Walk the Nakasendo Trail

Expert Local Guides

Award Winning Adventures

Nature First Adventures

Support Local Communities

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11 Days from

USD 5,549

Walking & Trekking

Ways to Travel :

Self-Guided Holidays

Activity :

Walking & Trekking

Activity Levels :

3 out of 7 - Moderate

Trip Code :

W10NK

Walking Japan's Nakasendo Trail

The Nakasendo Trail or 'Road through the Central Mountains' was part of Japan's network of highways. Travellers moving between Kyoto and Tokyo took several days to travel the Nakasendo, staying overnight in Juku post towns. In the seventeenth century, the Nakasendo was crowded with travellers, including feudal lords, samurai, itinerant merchants, and pilgrims. Now largely forgotten and quiet, the road provides a pleasant trail through scenic countryside and the history of Japan.

Explore the fascinating city of Kyoto before starting the Nakasendo Trail, your trip ends in the sprawling city of Tokyo. Famous for its beautifully built Buddhist temples and traditional teahouses, Kyoto is a great introduction to your Japanese adventure. From here, you can visit the historical city of Nara, full of cultural treasures and tranquil gardens.

In Tokyo you can experience the whole breadth of Japanese arts and culture, not to mention the abundance of culinary treasures. An ever-evolving city, Tokyo is an explosion for the senses with a discovery around every corner.

Highlights

Village to village walking on the loveliest parts of the old Nakasendo Trail in the picturesque Kiso Valley and Karuizawa
See Matsumoto castle, one of Japan's best historic castles
Visit the exquisitely preserved villages of Magome, Tsumago and Narai
Bathe in the thermal waters at a hot-spring Ryokan

What's Included

10 nights’ accommodation in hotels and Japanese-style inns (ryokan/minshuku)
All breakfasts & 5 dinners
Management by your local Headwater appointed agent
Route directions and maps
Luggage transfers between accommodation on the trail
Train from Kyoto to trail starting point and from trail end point to Tokyo

What's Not Included

Lunches
Travel insurance
Single supplements
Solo traveller supplement (where only one person is travelling on a departure date)
Visas and vaccinations

7 Days of Walking & Trekking

Day 3

4 km / 2.5 miles

Day 4

6 km / 3.7 miles

Day 5

16 km / 9.9 miles

Day 6

7 km / 4.3 miles

Day 7

4 km / 2.5 miles

Day 8

2 km / 1.2 miles

Day 9

15 km / 9.3 miles

People, Places & Planet

We work hard to create trips which improve life for the people and places we visit, and look after the planet we explore. Find out more about our sustainable travel ethos and practice here, and find out about the work of the Exodus Travels Foundation here.

Some sustainable travel highlights of this trip include:

People - How this trip helps improve life for local communities.

The use of a local guide means our customers will be well informed about local traditions, and cultural and social sensitivities.
This trip brings income and opportunity to the destination community through the inclusion of locally-owned hotels and restaurants, the emphasis on eating locally produced food and support of other local enterprise.
We use fairly small, family run and locally staffed establishments which ensures that we are benefiting local communities.
Our activity also benefits the rural village of Copey, which is nestled in the highlands of the Central Mountain Range. By passing through this area, seeing how the locals live and work and having lunch in a typical home, we are encouraging cultural exchange and providing valuable avenues of income here.
There is an option for clients to directly support local schools by packing a gift of educational supplies when we visit Copey area on this tour.
This is a small group tour, meaning that we have a low impact on the environments and communities we visit and are able to ensure that we do not disrupt or lead to the displacement of local people.
Our local operator is very involved in supporting community projects. On International Tourism Day in 2019 they took part in cleaning a beach at Guacalillo. They collected a total 150 Kg of waste and all the plastic lids collected were donated to the Fundación Proparques, for a project developing walkways to improve accessibility for people with mobility problems in the country's protected wild areas.
In 2017 Exodus Travels introduced the Inspiration Project, where we’ve worked with our partners to take more than 6,000 children in 30 countries on a day of adventure and exploration. Each inspirational day out is designed to introduce young minds to the wonders of our world and their place in it. From visiting cultural heritage sites to natural wonders, each trip has been packed with firsts – their first time leaving their own village, their first time seeing the sea, their first time visiting a busy city. We continue to operate these days out to inspire children to protect and preserve the world as they grow up.

