11Nov2017_Kyushu-Preparation

Once again it’s our annual pilgrimage to Japan. Last year around this time it was Osaka and Kyoto. This year we decided something new:driving in Kyushu,Japan.Before setting off for  Kyshu we have to make sure the following items are prepared

1. Air Ticket
2. Accomodation and Car Rental
3. Planned Itineraries

(1) Air Ticket 

For popular destinations in Japan, it is important to book ticket half a year in advance especially when there is still airline promotion.For SQ direct flight to Fukuoka, we booked the tickets in June for Nov departure. It only costed us SGD976.20 per person and with mileage discount, the net price was SGD790.35. If you book a few months later, the price shoot up to around SGD1400.


Click here to see the air ticket

(2) Accomodation and Car rental 

(2.1) Accomodation

Similar to air tickets, accomodation must be sourced at the same time. Normally, Japan accomodation is opened only 6 months before. We usually booked via Hotel.com or booking.com.For Hotels.com one night free can be redeemed for every 10 nights that you have stayed based on the average price of 10 days stay. These are the confirmed ryokan and hotels booked for this trip:

Date	Hotel	Price	brfast	Booked via	Link
18,19Nov	Yufuin Inakasou田舍村いなか本館	SGD373/2 night	No	Hotels.com	Click here
20Nov	Tairoukan 旅館大朗館	SGD183/night	Yes	Booking.com	Click here
21Nov	Imakuni ryokan 今國旅館	SGD180/night	Yes	Booking.com	Click here
22-Nov	The new hotel Kumamoto	SGD127.64/night	Yes	Hotels.com	Click here
23,24Nov	Dormy Inn Hakata Gion Natural hot spring	SGD359.79/2 nights	Yes	Hotels.com	Click here

(2.2) Car Rental

We read that it is relatively easy and joyful to drive in Kyushu where the road and countryside along the way can be quite picturesque, we decided to give it a try.

We have experience renting from budget-rent a car when we were in Melbourne in 2015, we decided to rent again from budget-rent a car in Fukuoka. Most navigation system that comes with your car comes with both Japanese and English. It is important that you have to ask the car rental staff to set it to English. Also, in Japan you normally enter the telephone number or mapcode.However,sometimes telephone number of your destination could have changed or there is no telephone number in the destination you want to go. Then it is important to know the map code. You can get the map code from this website.
Click here for Japan mapcodes
Click here for budget rent a car website
Click here for email confirmation(only authorized)

(3)Planned Itineraries

Date	From time	From	To	Address	Tel	Mapcode	Drive hrs	Link
18Nov17(Sat)	0930	Fukuoka In't Airport	Kokonoe Yume Otsurihashi(Sky walkway)九重夢大吊橋	1208 Tano,Oaza,Kokonoe-machi,Kusu-gun,Oita,879-4911 879-4911 大分県玖珠郡九重町大字田野1208番地	+81 973(73)3800	269 012 156	1hr42m	Click here
	1330	Sky Walkway	Yufuin Station(Yufuin Area)	Location/8-2, Kawakita, Yufuin-cho, Yufu City, Oita, 879-5114 〒879-5114 大分県由布市湯布院町川北8−2	0977-84-2021	269 357 117*80	36min	Click here
	1500	Yufuin Station	Kinrinko lake金鱗湖	30mins walk from Yufuin station	-	269 359 671*17	walk	Click here
	1700	Yufuin Station	Yufuin Inakasou ryokan 田舍村いなか本館	440-19 Kawakami, Yufuin-cho 大分県由布市湯布院町川上440-19	+81977845282	269 389 825*66	8min	Click here
19Nov17(Sun)	0930	Yufuin Inakasou ryokan	Beppu sand bath别府市营别府海滨砂汤	874-0023　別府市上人ヶ浜	0977-66-5737	46 525 014*22	36min	Click here
		Beppu sand bath	Beppu Hells	874-0045　大分県別府市鉄輪559-1	+81 977 66 1577	46 521467*28	14 min	Click here
		Beppu Hells	Kintetsu Beppu ropeway		(0977)22-2278		13min	Click here
		Kinetetsu Beppu ropeway	Back to Yufuin Inakasou ryokan		-		23min
20Nov17(Mon)	0830	Inakasou ryokan	Kurokawa- Tairoukan ryokan(旅館大朗館)	Manganji 7130,Minamioguni, 869-2402 869-2402 熊本県, 南小国町, 満願寺7130	096-744-0908	440 570 369*85	57min	Click here
21Nov17(Tues)	0830	Tairoukan ryokan	Aso Daikanbo	Kumamoto Prefecture, Aso-shi, Yamada 2090-8 熊本県阿蘇市山田2090-8	0967-32-1960		25m	Click here
		Aso Daikanbo	Takachiho Gorge 高千穂峡	882-1101 日本宮崎縣西臼杵郡高千穗町大字三田井809-1	0982 73 1213		1hr30m	Click here
		Takachiho Gorge	Imakuni ryokan(今國旅館)	882-1101 Miyazaki, Takachiho, Mitai 803-4, 三田井803-4西臼杵郡高千穂町, 882-1101	+81 982 72 2175	330 742 700*36	7min	Click here
22Nov17(Wed)	1000	Imakuni ryokan	Kumamoto-Budget rent a car		+81 927 35 8886	29 427 508*03	2hr1m	Click here
		Budget-rent-a car	The new hotel Kumamoto	1-13-1 Kasuga	-		walk 3m	Click here
		hotel Kumamoto	Kumamoto castle		-		Train 22m
			-Shimotori shotengai shopping street		-		Train
			Suizenji park		-		Train
23Nov17(Thu)	0930	Kumamoto Station	Fukouka-Dormy Inn Hakata Gion	1-12 Reisen-cho Hakata ku (taking Kyushu shinkansen)	-		49min	Click here
			Ohori Park(autumn leaves) - Tenjin Central Park n city (chic shopping area) -underground shopping in Tenjin -visit Dazaifu demangu shrine		-
24Nov17(Fri)	1000	Dormy Inn Hakata Gion	- Fukuoka castle		-
			-visit  kawabatadori street		-
			- visit Kushida Shrine (red tori)		-
			- walk along Naka River to love bridge to red light district		-
25Nov17(Sat)	0600	Fukuoka Int'l airport (departure 0950)	Singapore		-