Kurokawa onsen: in town or out

Planning to visit Kurokawa in early November 2024 for 2 nights. We will not have a car but I plan to take the bus from Fukuoka. I’m unclear whether to book a ryokan in town or outside of town. Loving the look of Yamamizuki, for example, and lean toward staying here. But would we be better off staying in town?

Does Yamamizuki’s shuttle run frequently, running people into town during the day? Or is it walkable (it says 25 min walk, which in daylight is doable and can be quite enjoyable).

For context, I had originally developed an itinerary for Kinosaki and loved the idea of wandering the town in our yukatas. I’m also a photographer and love the nighttime shots of the ryokans lit up over the river.

Yamamizuki is a fabulous onsen. I only went as a day guest.

Per google maps it’s about 1,7 km from there to the village. So yes, walkable in daylight. And maybe you can try to hitchhike? Not promising it will work and it’s not common in Japan at all (saw my first hitchhiker yesterday at Kawaguchiko but couldn’t fit her on my road bike :-) but there are many people driving from Kurokawa to Yamamizuki so maybe someone can give you a lift. More likely maybe a fellow foreign tourist.

The enjoyment of Kurokawa onsen however is walking around the village and trying out different onsen. But what you could do is walk down to the village in the morning, get your 3 onsen fill in town, eat lunch somewhere and then return to Yamamizuki have dinner and more onsen there.
So you essentially only need one round trip which should be doable.

I couldn’t find anything about a shuttle bus, but it probably exists for booked guests.

There is a mini bus from the Kurokawa information office (minutes walk from the Kurokawa onsen bus stop) to and from the Yamamizuki ryokan. By the way, have a look at Takefue, I highly recommend you to alocate one night here.

No problem walking to Yamamizuke.

If it were me, I would stay in a different inn each night. Change of scene, food, baths, etc

Thank you so much! It sounds like it’s an easy walk during the day and it’s possible there might be a shuttle, too.

I don’t like to change too frequently so will stay in 1 ryokan when we’re there.

I did look at Takafue and it’s lovely though I believe it’s more pricey than Yamamizuki (at least from what I’ve seen when pricing it for an earlier time period from when I expect to be there).

Their own reservation site

https://www.489pro-x.com/en/s/yamamizuki/search/

At present they accept reservation until October.

Their free hot spring tour bus service ends on Sunday, May 15, 2022.

https://yamamizuki.com/news/74/

However, they have shuttle service when you arrive by bus.

https://yamamizuki.com/access/

The hotel will pick you up from the Kurokawa Onsen bus stop, so please let us know your arrival time when making your reservation.

Thanks so much, Frog1954!