Places - How this trip helps protect and conserve local landscapes and nature.

Read about our commitment to nature protection and restoration here, including our rewilding commitment for every customer who travels.
By travelling in a small group, led by a local guide, we ‘tread lightly’ to minimise our impact on local resources and the environment.
Being a wildlife-based tour, we are very conscious of our effects on the environment and how we can reduce negative impact and aid conservation. We visit national and private parks, including the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, one of the first community-managed reserves in the country. Our entrance fees also directly support conservation efforts in the areas we visit.
Our local operator has a policy of Animal Welfare that requests suppliers to comply with the minimum conditions of animal welfare.
Our local operator has been awarded by the Costa Rican Tourism Board for their sustainable tourism practice & dedication to improving sustainability standards. This means that efforts are made to rationally use water and electricity, provide adequate waste management, and positively impact communities, among many other actions.
Most of the accommodation and restaurants we visit on this trip use locally sourced food such as fruit which is always sourced locally and abundant. Esquinas lodge have their own policy whereby they produce their own organic vegetables and fruit, marmalade, juices, mayonnaise, bread, chocolate and seasoning.
Vegetarian options are available if notice is given which include a variety of fresh fruit, vegetables, and rice.
To reduce our carbon emissions, we use a shared coach at the beginning of the tour to transport clients from San José to Tortuguero rather than an internal flight. During the trip, we travel responsibly using appropriate methods of transport; therefore, depending on group size, a minibus/coach will be used.
Our trips adhere to ABTA’s industry-leading animal welfare guidelines to ensure the best possible practices with regard to working animals and wildlife viewing. Our animal welfare policy can be found here.
We work with our partners on the ground to proactively eliminate or reduce waste, for example eliminating all single-use plastic water bottles and instead providing refills for re-usable bottles.

Planet - How we seek to keep the carbon footprint of this trip low.

Read about our climate action here, including our carbon reduction and compensation commitments.
An example of eco-friendly accommodation on this trip is the Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, a model project combining conservation, environmental research and community development in a rural area. The plot is surrounded by approximately 3,000 hectares of untouched rainforest which acts as a carbon sink and the lodge itself is 100 % carbon neutral, meaning it will take action to remove as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they produce.

Itinerary

Take the express train from Osaka Kansai Int. Airport to Kyoto City (approx. 70mins), then a local taxi to your first hotel. (approx. 10mins).

Overnight Royal Park Hotel Sanjo.

Enjoy a rest day in the incredible city of Kyoto, famous for its Buddhist temples, tranquil gardens, and traditional teahouses. We recommend visiting the historical city of Nara, full of cultural treasures and expansive parks, located approx. 1hr from Kyoto city on the train.

Overnight Royal Park Hotel Sanjo.

Meals Included: Breakfast

Take the train to the hills of northern Kyoto (included), on sacred Mount Kurama. Here, Samurai trained with mountain Buddhist practitioners in the 12th century. From Kurama Temple, walk to the Kifune Shrine, which is known for bringing good fortune to those seeking luck in love. The walk begins with a steep and long ascent up stone steps to the Kurama Temple. Stop to take in the beautiful scenery and spend some time at the shrines and smaller temples along the way. Return by local train to Kyoto (included). The remainder of your day is free for you to explore Kyoto.

Overnight Royal Park Hotel Sanjo.

Meals Included: Breakfast

Begin with a train journey from Kyoto to Nakatsugawa, including a ride on the world-famous Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Nagoya (included). At Nakatsugawa, you board a local bus for the short journey to Magome. Walk over Magome Pass to Tsumago, one of the best preserved and most evocative of the Nakasendo post towns. Spend the night at a family-run Minshuku in Tsumago or the nearby hamlet of O-Tsumago, with a delicious home-cooked Japanese dinner and breakfast included.

Overnight Minshuku Guesthouse, Tsumago.