If flight arrival time permits, experience Gunkanjima Cruise & Landing (40m boat ride + 1h landing; available in Japanese language only). You will follow government-mandated route across the deserted Battleship Island for a glimpse of the urban decay, though guests are not allowed to get close to the ruins for safety reasons.

If you are arriving from Fukuoka with extra time, we can instead enjoy Yanagawa boat cruise across the castle town which is renowned as the Venice of Kyushu and seasonal photo stop at Omura Tsutsuji to view Japanese azalea (mid-April only).

Enjoy full day Nagasaki orientation visiting the Nagasaki Peace Park & Ground Zero where the atomic bomb took place, the Bomb Museum, the open-air Glover Garden with former Western merchant mansions and panoramic city view, Japan’s longest cable-stayed bridge at Megami Bridge before your evening ascent to the 333m high Mount Inasa for bird’s eye view of the spectacular Nagasaki.

Drive 1.5h to explore Unzen Onsen’s hot spring fields. Continue 45m to Shimabara port for your 30m ferry to Kumamoto, where you will visit the impressive Kumamoto Castle which had survived the centuries since 1607. Thereafter, transfer to Takachiho to rest.

Visit Takachiho Shrine nestled among tall cedar groves, the Amanoiwato Shrine near the cave where Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu went into hiding, take a leisure Takachiho Gorge self-rowing boat through the narrow chasm, cascading waterfall and dense green foliage. If you would like, you can enjoy Yokagura Night Dance (8-9pm) re-enacting scenes from Japanese mythology by masked dancers.

Drive to Kusasenri to see the Mount Aso Crater (if gas toxicity level permits). Its massive 75-mile caldera circumference is a result of explosion from 10,000 years ago. After visiting the Kuju Winery, we continue to your onsen to rest and relax.

Walk the world’s longest and highest suspension bridge at Kokonoe “Yume” Ootsuribashi over Oita wilderness. Visit the charming, lesser-known Yufuin Onsen Town and surreal Beppu Hells before resting at your accommodation.

Explore the well-preserved Kitsuki samurai district, followed by shiitake mushroom picking experience as the Oita prefecture is famed to account for 40% Japan’s dried shiitake production. Finally, explore two of the Kunisaki Peninsula’s most atmospheric temples: Futagoji and Monjusenji before continuing to Fukuoka.

Today is free at leisure before transferring to the airport for your flight home.