Immerse yourself in the landscape by exploring on foot
Trekking is the most intimate form of slow travel, where you actively engage your senses and
interact with the natural environment, one step at a time. Immerse yourself in a wild landscape,
or rediscover familiar sites from new perspectives.
Kyushu OLLE’s various courses around the region guide you along historic paths and scenic
nature trails, past samurai residences, and through castle ruins, under pale cherry blossoms or
fiery autumn leaves. Savor a close encounter with ignimbrite cliff carvings or geologically
spectacular columnar joints. Follow the Karatsu course along coastal rock formations to fresh
seafood stalls, or walk the Okubungo course through bamboo forests to a historical onsen.
Aso-Kuju National Park offers exceptional trekking experiences on both the Aso caldera and the
Kuju mountain ridge, within a geopark of volcanic phenomena. Feel the undulating relief of the constantly changing topography underfoot as you hike through a living palette of bright pink and
green Kyushu azaleas, overlooking moors and wetlands, past smoking solfataras, and fuming
craters. At the end of your trek, don’t forget to channel all that geothermal energy into a
restorative bath at a mountain hot springs.
Among Kyushu’s outlying islands, Yakushima is still inhabited by several-thousand-year-old
endemic Japanese cedars, where you can hike from the subtropical primeval rainforest all the
way up to the alpine climate of the highest peaks in southern Japan. No matter which route you
take through this mythical moss-covered jungle, you’ll have the unique opportunity to rediscover
a prehistoric ecosystem ruled by trees. And once you surrender yourself to the visceral
experience of trekking among ancient giants and living fossils, you will never be the same again.
