This section is dedicated to take away all your "I wish someone had told me that before I went!" experiences. This way, you can spend less time settling in, and more time making new friends in your chosen hostel.
Fukuoka hostels are in surprisingly high supply considering there is hardly any tourism in town -- at least not of the type that would stay in a dorm. And well, apart from that one week a year when sumo shakes the ground.
So who stays? Well, there is a bit of transiting going on with a lot of the overland buses from Honshu and the like ending here, but they're people wanting to travel on to Kyushu and who are needing some real sleep in between. Plus there are those folks entering through the airport! Secondly there is the odd tourist who actually comes to see the city. And admittedly it is not entirely unworthy of some tourist time. There is a constant fair with a Ferris Wheel right by the sea (which makes for a really nice photo from further afar), an unspoilt real Japanese flair, and one of the few places in Japan where your soup's noodles will not actually be swimming in something fishy or oceany but instead good old meat broth! But for the most part, hostels in Fukuoka do seem to cater to long-termers either teaching English or studying at university, as the university's dorms often are far out of the city centre and renting a place is at times not affordable.
Those Fukuoka hostels are spread out nicely throughout the city from roughly the airport over an accumulation around the train station and city centre to some further west close to the sea. They all are fairly central, though, considering the vastness of the city. There is no big difference in price or standard and also the neighbourhoods are quite similar with none sticking out in a positive or negative way. As usual for Japan all hostels are quite tidy and travelers will feel welcome at whichever one they choose. It also seems someone actually watched over the hostel's locations being convenient, as they are all easily reached from some point of major public transportation.
Written by local expertz for Fukuoka
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