Hi everyone!
I’m travelling with my wife to Japan next week and on the 27th of October we will travel from Kyoto to Nagoya with the 7:33AM Hikari (we will have JR pass). We would like to make this day a one day trip to towns among the Nakasendo trail. We intend to leave Nagoya with the 9:00 Shinano train.
We thought of two options but we have trouble to decide which one to choose:
1. Go to Narai-juku with a transfer to the Chuo Main Line at Kiso-Fukushima (we will have 40 minutes for transfer). We will arrive at Narai-juku at 11:25. We eat lunch, wander the town and head back to Nagoya at 16:46 with a transfer at Kiso-Fukushima and arrive at around 7 PM.
2. Go to Magome with a transfer to a local bus at Nakatsugawa (we will have around 50 minutes to transfer). We will arrive at Magome at 11:10. We wander the town, eat something then hike the Nakasendo-trail to Tsumago-juku which should take about 2 hours. Ideally we would like to arrive at Tsumago-juku by 15:00. Then we stroll the streets and get to Nagiso either by bus or taxi. From Nagiso we go to Nagoya with the 17:56 Shinano train and also arrive at around 7PM.
Both options are about 4 hours riding trains/buses to get to our destination so we won’t have much time exploring the towns until sunset. It’s also around 2 hours to get back to Nagoya where we will still need to check into our hotel, but it’s at least within walking distance to Nagoya Station.
My question would be to you: is either of the options even doable or is it wishful thinking? Will we have enough time to enjoy the atmosphere of the towns? What option would you recommend?Any advice is much appreciated!
Thank you!
6 comments
Narai-juku is indeed a pretty village but it‘s not very big and there are not really lots of things to do and see. I‘m a very slow traveller myself and I take a lot of photos but even for me 4 hours in Narai-juku seem a bit long. Why not staying overnight in Magome? Then you could visit both Narai + Magome on day 1, walk the Nakasendo on the morning of day 2 and continue your trip to Nagoya.
I’ve read on this sub that people do the Nakasendo as a daytrip so it‘s certainly doable but it also takes out the magic of staying in a nice ryokan and embarking on the hike in the early morning.
Both options are very doable, I think #2 is more interesting given the hike which adds a bit of variety.
The Nakasendo towns are relatively similar to one another (at least to my uncultured eye) and only takes about an hour to finish seeing, maybe two if you go into many shops/buildings and take a ton of photos.
You could hike between Yabuhara and Narai if you really prefer Narai over Tsumago/Magome.
I would go with the second option. The hike is really nice and I especially enjoyed Magome.
Thank you! Is the hike really around 2 hours? We are relatively young and fit, but you never know in mountainous terrains.
When I walked from Magome to Tsumago earlier this year (May 2023) I found that it took longer than 2 hours as there was a diversion due to storm damage. On the plus side this detour went past the Odaki and Medaki waterfalls. I don’t know if the diversion is still in place. If so, I’d recommend factoring in between 3 and 4 hours for hiking at a comfortable pace to take in the scenery.
We did #2 back in May 2023 from Nagoya. 3 athletic guys, the walk from Magome to Tsumago took almost 3 hours, mainly bc of picture stops, tea rest stop, and some other small sites. We actually didn’t have too much time to explore Tsumago since we had to catch the train back to Nagoya.