The most famous section of Nakasendō! Two scenic postal towns with a beautiful historic route connecting them. Each town has delicious treats and perfect buildings. It's a short day so we can sleep in, relax and catch Pokémon?
DINK Details
Eat tiny bites as you walk down the streets of both towns.
Difficulty: Easy Start: Magome End: Nagiso | Time¹: 4 hours 30 min Distance: 7.0 mi Elevation: 1,377 ft |
Towns²: 2 (plus many cafes) Food Prep: Low | Tips: Nagiso was a better stop for us. Shops only open from 11-3 or 4 Stop at the tea house in the woods! |
1. How long we took to walk it with breaks and all
2. Towns are places with food and restroom.
I'm going to pet the cat. *Falls* I'm not going to pet the cat.
The Start
Hotel
Today was a late checkout day. We headed downstairs for a traditional Japanese breakfast and then back for naps.
We packed up, grabbed a boss coffee (Llama edition), and jumped on our bus to Magome to meet up with Christon (our Nakasendo partner).
Magome
Famous for being a post town with post station 43 (Magome-juku) as well as it's beautiful water wheels that hug the path. Once we got off the bus, we headed to the first open shop so we may be completely ridiculous tourists and buy every shiny thing we see. We thought Christon would judge us but it was the opposite. He was shopping well before us and shared the deets on more total necessary tchotchkes to buy.
While we were exploring, I suddenly turned a corner to find myself out camera-ed. A man with a 12 foot self pole, mounted with his own insta360 put me in my place. I was in awe. Just as I was thinking "how can this get more nerdy", I saw an Eevee looking Pokémon (don't @ me) lantern in-front of a shop. As I slowly looked up, I noticed all shops have Pokémon lanterns and finally my eyes locked onto the center of town which has a huge Pokémon Go monument. I do not understand, so instead I headed to the tourist center to get stamps for my stamp collection.
The Walk
Leaving Magome- 12:45 pm
As we walked through Magome, we bought meat buns, then Kobe beef nigiri, which came in 2 styles, so obviously we got both. After that, some chestnut flavored buns and a chestnut soft-serve. Finally, it was time for lunch so we headed toward a curry house, Nea's favorite!
The Trail
Very short trail today, the Magome Tsumago pass is under 2 hours. We headed uphill for half through a half residential and forest section with many café stops.
Even though this is a populated section, there were still signs for bears but we had protection, the bear bell!
After passing two cafes, we begin our decent. About halfway down we reached a clearing with a single, small farm and house. There was board of names with messages outside of the house with a kind man waiting to greet us. He invited us in for tea in exchange for our story. The tea was very refreshing and the house was beautiful. It was a very pleasant experience, thank you!
The next part of the path had waterfalls, what an action packed day! We continued downhill through rice fields, trees, and stairs. A section of the trail was closed currently (landslide?) so we were rerouted onto the road until the waterfall.
The waterfalls were plentiful and quite refreshing. After the remaining forest and one more bear bell, we ended up at the outskirts of town.
A 360 of the full pass!
Tsumago
A few cute houses popped-up with ryokans mixed in. Christon dropped off his gear and we headed into Tsumago proper.
The path into town was short but very interesting. The local aesthetics of residential Tsumago were a vibe, here's Nea's collection of photos.
Walking along the river into town was very enchanting. With little souvenir shops, chestnut ice cream, sake shops, and post station 42 (Honjin), there was much to enjoy. The tourist center was our next stop and a local news station was at the main desk, reporting on tourism. What a coincidence, I'm a tourist? While my walking group ran away in fear, I fielded questions and stamped my book for the camera.
A full 360 of Tsumago!
Destination - Nagiso
Town - 5:15 pm
Nea and I were staying an hour away so we say goodnight to Christon and finished our walk to Nagiso. In town, there is a train station (potential place to end the trip too), grocery stores, izakayas and konbinis.
Hotel - Nagiso Airbnb
Details
3 min walk from the trail and town
Beautiful balcony
Western and Japanese style beds
Amazing view of maintains and river
We loved the view from the Airbnb balcony, we spend most of our time out there. Having the view from inside was wonderful as well.
Dinner - 大間見屋食堂 (Izakaya)
This was the dinner we were waiting for, a divey-feel with izakaya food, old men with beer, yelling, and the local news on mute over the table in the back. I got delicious pork tonkatsu with mentaiko pasta and sake. Neas had oyakodon with a frosty Kirin.
After dinner, we hit up the grocery store for tomorrow (no towns or food after) and headed back for a night cap on the balcony, watching the sun set behind the mountains.
Maps
AllTrails
Google Maps
Maps on the Trail
