Kon’nichiwa!
The Nakasendo Trail is one way that you can walk in the footsteps of samurai!
It’s an ancient route of hundreds of miles that is the “central mountain route.” But you don’t need to walk the whole thing to get a sense of it. One of the most popular ways to experience it is to take 2 to 3 hours to walk around 5 miles (8km) from Magome to Tsumago. This is commonly accessed from the big city of Nagoya, and it’s also something you can consider doing from Matsumoto.
Nagoya is 35 minutes from Kyoto by shinkasen bullet train, 50 minutes from Osaka, and 1 hour 40 minutes from Tokyo.
It does require time and effort to get to the Nakasendo Trail, but what you’ll see when you’re walking from Magome to Tsumago is total and classic Japan vibes. You’ll get the historic streets, the forested paths, and the peaceful countryside, along with traditional homes and small shrines. It’s a way to feel like you’re seeing historical Japan and rural Japan!
There are several different logistical parts to getting there, but it’s doable on your own whether you’re a solo traveler or with others. Basically, it’s a train and bus to get to the Nakasendo Trail, and then a bus and train to get back.
My round-trip time from Nagoya Station was around 7 hours. The total cost for transportation for a Nagoya day trip to the Nakasendo Trail is around 7,590 yen (US$50). I give a timeline and a breakdown in cost at the bottom of this post.
You don’t need to buy tickets in advance. You can pay each step as you go, which is what I did. I actually started from Kyoto, stopped by Nagoya to do the Nakasendo Trail, and then continued on towards Tokyo when I returned back to Nagoya Station. I include my exact schedule at the end.
Below I’ll show you how to plan your route to get to the Nakasendo Trail and back.
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PLAN YOUR MAGOME TO TSUMAGO TRIP > Nakasendo Trail map
You can buy your shinkansen tickets to Nagoya in advance through klook.
Or show up to the train station on the day-of and buy them then!
Get to know Japan better: Hike the historic Nakasendo Trail with a guide
Where to stay: Magome Furusato Gakko guesthouse | Nikko Style hotel near Nagoya Station
How to get to Nakasendo Trail
So I think the easiest way to plan out your day for the Nakasendo Trail is to use google maps! I found it to work out well for me to figure out what trains and buses to take. It is literally the only thing I used to plan out my route to get to the Nakasendo Trail and back.
I felt comfortable in trusting google maps for train timings. One of the common ways to do the Nakasendo Trail is a round trip from Nagoya Station. If you do it this way, then you’ll start your day by taking a train from Nagoya, and end your day by taking the train back to Nagoya.
I also felt comfortable trusting google maps for the bus timings, but if I was going to be doubtful, I would check a secondary source for the bus timings, because this is a rural bus route.
To confirm bus timings, you can go to Kitaena bus company website. Using this website you can check the Magome bus and Tsumago bus. If the page doesn’t auto translate for you, look for your device settings to translate the whole page.
For the Magome bus, you can look under the “Magome Line” section’s “timetable” for “Magome Line (Nakatsugawa Station – Nakakiri – Magome)” weekdays or holiday/weekend, which will give you the schedule for the bus stops at Magome (馬籠) and Nakatsugawa Station (中津川駅前).
For the Tsumago bus, you can look under the “Sakashita Line” section’s “timetable” for “Sakashita Line (Nakatsugawa Station – Sakashita Station – Tsumago – Minami Kiso Station)” weekdays or holidays/weekend, which will give you the schedule for Tsumago (妻籠) and Nagiso Station (南木曽駅).
Doing a day trip to the Nakasendo Trail from Nagoya, the standard itinerary is:
- Nagoya to Magome
- Nagoya Station to Nakatsugawa Station train
- Nakatsugawa to Magome bus
- Magome to Tsumago walk
- Hike the Nakasendo Trail!
- Tsumago to Nagoya
- Tsumago to Nagiso bus
- Nagiso Station to Nagoya Station train
For the easiest planning, look up on google maps:
Adjust the departure time. Depending on your timing, the best route may or may not go through Nagiso on the way back. It might actually be Tsumago to Nakatsugawa bus, and then Nakatsugawa to Nagoya train. Google maps will let you know!
👆 Google maps can make planning the different sections of getting to the Nakasendo Trail easy! It will give you different options for the best way to get to the Nakasendo Trail, and you can decide which you want to do. Use Nagoya Station, Magome-juku, and Tsumago-juku as your starting points and/or destination, and it will put together a route for you to follow combining the bus and train, based on the bus schedule and train schedule. It will also give you the estimated cost of tickets. (map)
👆 You can tap to get more details on the train you want to take to get to the Nakasendo Trail. If you tap “also at” it will tell you future timings for the train schedule. Your phone (google maps app) will give you more details on the train schedule compared to the desktop version.
👆 It also works to figure out the bus to get to the Nakasendo Trail. It can give you more of the bus schedule.
