A. Fukuoka/Hakata - Canal City Hakata 博多运河城

The most popular shopping mall in Fukuoka is definitely Canal City Hakata! With 250 shops and a whole variety of food places, I guess this is a must visit for me because Grand Hyatt Fukuoka which I am staying for the first two nights is integrated as part of the mall! Nice!

It is a 15 minutes walk from either Hakata Station Nakasu Kawabata (Exit No 5), or Tenjin Station Nakasu Kawabata (Exit No 5).
Opening hours (may varies from store to store):

Retail stores 1000hrs - 2100hrs

Restaurants/Cafes 1000hrs - 2300hrs

It is good to browse through the website to see if there's more information for me to decide where I can focus on out of the 6 floors (B1-5th floor)! 1. The Fountain Show (hourly basis) is definitely not a miss!

2. The adorable Moomin Bakery and Cafe located at B1 is a concept cafe based on the popular Norway cartoon character. As the website is in Japanese, I roughly guess that the uber cute dessert set is 1200yen (est S$18.50). Well, it's not cheap, but it's still nice to walk past and peek in then! Oh yes, their hot chocolate is also recommended, chocolate fans may wish to try it!

3. There are some special shops like F.O.B COOP (Level B1/ B186), Mother Garden, Swimmer (Level B1) with unique gift ideas!

4. 5th floor is the famous Ramen Stadium that gathers ramens selected all over Japan (Tokyo,Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kurume, Shinshu, Hakata, Kita Kyushu)...I was running through a guide book & there's even 人气指数 (i.e. popularity ranking) for the ramen shops! I can't write in Japanese but I managed to denote which are the 2 popular stores so remember to jot this down and look for these 2 stores. No 1 shop's Hakata ramen goes at 800yen (S$12.30) while No 2 shop's Kurume ramen goes at 900yen (S$13.90). The range of prices is between 600yen to 1100yen for all shops...

5. Our favourite MUJI on 4th floor! In case you aren't going to Canal city, here's a list of all the MUJI stores in Fukuoka.

JR Northern Kyushu Rail Pass 7000Yen

My co traveller is just excited as me about this trip & has sent me a document full of details! I am one lucky chap!

I was running through the file and found this 3-day JR Northern Kyushu Rail Pass offered for 7000Yen (est S$110)! For first time travellers to Japan, please do not be shocked by this price. Reason being for famous Onsen areas like Beppu - bus rides can already cost up to 3100Yen per person. The Rail Pass will allow you to visit areas like Beppu, Yufuin, Nagasaki etc.

JR passes cannot be purchased in Japan as it is meant for tourists, hence please get yours here.

Below is an overview of areas that are near to Hakata/Fukuoka and the travelling time required. Basically, most are areas that can be covered by the Northern JR pass. Taken from Crossroadfukuoka website

And so I finally bought our JR passes for S$110 at JTB Pte Ltd (at ION Orchard, #B4-29)

Staff was really helpful. And these information definitely come in handy! Armed with this brochure and these two wonderful websites with train info and even timings, I am all set to start planning properly!

(1) JNTO Travel Planner

(2) Hyperdia (even has timetable!)

 

Fukuoka Accomodations

I always begin searching for a hotel using Agoda.com
I have previously done some checks here and there on all the booking engines to conclude that Agoda.com offers one of the most competitive rates, and it even offer rewards points for future redemption.

Using my travel dates of 8 to 14 Apr, I priced for some rates and shortlisted a few hotels for consideration starting with the lowest rates:

1. HOTEL SUNLINE FUKUOKA
The first one I looked at was Hotel Sunline Fukuoka.
Agoda is offering S$91/night for a semi double room and S$121/night for a economy twin room. I presume semi double room is a smaller version of a double room, so 2 ladies should be able to pack into the room if the hotel allows.
I went to the hotel website in an attempt to search for a better rate, however it was mainly in Japanese. In addition, as it was rather far away from Hakata Station (usually it is best that the hotel is near to the main station) compared to other hotels, I decided to look around more. In addition, even though reviews were mainly good, the rooms seemed to be slightly old.

2. CHISUN HOTEL HAKATA

I moved onto the lower priced hotel- Chisun Hotel Hakata and the website is in English and allows reservations. The hotel looks sufficiently clean and new. And it is also very near to the Hakata Station. Agoda is offering a standard double room at S$116 and a standard twin room at S$121. However, if you book directly via the hotel website (and especially in advance), a single room can go as low as 3200 JPY (est S$50) , while a semi double room is going at 5700 JPY (est S$90).

