Nakasendo Trail

The Nakasendo Trail once connected Kyoto and Tokyo long before either city carried those names, threading through Japan’s mountainous interior rather than following the coast. Sections between the old post towns of Magome and Tsumago remain beautifully preserved, cobbled and lined with wooden inns much as they would have appeared to Edo-period travellers. Walking even a short stretch offers a very different perspective on Japan, away from bullet trains and city crowds, at the pace the country was once crossed on foot.