Train to Nakatsugawa Station
Nagoya Station to Nakatsugawa Station JR Shinano limited express train: 50 minutes (3070 yen / US$20)
Nagoya Station to Nakatsugawa Station Chuo Line regular train: 1 hour 20 minutes (1340 yen / $9)
It’s going to be a long day, so I would recommend taking the JR Shinano limited express train to Nakatsugawa.
You will need to buy individual tickets for the limited express train, compared to taking the local train.
You can buy tickets when you arrive at the train station, by going to the ticket machine or at the JR office. At the JR office, you will also be able to buy your return ticket, which is not necessary but it will save you time later.
If you are starting your day in Kyoto, you can buy train tickets for both Kyoto to Nagoya and Nagoya to Nakatsugawa together when you are at Kyoto Station. You can choose to buy train tickets for the route Kyoto to Nakatsugawa at the ticket machine.
Nakatsugawa to Magome bus
Nakatsugawa Station to Magome bus: 800 yen (US$6)
Once you get to Nakatsugawa Station, you will exit the station, and the bus stop is located right outside off to the left. If you have time before the next bus, you can walk inside the building next to the bus stop to use the waiting area. There’s also a tourist information desk here, where you can grab a paper map.
You’ll pay the bus fare as you get off the bus in cash with exact change. The bus ride is around 30 minutes long, and once you arrive at the Magome bus stop, it’s just a few minutes and you can start walking on the Nakasendo Trail to Tsumago!
👆 You can get to the Nakasendo Trail by first taking the train to Nakatsugawa Station from Nagoya.
👆 Once at Nakatsugawa Station, you can take a bus to Magome.
👆 It’s just a few minutes walk to get to the Nakasendo Trail once the bus drops you off at the Magome bus stop.
👆 There are signs so you will know which way to go to get to Tsumago from Magome.
Magome to Tsumago by foot: Walking the Nakasendo samurai trail!
Magome to Tsumago walking: FREE!
Walking from Magome to Tsumago along the Nakasendo Trail is completely free.
The general advice is to give yourself 2-3 hours to get from Magome to Tsumago. I think it’s best to figure that it might take longer rather than shorter. It really depends on how slowly you go along the way, and you might end up taking your time in certain places!
You’ll pass by traditional historic streets, small shrines, and see residential homes. You’ll see the countryside and hike through forested trails. There are bear bells to ring along the way, so ring them! The trail is well-marked. At times you will cross over a main road, and be on the lookout for the smaller path to continue on the Nakasendo Trail.
👆 Here is your official start of the Nakasendo Trail when you are getting to Magome by bus!
👆 You’ll start by walking through the historic town of Magome.
👆 You’ll pass a free tea room along the way, although donations are appreciated!
👆 You’ll hike through a forest.
👆 During your forest hike, there are some cascades to see.
👆 The Nakasendo Trail also intersects with main roads.
👆 There will be many signs along the way pointing you in the direction of Tsumago.
👆 You’ll walk through rural Japan.
👆 Following the Nakasendo Trail signs, you will naturally end up walking through the historic town of Tsumago!
Tsumago to Nagiso bus
Tsumago to Nagiso bus: 300 yen (US$2)
So you’ll follow the Nakasendo Trail signs for Tsumago, and it will lead you right through the historic streets of Tsumago. And once in Tsumago, there is also a sign for the Tsumago bus stop.
You’ll pay the bus fare as you get off the bus, in cash with exact change. It’s about a 10 minute ride to the drop-off at Nagiso Station.
If you’re still up for more walking, it’s also possible to walk for another hour or so along the Nakansedo Trail from Tsumago to Nagiso, instead of taking the bus.
👆 Once you get to the historic street of Tsumago, there will be a sign to point you in the direction of the Tsumago bus stop.
👆 This is the Tsumago bus stop that goes to Nagiso Station where you can get on the train.
Train from Nagiso Station
Nagiso Station to Nagoya Station JR Shinano limited express train: 1 hour 10 minutes (3420 yen / US$23)
Nagiso Station to Nagoya Station Chuo Line regular train: 2 hours (1690 yen / $12)
You can again take the JR Shinano limited express train, this time from Nagiso Station.
You can buy tickets for your next destination when you arrive at Nagiso Station, in cash. You’ll buy tickets from an actual person, and it’s manned until 4pm, with a couple of short times during the day it’s closed. If you arrive at a time that the ticket booth is closed, you will just get on the train you want to get on, and pay when you are given the opportunity.
👆 Once at Nagiso Station, you’ll go to the ticket booth to buy your train ticket.
👆 The ticket booth is not always open, and if you arrive at Nagiso Station to find that it is closed, then you can just get on the train.
👆 You can get on the train from Nagiso Station to go to Nagoya. Make sure you go to the correct platform. Both platforms say they go to Nagoya! I just went to the first one that said “for Nagoya”… and that was the WRONG platform for the JR Shinano I was taking to get there! I realized in time that it was the platform that was “for Nagoya” AND “for Nakatsugawa”!
