![]() From December to March the mountains are covered in snow, with underrated skiing in full-service ski resorts like Gokase Highlands and Kujumachi. ![]() Autumn hosts a crisp, brisk season of glorious reds, oranges, and yellows peaking from late October to mid-November, depending on altitude and microclimates. While the area’s arid summits are above the tree-lines, Kyushu’s mountains dazzle with their four seasons. Slightly more challenging and about an hour longer is the Hossho Peak trail, a detour from the main trail lined with wild fissures and fumaroles belching steam and a reminder of the rumbling lava that bubbles underneath this active volcanic island. Maintained paths designed for all levels of walkers abound, and popular ones include the five-hour round-trip hike to Kuju Peak, a medium-level excursion noted for its excellent open vistas, fall foliage, and wildflowers. The latter’s vertical silhouette is described as resembling a sleeping Buddha while the sapphire blue caldera atop it, one of the world’s largest, has a 75-mile circumference. It’s here where you will find both the island’s highest peak, Mount Nakadake at 5,875 feet and Japan’s most active volcano, the 5,223-foot high Mount Aso, one of Japan’s most sacred and famous mountains. ![]() Historically it was called Kyūkoku, meaning Nine Countries, but today it’s divided into seven prefectures with names that ring familiar-Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Saga, and Oita in the north, and Kagoshima and Miyazaki and their various islands further south.įorming a fortified green ridge in the island’s center is the mighty Kuju Mountain range, home to several onsen town, mountain hamlets, reserves, green spaces, and parks, including Aso-Kuju National Park, which can be experienced on the ground or increasingly by helicopter and scenic flight tours. Kyushu, which offers some of Japan’s most remote wilderness, is bigger than Sicily but smaller than Switzerland.
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