The tour starts at Fukuoka Airport’s International Terminal, where the Walk Japan tour leader awaits flights from South East Asian destinations. At approximately 16:30 our dedicated transport whisks us quickly into the rural interior of Kyushu to Yufuin, an elegant onsen thermal hot spring resort town. Nestled in the lee of Mt. Yufu-dake, Yufuin provides us with a delightful start to the tour. A reviving dip in our inn’s onsen is followed by dinner, a feast comprised of locally sourced ingredients contrived into dishes of delicacy and great flavours.
We spend Day 2 firstly, savouring the town before we leave Yufuin for Kunisaki and the first walk of the tour exploring Nokogiri-yama, a spectacular ridge hike ending at two ancient Buddha relief carvings on the face of a towering cliff making it one of the classic routes in Kunisaki. Our inn is in the heart of Kunisaki. Besides a warm welcome and great food the inn also boasts an onsen. It is also adjacent to one of Japan’s most beautiful temple structures, the main hall at Fuki-ji temple. We spend two nights staying here. The following day we walk an old pilgrimage route, the Nakayama-senkyo ridge. Our path is lined with Buddha statues and as we climb superb views open up of the surrounding mountains and valleys. On a clear day we can even see the Seto Inland Sea, the route by which Buddhism first arrived in Kunisaki from China, and Japan’s main island, Honshu. Our afternoon walk takes us through the atmospheric site of a long deserted monastery now only populated by the poignant graves of the many monks who lived and died here. Rainy days may preclude the ridge walks but our alternative hikes are no less spectacular. These include climbing a sacred mountain dotted with standing stones that pre-date Shintoism and a winding walk that passes through Tashibu, which we consider to be the most beautiful village in Japan
Price: JPY159,000 (JPY = Japanese Yen) per person. There is no single room supplement for this tour (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 for 3 nights; 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches & 3 evening meals; baggage transfers and entrance fees are included. Not included are flights; transport to and from the meeting point at Fukuoka Airport; and drinks.
Single room supplement: There is no single room supplement. Throughout this tour we are staying in traditional Japanese accommodation and single rooms cannot be guaranteed. Please note, however, that we will endeavour to provide single accommodation rooms whenever possible. No additional charge will be made for any single accommodation that we are able to 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 tour 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 Thursday and finish on a Sunday except the 24 December ~ 27 December 2012 tour, which starts on a Monday and finishes on a Thursday, and the 24 December ~ 27 December 2013 tour, which starts on a Tuesday and finishes on a Friday.
Source:
http://www.walkjapan.com/short-stay-tours/kunisaki-trek-yufuin-kunisaki
The Kunisaki Trek: Yufuin & Kunisaki is a fully guided, Level 5 tour suitable for reasonably fit people who can walk comfortably for 6 hours a day. The route is mainly on forest trails and includes some rock scrambling and some short, steep climbs. Read more on Tour levels below.
The Yakushima Adventure 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.