Luggage forwarding from Magome to Tsumago
There is a luggage forwarding service that you can use to transport your luggage from Magome to Tsumago.
You can drop off your luggage at the Magome-juku base information center in the morning between 8:30am and 11:30am, and then pick it up at the Tsumago tourist information office in the afternoon between 1pm and 5pm.
This is something to consider if you don’t want to head back to Nagoya, and instead want to continue moving in the same direction to Matsumoto, for example. It’s a 2 hour train ride from Nagiso Station to Matsumoto Station on the local Chuo Line. If you time it right, you can get on the 1 hour 5 minute JR Shinano train from Nagiso to Matsumoto.
After a night in Matsumoto, you can head to Nagano (1 hour train), to Takayama (2.5 hour bus), or head back to Tokyo (3 hour train). In the summer, you can also head to Kamikochi (1 hour 40 minute bus) from Matsumoto for the best of the Japanese alps.
👆 If you don’t want to return back to the same place, you can use the baggage transport service in Magome, which will deliver your luggage to Tsumago. This costs 1000 yen. It’s available every day from March 20 to November 30. You need to drop off your luggage at the Magome storage transport point between the hours of 8:30am to 11:30am, and then you need to pick up your luggage at the Tsumago tourist information office between the hours of 1pm and 5pm. (August 2025)
👆 The luggage forwarding service location is a few minutes walk from the Magome bus stop along the Nakasendo Trail.
My itinerary for the Nakasendo Trail and beyond
I did the Nakasendo Trail in August 2025.
I took 2 days to go from Kyoto to Tokyo, but it’s also reasonable to return back to Kyoto on the same day, or even go to Tokyo on the same day. Since Nagoya is a shinkansen stop between Tokyo and Kyoto, it makes it reasonable to do the Nakasendo Trail along the way.
From Kyoto, I went to Nagoya and did the Magome to Tsumago walk. After returning back to Nagoya, I got on a shinkansen bullet train to Odawara. (This is a 35 minute shinkansen ride from Tokyo, so you can see it’s also reasonable to go all the way to Tokyo.)
I was staying at a hotel near Odawara Station that required checking in before 11pm, and I used the google maps “arrive by” feature to figure out what the latest time was that I’d feel comfortable leaving Tsumago. This turned out to be a late afternoon bus from Tsumago.
I was on the 8:13am train from Kyoto Station, and I arrived at Odawara Station around 8:10pm. So it was a long day!
I used google maps to figure out what trains and buses to take, which I found to be reliable for this route.
This is what my 2-day Kyoto to Tokyo itinerary looked like with a stop in Nagoya to do the Nakasendo Trail!
- Kyoto Station to Nagoya Station (35 minutes)
- Nagoya Station arrival: Around 8:50am
- I put my luggage in coin lockers at Nagoya Station
- This took longer than I was hoping so I missed the earlier train I wanted to get on
- Nagoya to Magome
- Nagoya Station departure: Around 9:55am
- Nagoya Station to Nakatsugawa Station train
- Nakatsugawa Station to Magome bus
- Magome arrival: Around 11:45am
- Magome to Tsumago walk
- Tsumago arrival: Around 2:30pm
- Tsumago to Nagoya
- Tsumago to Nagiso Station bus
- Tsumago departure: Around 3:30pm
- Nagiso Station to Nagoya Station train
- Nagoya Station arrival: Around 5:10pm
- Nagoya Station to Odawara Station shinkansen bullet train
- Odawara Station arrival: 8:10pm
- Nagoya Station to Tokyo Station is 1 hour 40 minutes
- I stayed overnight at Tenseien Annex hotel near the train station. (This hotel is in the same building as a free foot onsen, and the hotel itself has a free public onsen with hot springs water from Hakone. The train station, and therefore the hotel too, is a 10 minute walk from Odawara Castle.)
- Odawara is a gateway to Hakone, and the next day, that’s where I went! I put my luggage in Odawara Station coin lockers, did a day trip to the Hakone volcano valley, and then after that I went by local train to the Tokyo area to watch Japanese baseball!
Cost of Nakasendo day trip from Nagoya
The total cost for transportation for a day trip to the Nakasendo Trail is around 7,590 yen (US$50), as a round trip from Nagoya to do the Magome to Tsumago walk. This is an estimate! Your actual experience may vary.
- Nagoya to Magome
- Nagoya Station to Nakatsugawa Station limited express train: 3070 yen ($20)
- Nakatsugawa Station to Magome bus: 800 yen ($6)
- Magome arrival: Around 11:45am
- Magome to Tsumago walk: FREE!
- Tsumago to Nagoya
- Tsumago to Nagiso Station bus: 300 yen ($2)
- Nagiso Station to Nagoya Station limited express train: 3420 yen ($23)