(高千穂峡) Takachiho Gorge

I can't believe this little hundred meter gorge is driving so much tourism it seems to be keeping at least one village alive, and likely hundreds employed. But I'm one of those people who intentionally went here, so their marketing worked! At least for this blogger. 

Budget: JPY2,000 (~USD20)

• JPY2,000. Boat (JPY6,000 per 30 ride with 3 people, JPY5,000 for 2, and JPY4,000 for 1). 
• For transportation, we had a private car, but 

Visit Date

• December 26, 2020
• I have done this visit as part of a week long Kyushu hikes. 

When to Go
Throughout the year!

Special Notes

• Public Transport. Definitely not public transport friendly, but far from impossible. There are two primary ways to get there - 
• From Kumamoto. 
• Bus, Kumamoto to Takachiho Bus Center. Here's the bus schedule. For 2020, there were only two buses during the day: 9:11am->12:36pm and 3:31pm->6:56pm. 
• Walk, Takachiho Bus Center to Takachiho Gorge, around 30 minutes.
  
• From Nobeoka Station. Nobeoka Station is around JPY1,600, 1.5 hours away from Miyazaki Station. 
• Same as above, but in reverse as the bus goes from Kumamoto to Nobeoka, and vice versa.
• Boating. Boat rentals are available, here's their website for the details. Reservations are accepted, but only in Japanese. 

Itinerary

• 03:10pm. Start driving to Takachiho Gorge from Mt. Sobo trailhead.
• 04:00pm. Arrived at Takachiho Gorge, went straight to the boat rental. Bought the ticket, and followed the signs down to the boat boarding place. 
• 04:17pm. We boarded the boat and started rowing. It took a while to navigate around the waterfall, but otherwise it was a very short distance. We took plenty of photos, and headed back. 
• 04:48pm. We got back to the boat place. There's a 30 minute limit, but I don't think they monitor it closely. When we got back, they were no longer accepting passengers, so I assume they accept up until 4:30pm and close at 5:00pm. 
• 05:00pm ish. We drove back to Beppu, had dinner, played bowling, and went home. 

Our ticket to the boat at Takachiho Gorge. 

The boating area. 

We're getting there!

Trying to avoid the waterfall!

After the waterfall, we circled back. 

Because this was the end. 

There's a guy who will, I assume, save anyone who falls. 

The prices. Base price of JPY3,000 plus JPY1,000 per person. So one person pays JPY4,000, two people pay JPY5,000, while three pay JPY6,000. 

After the boat ride, we took a walk around the gorge. This is the view at the bridge near the parking lot. 

The view on the viewing deck. 

The viewing deck. 

Driving back!