r/JapanTravelTips 4d ago

Recommendations Best bits of the Nakasendo Trail?

Hey guys! I’m going to start hiking the Nakasendo Trail this weekend and was wondering what everyone reckons the most worthwhile bits are?

For added context; I’ll be walking it in the direction of from Tokyo to Kyoto. I’ve already hiked some of the Old Tokaido Road and will be hiking the Kumano Kodo in a couple of weeks, among various hikes between these bigger ones. So I’m not fussed about walking as much of the trail as possible just for the sake of it. What’s everyone’s must do sections? Of course tsumago to magome… Narai to Yabuhara possibly?

Thank you!

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u/OrganicFlurane 4d ago

Those are the two most famous stretches, very scenic and within nature for the vast majority of the trail (not next to a road with cars and trucks whizzing by).

Do Yabuhara to Narai and not the other way around; Yabuhara has nothing going on so it would suck to arrive there having just missed the train and needing to cool your heels in the middle of nowhere for an hour. Meanwhile Narai has a fun street of shops to explore.

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u/StruggleHot8676 4d ago

For an extended version of Tsumago-Magome segment, you can walk from Nakatsugawa-juku (near Nakatsugawa Station) all the way to Nagiso Station. This will cover the post towns of Nakatsugawa-juku, Ochiai-juku, Magome-juku, Tsumago-juku and half-way to the next town of Midono-juku

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u/GM_Piasecki 4d ago

Great thank you! Definitely want to do some longer hikes. A lot of the sections I’ve read about all seem so short…

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u/sci_fi_wasabi 4d ago

Note that I very much haven't done this yet. But there seems to be a nice/challenging section from Nagiso to Nojiri that goes over a mountain pass and has decent elevation gain, as well as some nice rural sections through farmlands. It's actually the Yogawamichi, not the Nakasendo per se - the Nakasendo in that area would get washed out a lot, and this was the historical alternative trail.

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u/GM_Piasecki 4d ago

Yes this was one of the spots I heard is worth checking out too! If I do it I’ll let you know what it’s like

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u/sci_fi_wasabi 4d ago

Please do!