Nakasendo Way

The Nakasendo, which literally means "the road through the mountains", was one of Japan's great Edo-period highways, connecting Kyoto with Edo - present-day Tokyo. In its heyday, around the seventeenth century, it was crowded with feudal lords, samurai, merchants and pilgrims. Our walk follows the most scenic stretch through the Kiso Valley, where the narrow valleys and mountainous terrain have left many sections of the trail and several post towns largely unchanged. Towns like Tsumago, Magome and Narai feel untouched, their wooden inns and cobbled lanes preserved as if time simply forgot them. Nights are spent in traditional ryokans, with onsen baths and home-cooked meals waiting at the end of each day.