This is a great city for museums, shopping (including antiques!), rich history, and lovely walks. Jump to the Food recommendations here , Hotels here , and Arita day trip here . We were based near the JR station which has many malls all around it and easy transport by bus or tram everywhere in the city. If you arrive at the port (on a cruise) or are near the port, there is a bus stop very close that gives excellent instructions in English and offers an all-day pass for 600 ye

On this page you can jump to sections on Kumamoto , Yakushima , Yufuin , Beppu , Takachiho (Gorge) and Mt. Aso , and Obi Castle Town in Nichinan There are separate pages for Kagoshima things to do and food , Fukuoka things to do , Food in Fukuoka , and Nagasaki To Do and Eat . Also, note that we mostly used trains and buses to get from place to place. We did, however, rent a car when going from Beppu to Takachiho to Obi Castle Town in Nichinan to Kagoshima, and then when w

Day trips from Sapporo is a separate blog post. Shopping Perhaps because Sapporo is snowy for much of the year, there is a great deal of...

We chose a visit to Ha Giang because we had read that Sapa was very touristy. We greatly enjoyed our time in Ha Giang. It had amazing hiking, wonderful weather, interesting homestays with ethnic minorities, and new foods at roadside stands. The best shopping I had was at our first homestay. We had a private guide and driver for our trip. We used YESD (Youth Employment and Society Development): https://yesd.org/ . We found this organization in our quest to volunteer while in V