JR Pass or regular tickets?

I would say that it's worth it.

The 7 day pass will set you back 29,000 Yen.

The travel from Osaka to Nagasaki alone will cost you 18,000 Yen. Nagasaki to Beppu will cost 12,000 Yen.

Those two alone, you already got your money's worth.

As for the places of interest, I understand that you'll be travelling in a group? Can you please tell me the age brackets so I can suggest places that you might want to visit.

Hope that helps.

Hi,

Its just the two of us travelling. We are in our 30s.
I'm thinking maybe travelling from Osaka to Nagasaki or Nagasaki to Beppu might take too long. We don't want to spend all our time on trains. We would really like to relax and enjoy private onsens though.

Thank you for your assistance!

Monique

Hi Monique,

It's really not that far to Nagasaki. It perhaps looks far away on paper but time flies when you are traveling by rail in Japan.
The Journey alone is worth making by itself, traveling by train between Fukuoka and Nagasaki is done by the Sonic limited express - one of my favorite trains in Japan. To avoid spend too much time traveling at one. Make Fukuoka your base and make a trip to Nagasaki and later to Buppu from there :)

Also great input Bochog!

You could also make a quick visit to Kumamoto (south of Fukuoka), the city is very nice and laid back. Kumamoto Castle and surrounding park are very pretty during the Sakura and Autumn.

Hope this helps!
Daniel

Hi,

Does the JR Pass cover all the trains from Day 4 to Day 9? (Any extra cost for trains not covered by JR Pass?)

I've made a small change to the schedule...would this schedule work or too many places?

Day 1) Thurs, Oct 2 - Arrive Osaka airport at noon
Day 2) Fri, Oct 3 - Osaka
Day 3) Sat, Oct 4 - Day trip to Kobe
Day 4) Sun, Oct 5 - Osaka to Nagasaki
Day 5) Mon, Oct 6 - Nagasaki
Day 6) Tues, Oct 7 - Nagasaki - Kumamoto - Kurokawa
Day 7) Wed, Oct 8 - Kurokawa
Day 8) Thurs, Oct 9 - Kurokawa to Yufuin
Day 9) Fri, Oct 10 - Yufuin to Fukuoka
Day 10) Sat, Oct 11 - Fukuoka
Day 11) Sun, Oct 12 - Fukuoka
Day 12) Mon, Oct 13 - Depart to Fukuoka airport at noon

Thanks so much!
Monique

Hi Monique,

The JR Pass covers all travel, except for the bus to Kurokawa.

Time-wise I think the itinerary looks good, not much I would change :)

Hope this helps too!
Daniel