2nd trip to Japan: any advice on my Kyushu/Okinawa itinerary?
Hey everyone! My husband and I have travelled to Japan 2 years ago where we did mostly Golden route (Tokyo, Hakone, Tsumago/Magome, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Osaka). We are planning our second trip where we want to go to Kyushu and Okinawa. Please give me advice: we have not finalized yet so any advice is welcome!
Time frame: october/november (flexible)
Day 1: land at Narita, transfer to a domestic flight to Fukuoka
Day 2: Explore Fukuoka
Day 3: rent a car and visit daizaifu and/or nanzo-in, stay in Aso or Kurokawa Onsen and use that as our base for the next few days
Day 4: Mount Aso day trip
Day 5: Takichiho Gorge day trip
Day 6: Drive to Beppu, visit the Hells
Day 7: Explore Beppu, chill in onsens
Day 8: Drive to Miyazaki, enjoy the beach views
Day 9: Explore Miyazaki, Aoshima island
Day 10: Drive to Kagoshima partially via the coast, enjoying the drive :)
Day 11: Explore Sakurajima
Day 12: Drive to Kumamoto, maybe via Mount Karakuni? Explore Kumamoto in the evening
Day 13: Drive to Nagasaki via ferry
Day 14: Explore Nagasaki
Day 15: Drive back to Fukuoka, return rental car, get on a flight to Naha, rent a car
Day 16: Explore Okinawa main island
Day 17: Explore Okinawa main island
Day 18: Togashiki and/or Zamami day trip
Day 19: Okinawa chill day or maybe visit anothe island like Kudaka
Day 20: Return flight to Tokyo
Day 21: Visit Disneyland (we visited disneysea last time so wanted to give disneyland a try as well)
Day 22: Return home
About our travel style: we are relatively relaxed travellers and like to just explore. We love driving and enjoying beautiful views and stopping along the way at points of interests, so driving is definitly past of the holiday for us and not a “chore”.
I would love to hear if anything feels to cramped or if you have advice on what I missed. Our schedule is flexible so it is possible to add one or two days. I thought maybe 4 full days Okinawa is too few? But I don’t know. On the internet I’ve read the advice not to spend too much time in Kagoshima or Kumamoto since there is not that much to see/do as a tourist so I incorperated that in my itinerary, but please tell me if I should decide otherwise!
(And lastly, English is not my native language so please be kind to me if I made any mistakes)