Are you ready for some picture spam? Because I went to Dazaifu with a friend to see the autumn leaves and obviously I took lots of pictures! (ok, only about 20 plus, but still!)

This was the ticket that we took: It contains the tickets there and back, free umegae mochi (which come to think of it, was probably already included in the price of the ticket) and coupons for a bunch of places. The total cost was 1000 yen, so I think it’s pretty worth it.

Our first stop was Kamado Jinja (竈門神社), which is apparently known for relationships (縁結び; enmusubi). And during autumn, there are a bunch of maple trees at the side of the steps, which makes it a great autumn viewing spot!

This is actually a 40min walk away, but if you take the bus (opposite Dazaifu station – ask the information counter if you can’t find the stop), it’s only 10 minutes and costs only 100 yen. Both IC cards and cash are accepted.

There was also a very modern shop selling a variety of charms and other goods, but I totally forgot to take photos of it :p Was too focused on the leaves haha.

Funnily enough, someone actually recognised the place from this photo (below). Apparently, the red umbrella gave it away.

These shots were taken on the way out, and I really like how the light is shining here. The leaves look like little jewels!

After this, we went to Starbucks for a break and a chat. This turned out to be place we spent the most time, but it was so fun chatting(: The perfect break from all the walking!

I think I took a picture of the outside of the Starbucks the previous time (when I was here for the plum blossoms), so here’s a picture of the inside!

I got the berry+chocolate pie and some tea!

The tea is a nectarine peach cream tea and it was very fruity and really delicious!

After our Starbucks break, we headed to Komyozenji（光明善寺）, a temple that was built in the Kamakura period and also has fantastic autumn scenary. But this next picture was from the outside:

There’s a 200 yen entrance fee, but it is totally worth it! And although there were “No Photography” signs at the entrance, when we went in, almost everyone had their cameras out. And not just handphone cameras, but DSLRs.

Totally love sitting on the tatami and just drinking in the autumn colours! My panorama photos didn’t turn out very well though (as you can see from this) ><

Then again, I was looking at the plum blossom photos and I was like “I was that bad?!” (not like I was every very good at photography) so it’s possible that I was just recognising how awful the photos were in real time instead of a time lag (that is the norm)

Dazaifu only has two spots with autumn views, but it’s totally worth it. We were actually planning to go to this famous bridge in Oita, but then we found out it was 2 hours one way and transport alone would cost 5000 yen so we decided to go for this. Much nearer, cheaper, and we still got to see a lot of gorgeous maple leaves.