The surprising Japanese destination where fine food, serene waterways and dazzling temples await

The Fukuoka prefecture is a one-stop shop for gourmet travellers, history buffs and culture lovers

Australian travellers looking for inspiration in Japan beyond Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto strike gold in the Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu island. 

Kyushu is the third-largest and most southerly of Japan’s four main islands and embraces more than 50 cities and towns, each with unique appeal.

A visit to Fukuoka Prefecture will embrace cities, cuisine, castles and culture.

There’s the namesake city of Fukuoka for shopping, dining, and entertainment; Dazaifu for temples and historical sites; Yanagawa for pretty waterways that meander through the city; Kitakyushu for its castle, samurai history and stunning arbours of purple wisteria; and Yame City for its vibrant horticulture and artisan insights.

Getting around the hotspots is a breeze. One way to see the sights is on the new YokaBus, comfortable transport for visitors wanting to zero in on Fukuoka’s most celebrated tourist destinations in one day.

Itineraries are tailored to travel passions: gourmet food, tea ceremonies and sake tastings, shrines and temples, flowers and gardens, river boating, or history.

But there are many ways to see Fukuoka Prefecture, using a combination of trains, subways, and buses with prepaid cards. Fukuoka City has been recognised as “a Walkable City.”

What to eat in Fukuoka

Fukuoka has several signature dishes to look for, from street food to foodie fabulousness.

Mentaiko is a Fukuoka specialty, a spicy marinated pollock roe, often served with rice. Mizutakiis a hotpot dish featuring Kyushu’s native Jidori chicken and vegetables, simmered in a rich broth. 

At mobile food stalls called yatai, find the region’s famous Hakata ramen noodles: deep, steaming bowls of Tonkotsu-style ramen with a rich, creamy broth made from pork bones.

Steamed eel is one of Yanagawa’s traditional dishes. Charcoal-grilled, the eel (unagi) is served over rice soaked in a sweet and salty sauce.

Baked curry is a signature cuisine in Kitakyushu; a kind of Japanese gratin, your curry of choice is served over rice and an egg, sprinkled with cheese and baked.

Specialty shops sell Yahata gyoza, dumplings unique to the Yahata district, garnished with yuzu-koshō, a glaze made from yuzu zest and chillis.

Sample plump, creamy oysters char-grilled, with a shot of sake, at one of several oyster huts inItoshima City.

YokaBus tours offer the opportunity to enjoy much of Fukuoka’s gourmet food and sake.

Walk off the kilojoules in Kyushu

Go strawberries picking

Fill a punnet or two of strawberries at one of the 20 farms in the Fukuoka Prefecture. Peak harvest time is January to April.

Look for the Hakata Amaou variety grown exclusively in Fukuoka. In 2015 the Guinness Book of World Records certified a Hakata Amaou strawberry grown in Fukuoka as the world’s heaviest, weighing 250 grams.

Pick all the strawberries you can eat at the Itadaki Strawberry Garden in Ogori City. There are six varieties – five of them red, and one a rare white strawberry called Yukizakura.

Luxury Fukuoka

Yame City beckons

Yame is a city in the rural south of Fukuoka Prefecture. Garden lovers go for the horticulture:  azaleas, rhododendrons and cherry blossoms in season. Yame City is home to the giant wisteria tree (Kurogi no Ofuji) located in the grounds of the Susano Shrine. Said to be more than 620 years old, it blooms between mid-April and early May. 

In Yame, add to list: tea houses, sake breweries, traditional craft shops, and modern art galleries. Factor in, too, fireflies in early summer, a maple leaf festival in autumn, and workshops where artisans make paper and stone lanterns, incense sticks, washi paper, arrows, and Hoshino pottery.

Waterways of Yanagawa

Yanagawa City, facing the Ariake Sea in the southwest, is called “the Venice of Kyushu” for the 930 kilometres of canals built over more than 2,000 years to provide irrigation for the city. 

During the Edo period, Yanagawa was developed as a castle town, and Suigo Yanagawa, a famous sightseeing spot, has been designated a national place of scenic beauty.

Visit the Ryokan Ohana, part of a samurai mansion in central Yanagawa, offering accommodation, gardens and a museum with dolls, armour and masks.

Kitakyushu City

Kitakyushu City is located at the northern-most tip of Kyushu, facing the Kanmon Straits. It’s famous for spectacular night views, castles and blossoms. Kawachi Wisteria Garden, a private garden located in the wooded hills south of central Kitakyushu, is a spring seduction.

In what was once an old post town, the Kurosaki shopping district has some 400 specialty shops including a traditional Japanese-sweets shop established more than 100 years ago, and a kimono store that’s more than 90 years old. 

Plan your visit to Fukuoka Prefecture

Arts and culture

Make a wish at Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine, in the city of Dazaifu, a place of learning, culture, and the arts for more than a millennium. It’s an important Shinto shrine heading up 12,000 Tenjin shrines nationwide and hosting vibrant festivals. Explore the beautiful grounds and historic architecture.

The Takumi Gallery, in Tenjin, Fukuoka, displays traditional crafts from woven items and pottery to dolls and toys, each work providing insights into the regional characteristics, customs and history of Fukuoka.

Browse the magnificent former residence of coalmining tycoon Ito Denemon and poet Byakuren Yanagihara in Iizuka City. Stroll its 1,500 square metre garden and admire the art nouveau reception room.

In October, pencil in the Miare Festival at the Munakata Taisha Shrine in Munakata City, whenmore than 100 fishing boats parade around the sound between the islands in the Genakai Sea.

More information on Fukuoka Prefecture in 2025 is here. YokaBus tours can be checked on the official site here.

Plan your visit to Fukuoka Prefecture