Visited Kyushu in 1 week in mid-Dec. This was our 5th visit to Kyushu though second time by car. Apart from the first and last day in Fukuoka, we visited by car with high level itin below.

D2 – the Arita Porcelain Park in Saga Prefecture, stayed in Ureshino onsen

D3 – Kujukushima in Nagasaki Prefecture, stayed in onsen resort in Sasebo.

D4 – Nagasaki city and stayed in Unzen onsen.

D5 – Nita-Toge, Shimabara, took ferry to Kumamoto pier and drove to Kami-Amakusa for onsen resort.

D6 – Returned to Fukuoka, stopped by Yanagawa for few hours along the way.

 

Arita Porcelain Park

Arita has been producing porcelain for centuries.  We visited this park for about 2 hours including lunch. The buildings looked aged. Loads of tourists from mainland China were constantly ferried in – for lunch and shopping.

 

Ureshino onsen town

Drove to Ureshino onsen town after lunch. The town was small and quiet. There was a public onsen facility but we did not soak in it. Relaxed in a local coffee house with small garden inside. It was cosy and comfortable. 

 

 

Ureshino onsen stay

Picked a ryokan with 3 premises in town, including one on the hillside. As we stayed overnight we are allowed to enjoy onsen for free in all its premises. We headed to the hillside rotenburo by car in about 15min. It was huge with mountain stream flowing below. Chatted with a local who flew from Tokyo to Kagoshima and drove all the way there.  My original intention was to stay in this hillside ryokan but it was closed during weekdays, due to insufficient demand.

Overall, this onsen ryokan served nice meals, great onsen and service.  Stayed in a spacious twin bed room with garden view. Room rate was so cheap that would be almost impossible in neither Hokkaido nor in Honshu.

 

===>  Part 2  ===>