Kurokawa Onsen

A few questions please:

1. When does the river bamboo illumination start? I�fll be there on November 25th. Is it too early?

2. I read there are lockers at the Cosmo Petrol Station near the express bus station as well as at the tourist information center. What can we do if they are full or too small for our luggage? Is there any other places to store luggage in town? We are staying out of the town center (Ryokan Yunosako) and planning to hang out in town after getting off the highway bus before being picked up by nightfall by the Ryokan.

3. Is there other public transport around town aside from the express buses, which I know are not frequent?

4. Is it easy to get a taxi from the center of town to Ryokan Yunosako? How much is the taxi fare?

Thanks, Mel

1. According to the schedule, it starts late December (around Christmas) and ends in late March. https://www.kurokawaonsen.or.jp/eng_new/

2. I did not know that gas station had coin lockers. Kurokawa Onsen is a tiny village, and people are very nice and accommodating. I am willing to bet that attendant at the gas station or visitor center will look after your luggage (for a fee?) if all lockers are full or your luggage is too big.

3. There is no public transportation (like a bus) within Kurokawa Onsen.

4. There is a taxi company Marutakara-Kanko Taxis near the bus stop. I don�ft know the fare, but it�fs only about 2km to your ryokan, so it should not be too expensive.
Marutakarakanko Taxis
6535 Manganji, Minamioguni, Aso-gun, Kumamoto 869-2402, Japan
+81 967-44-0453
https://goo.gl/maps/cRsce1fb8cyfReHb8

Kurokawa is not "tiny". I went there by car, and it was lucky I did. I went there as a day trip, and wanted to see a few of the best places (some are very good, others are meh). There are around 30 places you could go to. Many onsen are actually spaced quite far apart, and if you're walking you'll be doing a lot of it (uphill in many cases). The roads are also quite narrow and at some points can only take one car going through at a time, so walk carefully.

I was mistaken on the earlier response regarding public transportation. There is a local bus that runs along the highway, and there is a stop �c�̌� (Tanoharu, Tanohara?) very close to your ryokan. However, I could not find the time table. The bus company is called Kyushu Sanko.
https://www.kyusanko.co.jp/sankobus/routemap/pdf/aso/aso_A3.pdf

I'd characterise the township itself as being very small, but the area as being quite large. We stayed at ryokans a few km in each direction.

Thanks for the feedbacks. May end up staying in the center of town. Found a place costing \2k/night more. I prefer to be right in the middle of the shops, cafes and by the pretty river. Going with a friend whom I know for sure will not do public bathing so there won�ft be any onsen hopping (the ryokans I book have family reserved onsens). However, she�fs very interested in photography so I hope she�fll find Kurokawa Onsen to her liking. Hopefully we are not too late for autumn foliage..
Is it worth it to stay the next night at Yufuin? Or just a few hours there will do?

Hi, while we really liked the ryokans we stayed at at Kurokawa (especially Hozentai which I think is the best place I have ever stayed, in a separate pod over the creek and looking at little waterfalls), I think Yufuin is a more fun town. You can probably see everything you need to in 3 or 4 hours but I would stay at least one night, maybe 2 if I went back.

There is an owl zoo there (at Yufuin) which is worth a special mention. If that doesnt convince you to go, nothing will.

Ok. Will search for Yufuin ryokan.. Hopefully i can find lower pricing than those at Kurokawa 😬

Please convince your friend to do public bathing. Most of the onsen in Kurokawa now are gender separate (you can find out before which aren�ft so no surprises) and the public ones are soooooo much nicer than the small ones you can hire for a family.

Or if she/he insists on no public bathing at least convince your friend to give you a day off doing all your bathing and onsen hopping. Going to any onsen town and not getting into the waters in the best places they offer would be a shame.

🤞

At Yufuin we stayed at Hanamura which was really nice. Not traditional, but lovely https://www.yufuin-hanamura.jp/

Thanks but Hanamura a bit above what I�fm willing to spend...