Reachable by rail in 90 minutes or less
Fukuoka doesn’t get the same attention as Tokyo or Kyoto, but its position as Kyushu’s rail hub makes it one of the best bases in Japan for day trips. When you stay a while in Fukuoka, you open up the possibility of Fukuoka day trips throughout Kyushu and Honshu, and a range of destinations are all available in less than an hour and a half by train.
Our family of four has stayed over 2 months on Kyushu alone, including Kumamoto, Beppu, Oita, and Fukuoka. We’ve visited Japan multiple times since 2013, have stayed in Japan for over a year total, and we have a home in the Osaka area.
In this guide, most destinations will be on the island of Kyushu, where Fukuoka is located. However, some wonderful Japanese destinations on the western side of Honshu are easier to get to from Fukuoka than from Tokyo.
We’ll note which island each Fukuoka day trip destination is on. We’ll also list an approximate one-way travel time, which we’re basing on leaving from Fukuoka’s Hakata Station on a Friday at 8 a.m.
Plan your trip to Fukuoka
Where are good places to go on a day trip from Fukuoka?
Here’s a quick list of our 5 destinations for Fukuoka day trips we’ve either taken or plan to take on future visits to Fukuoka:
- Hiroshima, 1 hour 2 minutes
- Yamaguchi, 34 minutes
- Kita-Kyushu, 15 minutes
- Kumamoto, 32 minutes
- Kagoshima, 1 hour 16 minutes
Hiroshima
Island: Honshu
Travel time: 1 hour 2 minutes
After Tokyo and Kyoto, Hiroshima is one of Japan’s most desirable destinations. However, it’s much easier to get here from Fukuoka via Shinkansen or other trains.
Many visitors come for the memorials to the 1945 atomic bombing and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. More and more come for the beautiful gardens, views of islands and rugged coastlines along the Seto Inland Sea, and a city that has rebuilt itself from tragedy to thriving.
Yamaguchi
Island: Honshu
Travel time: 34 minutes
In 1360, Yamaguchi began when an important military lord brought the design and look of his beloved Kyoto to the western edge of Honshu.
Today’s Yamaguchi is renowned for having temples, pagodas, shrines, gardens, and landscapes similar to Kyoto landmarks such as Yamaguchi’s Rurikoji Temple Pagoda, the Ichinosaka River, Joei-ji Temple Sesshu Garden, and historic streets that echo Kyoto’s Gion District.
Plus, while Yamaguchi City is on the southern side of Yamaguchi Prefecture along the Seto Inland Sea, the Nagato area along the northern side of the prefecture is home to Motonosumi Inari Shrine. There, on rocky cliffs above the Sea of Japan, 123 torii gates are a miniature seaside version of the thousands of torii along the hillside Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto.
A special draw in Yamaguchi? It evokes Kyoto, but receives a fraction of the visitors. Combined with the convenient travel time from Fukuoka, it’s an easy day trip to a part of Japan few foreign visitors make time for.
Kita-Kyushu
Island: Kyushu
Travel time: 15 minutes
On the northern edge of Kyushu, where the Kanmon Straits separate the island from Honshu, Kita-Kyushu is a blue-collar, workaday city. However, it’s also an epicenter of samurai history, home to the five-story Kokura Castle built in 1602, and the historic Moji Port area.
Proximity to the sea draws many visitors, as does the Kanmon Tunnel. The tunnels run underneath the Kanmon Straits. Visitors to Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture can use the tunnels to cross from Honshu to Kitakyushu.
In fact, if you want a day trip to Yamaguchi, it’s easy to pair it with Kita-Kyushu. You could plan a day in Yamaguchi, depart for Shimonoseki, go through the pedestrian tunnel, explore Kita-Kyushu, then rest up on the short train ride back to Fukuoka.
Kumamoto
Island: Kyushu
Travel time: 32 minutes
A quick ride south of Fukuoka, Kumamoto is home to Kumamoto Castle, one of the coolest castles in Japan. Damaged but still standing after a brutal 2016 earthquake, the keep and grounds deserve a couple of hours of wandering.
The city and surrounding prefecture are also home to life-size statues of all ten Straw Hat Pirates from the world-famous series One Piece.
Personally, we stayed an entire month in Kumamoto, mainly so we could take our time visiting all 10 One Piece statues.
If you’re only visiting for the day and aren’t renting a car, your best bet is to visit Luffy and Chopper in town. Or, if you decide to stay longer in Kumamoto, rent a car and take a couple of days checking out the rest of the statues, along with other attractions, throughout the prefecture.
Kagoshima
Island: Kyushu
Travel time: 1 hour 16 minutes
At the southern edge of Kyushu, Kagoshima isn’t just a historic town on the edge of the beautiful Pacific. Just east of the city, on the other side of Kagoshima Bay, the active volcano Sakurajima rises with fierce beauty.
Kagoshima is home to excellent onsen, hot sand baths, a Samurai Heritage & Culture Center, along with iconic dishes including Kagoshima Kurobuta (sweet black pork) and Kagoshima Kuroushi (premium wagyu beef).
Honorable mentions: Saga, Nagasaki, and Beppu
Our suggestions focus on places you can easily reach within an hour and a half by train from Fukuoka. That means that even though there are some Kyushu destinations close to Fukuoka on the map, they’re trickier to get to.
For example, there are a few options to travel from Fukuoka to Saga or Nagasaki in around an hour and a half, but most options take longer than two hours. Saga and Nagasaki are west of Fukuoka. Beppu, however, is on the eastern side of Kyushu.
Saga
Saga is especially known for its porcelain, onsen, tofu cooked in mineral water (yudofu), and the autumn Saga International Balloon Fiesta.
Nagasaki
Nagasaki is best known for the 1945 atomic bombing that brought about the end of World War II in the Pacific region. However, today’s city has been rebuilt and is worth visiting not only for the war and bomb memorials at Nagasaki Peace Park but also for its history of international trade, beaches, ocean kayaking, and a vibrant Chinatown.
Beppu
With steam rising from all over the hillsides and grounds throughout Beppu, it’s no wonder the area is one of Japan’s best-known onsen areas. Beppu Park is home to a serene bamboo grove, wonderful for a quiet stroll. The Beppu Bamboo Crafts Center showcases bamboo crafts that will have you goggle-eyed at what skilled people can create from the humble bamboo (plus there are classes where you can make your own bamboo bell).
Above all, you come to Beppu for the onsen, and for the thermal pool attractions known as the Hells of Beppu. It’s not a destination you want to rush through, but enjoy. We spent only a couple of nights, including a day devoted to the Hells, and easily could have stayed another day just for more onsen relaxation.
Perhaps these destinations work as Fukuoka day trips for you. Personally, we suggest going to Saga, Nagasaki, and Beppu not as day trips from Fukuoka, but as overnight stays that are additional parts of your travels around Kyushu. They each deserve at least a night and a full day all their own.
Fukuoka day trips put more of Japan within reach than you might expect
Fukuoka’s position as Kyushu’s rail hub is one of the best things about basing yourself here for a few days. Whether you want to stand in the shadow of Kumamoto Castle, feel the weight of Hiroshima’s history, or simply explore a corner of Japan most visitors skip entirely, you don’t have to go far or spend long getting there.
