Yufuin no Mori is one of the most popular and most hyped Japan Railways (JR) sightseeing trains to take when traveling from Fukuoka Prefecture (Hakata Station) to Oita Prefecture (Yufuin or Beppu Station) in Kyushu Island.
The gorgeous forest green train (forest is mori in Japanese, thus the name of the train) with its elegant interior design and onboard activities are what everyone talks about on social media.
So, is Yufuin no Mori train worth taking? We say “Yes!”
The ride is enjoyable as the train passes through forest areas and even a waterfall (although, it’s very tiny!)
Justin and I stayed in Beppu’s onsen town back in 2020 but missed taking this train to get here. On our second visit to Oita Prefecture, we immediately booked a round-trip ticket from Hakata to Yufuin Station as we stayed in Yufuin town for one night.
If this train interests you, we’ll share our travel tips for taking Yufuin no Mori and our experience.
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Top Highlights Riding the Yufuin no Mori Train
Here are a few reasons why this train ride is incredible to experience.
- The Beautiful Decor – Depending on which train you take, it will have 4 or 5 cars. The seating arrangement is 2 seats on each side. Car 4 has the prettiest decorations with a leafy pattern on the chairs and ceilings. We highly recommend that you reserve this car. The other cars have an elegant forest-green seat and beige-colored walls.
We sat in Car 4 and it has gorgeous leafy pattern seats
- Buy omiyage (souvenirs). Car 3 sells souvenirs such as keychains, pins, magnets, washi tape, toy trains, coasters, mini hand towels, and hand towels. We took the train during the 35th anniversary and there were special edition hand towels. We bought a pin and a special edition hand towel.
- Try the onboard drinks and snacks. Located in Car 3 at the same spot as the souvenir purchase or from the traveling snack push cart, the menu has mini donuts, ice cream/sorbet, coffee, juice, soda, and beer. We tried the Kiriya kabosu (citrus) sorbet and yuzu honey juice.
- Take a photo with the Yufuin no Mori sign. There is a large poster of the train with today’s date in the lobby area of Car 4. We took a selfie as there wasn’t anyone around us to help take a photo.
- Collect the exclusive Yufuin no Mori stamp. This is located in the lobby area of Car 4.
Things to Know Before Taking the Train
- The ride takes 2 hours 14 minutes from Hakata to Yufuin (total of 6 stops) and 3 hours 16 minutes from Hakata to Beppu (total of 8 stops). All are on the Japan Railway (JR) line.
- Each day there are 2 round trips from Fukuoka Hakata Station to Yufuin Station and 1 round trip from Hakata to Beppu (with a stop at Yufuin). Check out the updated schedule here.
- This train requires reserved seating. It’s highly recommended to get tickets up to 1 month in advance or a few days before your desired date. We’ll share more details about how to book tickets below.
Note: From Hakata to Yufuin Station, the first departure is at 9:17am. It’s a very popular time slot. Many tourists visit Yufuin as a day trip, so it’s often sold out.
- When boarding the train, there is a small set of stairs to go up. So, you’ll need to carry your rolling luggage up the stairs. If you need extra help, there are 1-2 people at each entrance to assist.
Be careful when entering and exiting the train
- Large luggages are stored at the end of each train car.
- The train is very rickety and will sway side to side during the ride. If you walk around, hold onto the back of the seats or the walls.
- There are toilets onboard.
- The train does not have free WiFi. So take advantage of the extra time to relax and watch the beautiful scenery pass by.
How to Buy Tickets
This train has only reserved seating, so everyone must have a ticket before boarding. Visitors can either buy individual one-way or round-trip tickets here or use a JR Pass.
An adult ticket costs 5,690 yen each way, so it’s not the cheapest price for a 2-3 hour ride. But it’s worth the price with the JR Pass as the cost of the train ticket is rolled into the overall Pass cost.
If you buy the JR All Wide Pass, JR All Kyushu Pass, or a JR Northern Kyushu Pass through the official JR website, you can wait until you receive your physical pass and use the JR Reservation Ticket Machines to reserve the seats.
Or, you can pay an additional 1,500 yen per person to reserve your seat in advance on the JR ticket reservation site. The seat is guaranteed with the advanced reservation.
We bought the 5 Day JR Northern Kyushu Pass through the official site as there was a promotional price. Then we booked an online reservation for this train from Hakata to Yufuin. We weren’t sure how crowded it would be for our June dates.
For our online reservation, we only had one time slot which was the 2:38pm train. The earlier times were already sold out and we had 3 weeks before our ride.
When we redeemed our Kyushu Pass, we received our JR Regional Pass and the Yufuin no Mori tickets at the same time.