3. THE B HAKATA

I continued to look further as there is this boutique hotel that has garnered quite some positive reviews which is the b Hakata. And it is very near to the Hakata station too. I remember that I saw Agoda offering it for S$100plus, but as I price it for the dates i want, it is no longer available. I tried a later date and got it at $110.

Wait, that's not the best deal, especially since I am booking it way in advance (I realized that Japan hotels intend to offer good deals if you book in advance). Under the 30 day advance purchase double use package, I managed to get 4 nights (10-13 Apr) at 6400 JPY,4200JPY,5900JPY and 5900JPY respectively. Great, that averages out to S$88 per night! Oh, but the caveat here is the package is for standard double room, so it's for 2 ladies who can share beds again.

4. GUESTHOUSE KAINE

Even though I had already settled my accomodation in Fukuoka, I just want to share some info on this guest house that I had stumbled upon when I was looking around for hotels to stay in previously. It is actually known as Guesthouse Kaine. Based on my experience in Kyoto, not all guest houses in Japan are nice and cosy and clean, so I was rather attracted to Guesthouse Kaine because the experience looks certainly worthwhile. The rates of 2500 Yen (est S$38) for one person is very attractive because it is certainly not cheap/worthwhile for lone traveller to occupy one hotel room by yourself...

What attracted me more is the noodles they serve on the 1st floor... it simply looks so delicious! If I happen to be in the area then, I shall go try it out! I have no idea how much does it cost though, it's not stated on their website.

Go to Crossroad Fukuoka for more info!

Anyone who has stayed there or will be staying there soon? Do share about it!

Japan (日本) to Kyushu (九州) to Fukuoka (福冈)

I always feel that it is good that I first get a sense of the geography of the place that I am going; this way I can better appreciate the place. A quick search on google will reveal tons of good maps (wonderful world wide web indeed!) and I happened to chance upon this map.

So Kyushu is actually southern Japan near the famous Okinawa. A pity we don't have enough time and enough budget for Okinawa this time round. But for those who are interested, apparently Skymark Airlines will  bring you there for an affordable price. I found all those previously when I was doing the scope of my Japan trip this time round.

And so I scoped down to Kyushu (in fact Northern Kyushu only) for my 7 days' trip this time round. Looking at the map, there are other areas that are accessible to Fukuoka like Beppu (别府市）, Kokura, Nagasaki. A glimpse at some information shows that Beppu is very renowned for their onsens. I love onsens!

And this time round, our base will be at Fukuoka ! Actually it's good to accomodate around other areas like Beppu, Nagasaki, Yufuin, Aso etc but the truth was I made the greatest mistake thinking that Kyushu is like Kansai whereby we can move around quick enough so I already booked all my hotels at Fukuoka! But anyway it also means more time to enjoy the JR train (looking at things on the bright side & also to console my travel mate!).

Cheap airfares from Singapore to Fukuoka!

The cheapest place to buy air tickets is usually via the airlines'own website as all middle men costs or servicing fees are pretty much eliminated. However, it is still worthwhile to look around as some of the travel agents will peddle group fare that is very low group fare offered by the airlines.

True enough, my whole Saturday spent on hunting for cheap airfares to Fukuoka paid off when I found a all-in* $529 ticket for my friend on Cathay Pacific to Fukuoka! Compared to JAL $792 and SQ $713, this is really worthwhile. By the way, she has already booked her ticket via MISA Travel, and she is all happy with this good bargain - which is actually a Pre-NATAs Promotion.

However there are two other areas of consideration one must definitely take note!

1. As this is a promotional fare, there are bound to be several booking restrictions one of which is usually travel date changes restriction, so do confirm everything 1st before you book.
2. For Cathay Pacific, the flight transit via Hong Kong, so the total flight time will take up to 10hours. Hence this is not for impatient travellers! But, for those who can bear with it, Cathay offers 1 stopover on your way back to Singapore (subject to some service fee imposed by MISA), so this makes the ticket all the more worthwhile!

*All in fare means the surcharges and taxes are already taken into consideration. Do watch out for these components as they can be very substantial sometimes.

About

I am a simple traveller (from Mini Sunny Island Singapore) who enjoys travelling at an affordable budget...

Since her last trip to Osaka/Kyoto(Kansai Area) in August 09, she has been been dreaming about the skies of Japan day and night day and night, until she finally makes up her mind to visit the Kyushu area this time round...

To me, the fun of travelling does not begin when you land at the destination; it begins during the 1st minute of planning... so I wish to use this small space to

• document down my planning for my Fukuoka trip
• record down the wonderful trip in Fukuoka that I will embarking from 8 to 14 Apr 2010
• share tips and interesting things with like-minded people

:)