Niji-no-Matsubara and Karatsu BurgerPhoto: そらみみ / CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked · Researched, not yet visited · times from official timetables and our estimates · Takumi Yamada
A pine grove about 4.5 km long and 500 m deep along Karatsu Bay, about a million trees, first planted as a windbreak by the first lord of Karatsu; a Special Place of Scenic Beauty. In the grove, Karatsu Burger’s Matsubara shop sells burgers every day, 09:00–20:00 until sold out. The castle lookout shows the whole arc.
- Short enough to be certain of: 2 hr door to door.
- 2 hr door to door needs a 4-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
- It is a view, so it is weather. Check the morning sky before you commit the hours.
The place to have it
| Place | What you get |
|---|---|
| The famous oneKaratsu Burger, Matsubara main shopからつバーガー 松原本店 | A van in Niji-no-Matsubara. 09:00–20:00 or until sold out, open every day. |
Each name opens in Google Maps. Opening days change; check before you build a day around one.
Niji-no-Matsubara and Karatsu Burger and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Where the 2 hr goes
The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside. The minutes are our estimates from timetables and maps, not timed on the ground.
If your ship is late, cut the 1 hr 20 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
3 hr for bothKaratsu Jinja
The town’s shrine, said to date from the Nara period, and the home of the Kunchi festival: every November the 14 floats escort its portable shrine through the streets.
See the detail
3 hr for bothFormer Karatsu Bank
The red-brick head office of the Karatsu Bank, finished in March 1912 in the Tatsuno style, red brick banded with white granite under small towers and domes.
See the detail
3 hr 30 min for bothThe 14 Kunchi floats
The giant lacquered floats of the Karatsu Kunchi festival, lions and samurai helmets among them, all 14 under one roof; the oldest, the red lion, was made in 1819.
See the detail