yufuin

Nagasaki night scene, as viewed from Mount Inasayama Observatory 稻佐山展望台

Day 4: Tour of Nagasaki --- Twenty-six Martyrs Monument and Museum, Oura Cathedral, Glover Garden, Dejima Wharf, Peace Park, Urakami Cathedral, Hypocenter Park, Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.