Early in the morning, we took the Limited Express Sonic from Kokura station directly to the onsen capital Beppu. Once there, it is advisable to visit the tourist information office directly in the station building, where you can buy combined tickets for your arrival and departure, as well as the entrance including a free pass for the Kijima Kogen Park just above the city. You can then reach the park with bus line 36, which leaves directly in front of the station.
On the way back, you get on the same bus line, but you should keep the departure times in mind. So it came as it should and we missed the last bus back to Beppu par excellence. Luckily for us, there is a bus going in the opposite direction to the city of Yufuin. There, you can then hop on a slow tram (with a price display for the distance travelled – very similar to the country’s buses) and chug into Ōita town. Delightful, considering that the whole operation just took us almost 3 hours and let us hop straight onto the last train of the day back to Kokura. The extra cost of this was absolutely negligible and a late evening adventure never hurt anyone.
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