Things to do in Kumamoto Castle

I visited Kumamoto Castle for the second time! As expected of one of Japan's three most famous castles, it was large and magnificent! A few years ago, a major earthquake in Kumamoto destroyed parts of the castle, and restoration work is still ongoing, but from a tourist's perspective, there were no issues touring Kumamoto Castle! I highly recommend purchasing your admission tickets in advance through Klook! This is because at the entrance, there are separate lines for buying tickets and for those who pre-purchased tickets. If you show the staff your QR code, you can enter immediately, which significantly reduces your waiting time, making it a huge advantage!

We had a wonderful time on today's day tour, and I want to send a huge thank you to our tour guide, Kong. Guide Kong was attentive and enthusiastic, giving detailed explanations at every attraction. He told us what was worth focusing on, where was best to stop for photos, and even recommended local specialties while clearly explaining important tips and precautions. The itinerary included visiting the Takachiho Gorge, riding the Takachiho sightseeing train, heading to the Kusasenri grasslands, and viewing the Mount Aso volcano from a distance, where we could see smoke rising from the crater. However, it was quite foggy today with limited visibility, which was a small pity. We also visited the Kamishikimi Kumanoimasu Shrine; walking up the 220 steps was a breeze, and the surrounding scenery was perfect for taking great photos. We managed to check off pretty much all the planned attractions. Overall, the trip went very smoothly. After the Kumano earthquake, the area is currently very safe and you can travel here with peace of mind. Highly recommended! 👍

Our tour guide Cho has been one of the best tour guides in our overall trip in Fukuoka - he is very much prepared (with slides and pictures!) and being a professor, he has explained the history and gave deeper meaning / history of the place on where we are heading, which we, tourist, wouldn’t know - this gives us more appreciation of the place.

It was a truly impressive trip. I was the only English speaker, but the guide. Zhu Zhu, took good care of me, ensuring I fully understood everything about the tour. The experience far exceeded my expectations.

We arrived early at the Kumamoto Station Shinkansen West Exit to meet up. Our tour guide, Sun Peng, came over to gather the group. Since we were carrying luggage and planning to leave the tour in Kurokawa, the guide proactively asked if we had already arranged our hotel pick-up and drop-off. Although we could have arranged it ourselves, he went ahead and did it for us. Since Kurokawa has multiple parking lots, as a tourist, it would have been difficult to clearly communicate the exact pick-up spot with the hotel. Thumbs up for the guide's thoughtfulness! It was a gorgeous sunny day, and every scenic spot made for great photos. As a tourist, the experience was fantastic. Guide Sun also helped take photos for everyone, kept the commentary along the way witty and humorous, took meticulous care of us, and reminded us in advance of important points to keep in mind during the sightseeing. This trip is a great one-day tour option, much more convenient than planning and executing it yourself, and I highly recommend it!

I did the tour to see Takachiho Gorge and Aso Kusasenri, and I had a fantastic time. The tour was incredibly well-organized. Our guide, Sun, was knowledgeable and professional; he gave us great context about the area and guided us exceptionally well throughout the day. The gorge was beautiful, and the boat experience was so much fun. I also added the lunch package at the last minute and was really glad I did, because the food was delicious. We even got to see horses at Kusasenri, which was very cool. Overall, I highly recommend this tour!

The one-day tour from Kumamoto was very pleasant, and we were part of a small group of 7 people. The scenery at Kamishikimi Kumano-imasu Shrine was beautiful, the views in Kugino were expansive, and Kurokawa Onsen was also impressive; two hours there felt just right. Our tour guide, Ge Ning, was very friendly, and the driver was also thoughtful, dropping off and picking up passengers at convenient locations.

Our itinerary for this trip was: starting from Tenjin city center ➡️ Itoshima Hana Shio Pudding ➡️ Meoto Iwa (Wedded Rocks) at Futamigaura ➡️ Tsukamoto Fish Market ➡️ Miyajidake Shrine ➡️ Munakata Shrine. The driver was very thoughtful! His service attitude was incredibly friendly! He even recommended a delicious seafood restaurant, which my family also thoroughly enjoyed 👍🏽 The car was clean and tidy, and the entire journey went smoothly and perfectly 💯

view is panoramic 😍 take the mini train, it’s kinda fun. on your way back remember to pay attention to a small volcano, it looks like a pudding 🍮 ning ning has been such a sweet and passionate tour guide. we really love her ❤️ she’s the one who made the journey great.