Budget 花費

Keep in mind there’s a saving of 18000Y from the accommodation coupons.

記得有省18000Y的住宿折價卷

Usually my trip’s breakdown sees more equal share of accommodation and transport, maybe 40-30 split. This time because of the double onsen plus exorbitant Hakata saturday price, accommodation takes up the vast majority of cost.

一般我出遊時住宿和交通比較接近，可能比例是40-30。
這次由於兩晚溫泉+博多超貴的星期六住宿，住宿費占了花費的絕大部分。

 

Finding Accomodation 找住宿

 

The review scores on Rakuten and Jalan are a good indication for a place’s quality. It’s important to take note of the scoring breakdowns. Rakuten has location as one of its points which can drag down a place’s score, though location may not factor much into your specific needs. For example Ryu no Hige gets a lower score on Rakuten due to it being further from Yufuin station.

樂天和Jalan的評分算是挺準確的。要注意細項分析，比如說樂天評分中有地點這一項有可能會拖累總分，但你可能並不介意地點。如龍之鬍鬚因為離由布院車站遠一點，在樂天的分數較低。

 

Next is to glance over the reviews to get an indication of what kind of guests the places tends to get as this may affect a place’s review. For example comparing Ryu no Hige and Hozantei, it is clear that Hozantei gets much more tourists (people visiting Kurokawa for first time) while Ryu no Hige gets much more vacationers (people visiting to get out of the city). Similar higher vacationer reviews can be seen in some other ryokans in Yufuin too.

再來是要看評論來了解住這裡的大多是怎樣的訪客。拿龍之鬍鬚和帆山亭來說，帆山亭明顯有比多的觀光客 (第一次來黑川的人)，而龍之鬍鬚中就有較多渡假的人 (放假想遠離都市的人)。由布院有幾間旅館也同樣有比較多渡假的人。

 

Vacationers tend to be repeaters to an area and can be more critical in their scoring, while tourists (especially foreign tourists *cough* Bettei Itsuki *cough*) are much more easily impressed.

渡假的人常常到這地方多次，在評論上比較嚴格。而觀光客(尤其是外國觀光客 *cough* 別邸 樹)比較容易被滿足。

 

Japanese tended to be quite detailed in their reviews and a lot of information can be glimpsed if one is willing to spend the time.

日本人在評論中挺詳細的，只要願意花時間可以從中發現許多關於旅館的資訊。

 

Now a very important note is to pay attention to the reviews and see what plans and rooms the person stayed at. Sometimes a place has premium and lesser class rooms, and the level of services provided can be vastly different. This is very apparent in Gettouan where the highest reviews often come from their premium rooms and the standard rooms yields much higher ratio of complaints.

很重要的一點是要注意評論者住的是那個房間，那個方案。常常一個地方有特別房和較普通的房間，兩者間提供的品質可能有很大差異。如月燈庵，最高分的評論通常是住高級別館的，而普通房的負評比例較高。

 

Various rankings and recommendations floating around the web are best ignored, they’re either based on some popularity ranking (which means the popular stays popular) or they’re just regurgitated information pushed out for ad clicks. If I had followed them I would never have found Ryu no Hige as the place is basically off the maps.

網路上的推薦和排名不要管比較好，很多都只是名氣排名 (有名氣的就持續有名氣)或是隨便翻別人的資料寫寫賺點頁率廣告費的。若聽他們的話就不會找到像龍之鬍鬚這種沒名氣的旅館。

 

The accommodation choices this time were quite good picks, but I think if I had to choose again I would pick something other than Hozantei.

這次旅館選擇不錯，但若要重選的話可能在黑川會選帆山亭之外的旅館。

 

Rental Car 租車

 

Driving in Japan is a lot easier than thought. I’m likely add rental as an option while planning trips in future.

日本租車比想像中簡單。未來在計畫旅行時會加入租車這考量。

 

Rental vs Train/Bus 租車vs電車巴士

Cost of rental this time is about ~9.8k per person (27k for 48 hours, pick up at Hakata drop off at Yufuin, plus 2.4k tolls), plus ~4k for train back to Hakata from Yufuin.

Compared to the bus. Hakata to Kurokawa is 3090Y, Kurokawa to Yufuin is 1750Y, for total of 4840.

For trains. A north Kyushu pass 3 day is 8500Y (which can’t go to Kurokawa), but let’s suppose we did a different trip and went to Kumamoto and Yufuin instead. This will also cover the train back to Hakata but won’t allow booking beforehand.

So rental car cost about twice as much as buses and 1.5x train.

這回租車是大約一人9.8k (租車48小時，博多取到由布院還，加2.4k過路費)。還有另外由布院回博多的車票~4k。
若搭巴士。博多到黑川溫泉是3090Y，黑川到由布院1750Y 總共4840Y。一樣回博多火車錢另付。

火車的話。北九州3日8500Y(不能到黑川但假設改去熊本和由部院)。這也包含由布院之森的錢但無法預先網路訂票。

租車大概比巴士貴一倍，貴火車1.5x。

 

Overall

 

This is without doubt my best trip so far. About 90% went according to plans. I still get problems with exploring an area as I often forget places I could go to, both in Yufuin and in Tenjin.

這次無庸置疑是目前安排最好的一次，大概90%都在計畫之中。在探索一個地點時還是很容易忘記可去的景點，如在由布院和天神時。