We used these tickets to explore Northern Kyushu in 5 days
NOTE: If you bought the pass through a third-party vendor such as Klook (our favorite website to buy attractions and train tickets for Japan), you need to wait until you receive your JR Pass and use the JR Reservation Ticket Machines to reserve your seat.
The online reservation system is not available. There may be a chance that the train tickets may not be available if you try to reserve a few days in advance.
Tickets are sold out, so what are the alternatives?
Option 1: Take the alternative Yufu train (also on the JR line).
It goes the same route as Yufuin no Mori and has “non-reserved” seats. So, if you’re buying non-reserved individual tickets, the Yufu train will be slightly cheaper than the reserved seating.
The Yufu train’s exterior color is red so it’s not the same feeling as the forest green.
You can input your departure date on the JR Kyushu website and see the train schedule for the Yufu train.
Option 2: Take the Yufuin no Mori train from the opposite direction such as Yufuin to Hakata Station.
We noticed more seat availability when we used the JR Reservation Ticket Machine for the Yufuin to Hakata route.
Click here to read other options on how to travel to Yufuin, including bus.
Our Experience Taking the Train
Ride 1: Hakata to Yufuin
We started our train journey by taking the train from Hakata to Yufuin Station. We took the 2:38pm train for arrival in Yufuin at 4:50pm.
We boarded Car 4. As mentioned earlier, Car 4 has gorgeous green leaves as the theme decor on the seats and ceiling. It was as if we were truly in a forest!
For those who have purses or backpacks, there are open overhead compartments above the seats.
We sat on the right side of the train. We saw in a video on Youtube that the right side was recommended to see the Jionnotaki Waterfall 慈恩の滝 on the way to Yufuin.
Justin is ready for the Yufuin no Mori train!
To be honest, the 2-tiered waterfall was super tiny and only 30 meters high, so it looked like a speckle from our seats. So, if you sit on the left side of the train, it’s truly okay! You’re not missing out on much.
Jionnotaki Waterfall
We wanted to browse the train so we stopped by the back of Car 4/lobby area to take our photo with the Yufuin no Mori sign. I wish there was a stand for us to prop our phones to take a photo.
The train was rickety when taking this photo
Visiting Car 3 for the snacks and souvenirs was absolutely a fun experience. The train swayed left and right as we looked through the goodies to purchase. It was quite a balancing act as we activated our core muscles.
Here is Car 3
We bought a pin, a long hand towel, Kiriya kabosu (citrus) sorbet, and the yuzu honey juice. Our total was 2650 yen with a credit card.
We went back to our seats to enjoy the snacks. The citrus sorbet was delicious and had the right amount of sweetness. The yuzu honey juice was a prepared mix of concentrated yuzu and honey with water. We liked it and wished it was in a larger cup.
We had a snack and souvenir haul from our train ride!
We eventually made it to the front of the car to see the driver’s point of view. The interior decoration of the other cars was much different than Car 4. The forest green seats and beige-colored walls had a different feel than the whimsical nature feeling of Car 4.
Once we arrived at Yufuin Station, we grabbed our rolling luggage and walked to our hotel, Yufudake Ichibo no Yado Kirara. We spent the night and wandered through Yufuin town the next day.
Ride 2: Yufuin to Hakata
After a full day exploring Yufuin, it was time to head back to Fukuoka.
For the Yufuin to Hakata route, we departed at 5:17pm for arrival in Hakata at 7:26pm. This time we were in Car 5.
The decor had striated green and brown fabric seats and the beige-colored walls. The overhead storage area had a door so it wasn’t open like in Car 4.
With Car 5, we had a view of the front of the train and could see the driver’s point of view.
Since we already experienced the fun amenities earlier, this ride was more laid back and resting.
Final Thoughts
We had an amazing time taking this train and finally understood the allure of this train route. We saw many locals and tourists enjoy this ride with their significant other and family members.
From the beautiful interior decor to the fun Yufuin no Mori activities onboard, it’s worth experiencing at least once during your Fukuoka or Oita Prefecture trip.
If you have any questions about this train route or how to get tickets, please ask in the comment box below.
Read our other blog posts about Yufuin to help with your planning:
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2 comments
Hi Jackie, is there a decent amount of space for large suitcases? I am wondering if we would be better off using a luggage forwarding service or if we would be ok bringing our luggage onto the train. Thanks!
Hi Katelyn. My husband and I saw many people being large luggage onto the Yufuin no Mori train. The train workers will assist those with large luggage and will store them in a section of the train.
But you’re more than welcome to use a luggage delivery service if you don’t want the hassle of bringing the luggage off/on the train.
Enjoy the train travels!