Four-Day Trip to Fukuoka

After more than three years, I finally had the chance to travel to Japan with my husband. We planned the trip in June for the end of August. I also checked a lot of travel guides on xhs and wrote three itineraries to discuss with my family before departure. We finally decided on this special forces itinerary～
⏰Dates: August 26th to August 29th, 4-day trip
✈️Flight times: Departure day: 9:50 AM – 12:55 PM.
Return: 1:55 PM – 3:30 PM
Day 1: Depart from Shanghai ➡️ Fukuoka Airport ➡️ Hakata ➡️ Take a bus to Yufuin, check in at a hot spring guesthouse in Yufuin
Day 2: Yufuin fairy tale town, Yunotsubo Street, Kinrin Lake ➡️ Take the Yufuin no Mori train back to JR Hakata Station
Day 3: Itoshima day trip ➡️ Light shopping at Tenjin Underground Shopping Mall
Day 4: Sleep in at the hotel, then go to the airport to buy some souvenirs before heading home.
🏩Hotel information is in picture 2
‼️1⃣️When planning, we checked all transportation costs between each itinerary. After calculation, we found that we didn’t use JR trains much, so there was no need to buy a 3-day or 5-day JR Pass. The actual number of JR rides was very few. 2⃣️We didn’t book the Yufuin no Mori green train in advance; we took a chance to buy tickets at the window. But be especially careful, ticket sales for the train close 7 minutes before departure, so don’t risk it by arriving too close to departure time. On the first day after arriving in Yufuin, we went to the JR station to buy tickets for the return trip on the Yufuin no Mori the next day. The ticket counter was already closed, and the machine tickets don’t allow seat selection. The most popular time slots were sold out, so we could only choose the 5:00 PM departure. From previous research, seats C and D have the best views when departing from Hakata, and seats A and B are best when departing from Yufuin. Luckily, the machine assigned us seats A and B, which we were very happy with～～3⃣️For the Itoshima day trip, we also didn’t buy the Showa Bus 1000 yen city pass in advance. Some guides recommended downloading the My Route app, but I found it troublesome and didn’t do it. The bus fare in Itoshima was really expensive that day (mainly because transportation is inconvenient). I will write a separate guide about Itoshima to help friends who want to visit.
🚩Two main goals for this trip: 1⃣️Go to Yufuin and ride the Yufuin no Mori green train, 2⃣️Visit the off-the-beaten-path spot Itoshima. Compared to sightseeing spots in Fukuoka city, these two places are relatively far from the city center and require two full days. This trip basically had no shopping time. If you plan a 5-day trip, I recommend setting aside a day for shopping because Fukuoka is truly a shopping paradise. Around Hakata Station alone, there is an underground mall, bus station shopping building, OIOI, Yodobashi Camera, and by subway you can reach the long Tenjin shopping street and Parco, popular with young people. Next time I come to Fukuoka, I will definitely plan a shopping trip～
Alright, space is limited, so I will share daily guides for the Fukuoka trip in separate posts～

Post by RobertSOUL | Sep 21, 2025