Michelin Green Guide Kyushu — Five Three-Star Entries from Yakushima to the Kyushu National Museum, and All 98 Starred Sights

What the Michelin Green Guide is — 98 starred sights in Kyushu

This is the Michelin Green Guide (Le Guide Vert), which rates destinations rather than restaurants. The Japan edition is published in France: the 4th edition in 2015, the 6th in 2020, and the current one in 2025. Every star below is given with the edition that awarded it.

Kyushu’s three stars are scattered in both purpose and geography: the forests of Yakushima (three entries), a museum in Dazaifu and a bathhouse in Beppu. Yakushima needs a boat or a flight from Kagoshima, so no single trip covers them all. Which three-star entry you build around decides the shape of the whole trip.

Three-star 1: Yakushima, the Jomon Sugi trail and the West Forest Road

The 2015 edition gives three stars to Yakushima, the Jomon Sugi trail and the West Forest Road. The island became a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site in 1993. In the same edition the Mononoke forest, Yakusugi Land, Kigen Sugi, Okawa Falls and Jomon Sugi itself hold two stars, and Shiratani Unsuikyo one.

The two three-star routes demand completely different things of you. The Jomon Sugi trail is a serious mountain walk of around ten hours return, normally started before dawn. The West Forest Road is a road through the World Heritage area where Yaku deer and Yaku macaques cross in front of the car. Split the island into a walking day and a driving day and both three-star entries are comfortably within reach.

You reach Yakushima from Kagoshima by high-speed ferry or plane. Rough seas cancel the boats, so leave a spare day before your onward flight.

Three-star 2: the Kyushu National Museum, Dazaifu and Fukuoka

The 2015 edition makes the Kyushu National Museum three-star, Dazaifu two-star and Dazaifu Tenmangu one-star. The museum stands on the hill behind the shrine, linked to the approach by a moving walkway and a tunnel — which is why Dazaifu lets you combine a shrine visit and a three-star museum in half a day.

In Fukuoka itself, the 2015 edition gives two stars to the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, and one star to the city, Seaside Momochi and the view from Fukuoka Tower. It is the starred cluster closest to Kyushu’s main airport, so it slots neatly into an arrival or departure day.

Dazaifu is about 30 minutes from Nishitetsu Tenjin Station, changing at Futsukaichi for the terminus. The shrine approach fills up from late morning, so see the museum at opening and visit the shrine afterwards and you get both in peace. The museum normally closes on Mondays — check before you build it into a day.

Nagasaki — Gunkanjima, Glover Garden and the Atomic Bomb Museum

The 2015 edition gives two stars to Nagasaki, Glover Garden, the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and the view from Mt. Inasa, with Dejima and Sofuku-ji at one star. The 2020 edition added Gunkanjima at two stars.

Gunkanjima is a coal-mining island off Nagasaki, abandoned when the mine closed in 1974 and inscribed in 2015 as part of the World Heritage “Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution”. One practical point the book cannot carry: landing depends on the weather. Above set limits for wind and swell the tour becomes a cruise-past or is cancelled outright, so two nights in Nagasaki gives you a spare day.

Three-star 3: Oita — Hyotan Onsen, Yufuin and the Kunisaki Peninsula

In the 2015 edition, Beppu’s Hyotan Onsen is three-star, with Takegawara Onsen, the Beppu Beach Sand Bath and Yufuin at two stars and the Beppu “hells” tour at one. It is a rare case of a bathhouse itself holding three stars — the rating is for bathing there, not looking at it.

The 2020 edition spread stars into Oita’s mountains and countryside. The Usuki cliff Buddhas, the Kumano cliff Buddha, Rakan-ji, the Kokonoe “Yume” suspension bridge and the Meoto Iwa at Usa Shrine are two-star, with the Kunisaki Peninsula and its temples, including Fuki-ji and Maki Odo, at one. The cliff Buddhas are carved directly into rock faces; across the peninsula they are the remains of Rokugo Manzan, a mountain Buddhism that dates back to the Nara period.

Buses are sparse on the Kunisaki Peninsula and around Kokonoe, so renting a car at Oita Airport is the realistic option. Beppu and Yufuin work fine by train and bus.

Kumamoto, Aso, Kagoshima, and model routes built on a three-star anchor

In the 2015 edition, Kumamoto’s Mt. Aso, the east crater of Nakadake, Kurokawa Onsen and Suizenji Garden are two-star, and Kumamoto Castle one. In Kagoshima, Sakurajima and the Ibusuki sand baths are two-star; in Miyazaki, Aoshima Shrine. Kumamoto Castle was damaged in the 2016 earthquake, and the keep has since been restored and reopened to visitors.

Aso’s stars cluster around the crater and the grasslands, but access to the Nakadake crater is restricted on the day according to volcanic gas levels and the alert level. Have a fallback ready: Kusasenri and Komezuka on the outer rim are one-star in the same 2015 edition and stay open when the crater does not.

The shinkansen from Honshu to Hakata and the Kyushu Shinkansen from Hakata to Kagoshima-Chuo are both covered by the Japan Rail Pass. The ferry to Yakushima and rental cars on Kunisaki or around Aso are not, so use the pass for the long hauls and pay locally for boats and cars.

Michelin Green Guide Kyushu — FAQ

Star ratings: ★★★ worth a special journey / ★★☆ worth a detour / ★☆☆ interesting. Stars come from the 4th (2015) or 6th (2020) edition of the Michelin Green Guide Japan, as noted for each sight, and are reviewed with every edition. “Starred sights” counts every entry the guide awards stars to — including buildings inside a site, museum pieces, viewpoints and routes — so it is not a count of separate locations.