Kyushu Expedition

The Kyushu Expedition is a fully guided, Level 5 tour, suitable for reasonably fit people who can walk comfortably for 5-6 hours a day. The routes are on well-defined mountain and forest trails, but will include a few lengthy ascents and descents. Walking poles are recommended. Read more on Tour levels below.

An 8 day, 7 night tour starting in Yufuin and finishing in Kagoshima. Accommodation will be a combination of traditional Japanese inns and Onsen hot spring resorts. The maximum group size for this tour is 12 persons.

The Kyushu Expedition offers some excellent trekking through the volcanic heartlands of Kyushu and through the ancient rainforests of one of the wettest places on earth, Yakushima. It also provides us with great Japanese food, quality accommodation and theraputic onsen thermal hotspring baths many nights. This tour takes us on a scenic Yamanami Highway through the Kuju Mountains to the giant caldera and volcano-sculpted landscapes of Aso, to the giant cedars forest and towering peaks of Yakushima, before our final destination of Kagoshima. The living geology of Kyushu we see en route offers us unique insights into the formation of the Japanese islands and Yakushima provides us a rare experience of a primeval environment.


As always, this tour has been researched by Walk Japan to bring you the very best in walking, accommodation, and local Japanese food. Your tour leader is a highly experienced walker, with the Japanese language fluency and local knowledge necessary to ensure you have the best possible holiday experience.

We start the tour in the delightful, rural onsen thermal hotspring resort of Yufuin before our foray along the scenic Yamanami Highway into the nearby Kuju mountain range on Day 2. In Kuju we find the first of the many active volcanos, spuming steam, found on this tour. Early morning on Day 3 finds us deep in the Aso caldera, which at its centre is the most active volcano in Japan, Mt. Aso. Vast quantities of steam venting from its four craters provide an almost constant back-drop to our trek over this mountain today.

On Day 4 a Shinkansen Bullet train ride is part of our journey to the seaside onsen resort of Ibuski. Our day here includes a half-day trek in the nearby hills and a visit to Chiran for its samurai quarter and thought provoking and fascinating Kamikaze museum.

We spend Days 5, 6 and 7 exploring the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site of Yakushima, an island off the southern tip of Kyushu. On arrival by high-speed Jetfoil ferry, we head for Shiratani Unsuiko, an impressive area of ancient cedar trees and fast flowing streams. What happens on the following days depends on the weather conditions and may include an ascent Miya-no-Ura, Kyushu's highest peak at 1935m, a climb of Mt. Mocchomu and trekking in the Yakusugi nature reserve.

We end the tour on Day 8 in Kagoshima for easy access to Japan's extensive rail network and local airports.

In summary, the Kyushu expedition covers a good deal of ground in a week, and would be suited to someone of a good level of fitness, interested in the spectacular, volcanic scenery that southern Japan has to offer. The walking is described in more detail in the Itinerary, but bear in mind that lighter / non-walking alternatives can almost always be arranged in cases of inclement weather or fatigue!

The small, intimate nature of some of the accommodation makes the maximum group size 12 people.

Price: JPY292,000 (JPY = Japanese Yen) per person. Single room supplement JPY10,000 (Please see below). Please use the currency converter on the right-hand side of this page to find the current rate in your local currency.

What is included and not included? A fully guided tour including local travel from tour meeting point to finishing point, accommodation, six breakfasts, two lunches and all evening meals, baggage transfers, and entrance fees are included. Not included are flights, five lunches, one breakfast and drinks with meals.

Single room supplement: The single room supplement is JPY10,000 per person and guarantees a single room in a hotel on one night. Please note that while we cannot guarantee to do so we will endeavour to provide single accommodation on the nights we stay in traditional Japanese accommodation. No additional charge is made for any single accommodation provided in Japanese accommodation.

A note on traditional Japanese accommodation: Japanese cultural norms generally dictate that rooms in Japanese-style accommodation, including inns, are provided on a twin basis and individuals travelling together are traditionally expected to share. It is the case, however, that we are frequently able to secure single rooms in Japanese-style accommodation for our customers for many, if not all, days of a tour. Provision, though, is solely at the discretion of the establishment and it may not be known until the day whether it is available. Accordingly, as we cannot guarantee single rooms in Japanese-style accommodation we do not include these in the single room supplement. As mentioned above, in the case that we can provide single room accommodation we make no additional charge. Importantly, in the case that single travellers do share this will only ever be with another person of the same gender from the same tour group.

Group size: The small, intimate nature of the inns makes the maximum group size 12 people. We have no minimum size. If we accept a booking we guarantee to run the tour.

Please see the Itinerary for this tour and Tour Dates for dates and availability. These tours start on a Friday and finish on a Friday.

*SPECIAL OFFER* The Kyushu Expedition tour complements Walk Japan's Kunisaki Trek tour. The scheduled dates for both these tours run in succession for an easy combination of the two tours. If you wish to book both tours the combined price is JPY495,000, including transport between the end point and start point of two consecutive tours.

Please contact Walk Japan for more information and to book this tour.

 
Information Kyushu Expedition

Quick Tour information Kyushu Expedition tour

 Price: JPY292,000 (JPY = Japanese Yen) per person. Single room supplement JPY10,000. Please use the currency converter below to find the current rate in your local currency.

Duration: 8 day, 7 night tour.

Group size: Maximum group size 12 people. Minimum group size 1 person.

Dates and availability:
Kyushu Expedition tour dates

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