Kurokawa onsen is secret hot spring in Kumamoto

Kurokawa onsen locates at kumamoto at a dirtance of hour and a half hour from Aso- kumamoto airport by car or two hour by express bus.

Kurokawa onsen is secret hot spring but, there are a lot of cafe and restaurant at the downtown of it.

Why Kurokawa onsen is called by secret hot spring is inconvenient access to Kurokawa onsen.

But, this is a great valuable hot spring. I want to introduce.

Kurokawa onsen is secret hot spring in Kumamoto

Access to Kurokawa onsen

If we go to Kurokawa onsen from overseas, at first, we can go to Aso-Kumamoto international airport by plane.

After arriving at Aso-Kumamoto international airport, we can choose two method to go to Kurokawa onsen.

Express bus(for two hours to Kurokawa onsen)

When we get to arrival gate of Aso-Kumamoto airport, we can see the reception of JET STAR on the left side. Going in front of the reception and turning on the right, we can find the ticket-vending machine. We can buy express bus ticket for Kurokawa onsen by it.

After buying the ticket, we can go out the airport from a nearby exit. Then, we can find the express bus stop to Kurokawa onsen.(bus stop No.2 is for Kurokawa onsen)

The departure times of the express bus are 8:24 am, 9:29 am, 12:59 pm respectively and the bus fare is 2,000yen.

Rental car(for one and a half hour to Kurokawa onsen)

We can visit “daikan-mountain” and “mysterious art” along the way to Kurokawa onsen.

▼Daikan-mountain(picture)

▼Daikan-mountain(movie)

▼mysterious art(picture)

▼mysterious art(movie)

If we visit these sightseeing spot, or “Nabegataki:geopark” we need car.

▼Nabegataki:geopark(movie)

In the case of reserving rental car, the rental car shop employee will pick us from the airport to the rental car shop by calling the shop.

The road to Kurokawa onsen is narrow mountain path, we don’t reccomend to rent a big car. And also, if we go to Kurokawa onsen in winter, it may snow. So we should rent a with studless tires.

I think a one of Japanese good rental car shop is “tabirai” on the internet because of cheaper and being able to reserve in English.

And also, reccomended rental car shop is “jalan rental car” I think this is cheapest rental car shop in Japan but not supported in English.(If chance should serve, I will write how to reserve by jalan rental car in English)

▼Reservation by jalan rental car

I rented a car for three days for 6060yen by using a 2000yen discount coupon.

Parking at Kurokawa onsen

Parking rule at Kurokawa onsen is a little strange compared with other onsen places. We can not only park at ryokan hotels but also park at public parking for tourists freely.

▼public parking

There are 6 public parkings at the Kurokawa onsen.

The nearest parking to downtown of Kurokawa onsen is “fureai hiroba”. The height of all parkings at Kurokawa onsen is higher than downtown, so we go down from parking to downtown by foot. We don’t recommend to go into downtown by car because the path is too narrow.

▼Path in the downtown(Truly narrow)

The best part of Kurokawa onsen

The downtown has many restaurants and souvenir shops along the narrow paths. At first glance, it may be a declining. But actually, Kurokawa onsen is prospering.

Restaurant”Waroku-ya”

This is cafe-restaurant. Business hours are a little bit short from 11 am to 16 pm, but very popular shop.

▼Appearance of Waroku-ya

Waroku-ya is so stylish cafe and serves various type of drink.

▼Counter seat in Waroku-ya

But I think Waroku-ya’s value is not drink but curry！This is very tasty and also we can eat 3 kinds of curry at the same time. One The first curry is “Aso-red beef curry”, The second is “Aso-pork curry”, The third is “Higo-red chicken white curry”. The menu name is Waroku-ya 3 types curry with Cutlet.

▼Waroku-ya 3 types curry with Cutlet.

This was my second favorite lunch in Kurokawa.

Restaurant:Ufufu

This is my first favorite lunch in Kurokawa. Especially, “Kurokawa’s red beef bowl” is extremely tasty！Aso-red beef is low in fat and chewy. This is so tasty that I ate in a moment.

▼Kurokawa’s red beef bowl

This is so popular restaurant that many customers come and often get crowded. If we want to have a lunch at Ufufu, we can go early. In the case of waiting in the restaurant, we need to write our name. After that Clerk will call us.

▼We were waiting in Ufufu

Patisserie “Roku”

This is Pastry shop famous for jersey-milk pudding and cream puff used by salt koji.

▼Appearance of patisserie “Roku”

Restaurant:Irori-ya

Most of cafe, restaurant, souvenir shop is close until 20 pm at the latest 20 pm. But, Iroriya open until 23:30 pm. If we choose the staying plan without dinner or arrive late at night or want to drink after dinner, this is very useful.

▼Signboard of Irori-ya

Iroriya is opened in 2017, but this restaurant brings back memories of Showa era. Local people may eat at Irori-ya rather than tourist.

▼Inside of Irori-ya

Irori-ya’s owner’s family manage Tofu shop, so this restaurant serve fresh Tofu dish. Especially, menu”Nama-age” is very tasty！I asked for refilling.

▼”Nama-age”

Hot spring

We can take 29 kinds of hot spring at Kurokawa onsen. Regularly, if we take a hot spring, we need to pay 500yen to 800yen at one time but actually, we can get good deal. That is “Kurokawa onsen ticket for taking hot springs”

▼”Kurokawa onsen ticket for taking hot springs”(Front side)

We can buy it for 1300yen and take 3 kinds of favorite hot spring.

▼”Kurokawa onsen ticket for taking hot springs”(Back side9

At first, 3 stickers are pasted on the wooden board(♨️), but stickers are stripped at every time we use. After finishing all stickers, we can get stamp on the wooden board. So, the wooden board will be for our memories.

✔︎Kurokawa onsen was almost decline town that time but recovered by “Kurokawa onsen ticket for taking hot springs”

I asked owner of Irori-ya what hot spring in Kurokawa onsen is recommended. She answered as below.