Japan 🇯🇵 - Fukuoka

Tips 👏

• The Dazaifu Shrine is dedicated to learning, so expect to see many students praying for exam success. Avoid on Sunday before exam week for the crowds!
• As other Japanese cities, Fukuoka is actually bigger that it looks like, so don't be shy to call a cab to move faster!
• Overall it's a great place to see, but can easily be removed from your plans if you're short on time.

Accommodation 🏠

We stayed at the Hotel Forza Hakataeki Chikushiguchi II. It was a convenient base for exploring the city after we dropped off our rental car, very central and functional. However fairly expensive, very tiny rooms and super packed, so wouldn't recommend.

Restaurants 🍽️

• Ichiran HC: Headquarters of the famous ramen - a building of 12 stories only serving ramen. Super good, iconic and super fast, must do!
• Nakasu Food Stalls: Little food stalls in front of the river serving cheap and authentic dishes from the area.

Getting there 🚗

We drove from Mt Aso to the city center, doing a stop at the Dazaifu Shrine on the way. The city is super well connected with Shinkansen and airport, and definitely no need for a car when visiting it!

Duration ⏱

We spent one and a half day in the city, that gave us enough time to mix cultural sites with some shopping and serious relaxation.

Dazaifu Tenmangu ⛩️

Our first stop was the Dazaifu Shrine, located just close to Fukuoka. It is famous for being dedicated to the god of learning, Sugawara no Michizane. The vibe was unique because we saw crowds of students praying for their exams. It was a nice cultural detour before heading into the bustle of the city. Note there's also a retro theme-park with rides in the park.

Art and slide 🎨

We visited the teamLab Forest for a fun interactive experience. The digital art installations are beautiful, probably not as crazy as the one in Tokyo but still good fun and trippy.

We saw the same mall had a 120m-long slide on the side to go down for a small fee, so obviously we took it! Good fun but can be passed over too.

From the slide we walked to the Fukuoka Tower to take in the view of the skyline and the bay at the sunset. Note that this tower is actually empty, just a viewpoint!

Relaxation & Local Connection 💆

Next day was designed to be chill, and kicked off with an amazing head massage and scalp cleaning at Sukarukuikkuhakataten. It lasted for two hours and cost 11,000 JPY, but it was totally worth it. Was on our list of things to try in Japan and our scalps are now much more clean!

We then took a stroll at Ohori Park, a registered Place of Scenic Beauty. We were lucky enough to meet a local there who took us for a coffee and a lovely chat, which made the afternoon feel very special.

We rounded out the trip with a visit to the Canal City Hakata mall for some shopping. It is a massive complex with a canal running through it, fairly cringe and retro, and close to the Nakasu food stalls for dinner.

Hope this was helpful, you can ask us any questions on Instagram.