With another planned day ahead of us, we had a quick breakfast in the buffet which by the time we had got there was pretty deserted due to all the Costa excursions leaving soon after we arrived. We had given ourselves a buffer window of an hour and had arranged a pick up for 9:00 which worked really well.
We had booked a private tour through GoWithGuide labelled as Kagoshima Highlights and was slightly modified to remove items that were of little interest. Our guide, Eiji was ready and waiting for us by the information desk in the cruise terminal and after introductions we were on the move to visit Sengan-en, a historic Japanese garden and former residence of the Shimazu clan.
The drive took around 40 minutes and we easily beat all the ships tours so it was relatively empty when we arrived. It was a really nice place to visit with it’s beautiful gardens and house complete with a spectacular view of Sakurajima. The house dates back to the 1700’s and with the gardens is now a UNESCO Heritage site.
Once we had finished our tour it was back in the car for a quick photo stop at Shiroyama park observatory which provided a great panorama of Kagoshima town and Sakurajima.
It was then back to Kagoshima for a spot of lunch which today was in a little vegan cafe called Café Indigo which is operated by a lady who runs it single handed. It’s a set meal which starts with soup then followed by a platter of vegan Japanese bites. It was really tasty and Nicole was chuffed to bits with it, she even had a Soy Masala Chai tea for the first time, and our guide who has a keen interest in food accepted our invitation to join us seemed to be impressed with the offerings.
My chopstick management is coming along really well, I have never been a fan of using them but when there is no other option it’s a case of do or die.
From there it was a 10 minute walk to the ferry where we enjoyed the 15-minute ride to Sakurajima. On arrival we took a nice walk along part of Nagisa Lava Trail and experienced some more great panoramas of Kagoshima and the volcano.
On the return leg, Nicole took the opportunity to take the foot bath in Sakurajima Yogan Nagisa Park.
Before taking the ferry back we took a look around the visitor’s center which was a short walk from the ferry terminal.
Eiji then brought us back to the ship where we thanked him for the day and said our goodbyes.
We also discovered that Eiji has his own website and you can book direct and not use the likes of GoWithGuide or Viator.
We can thoroughly recommend him, so here is the direct link to his website
Down South | English-speaking private tour guide in Kagoshima, Miyazaki, and Amami Oshima.
Sounds like a good day. Lunch looked pretty good as well.