Nakatsugawa to Magome bus is EASY! Here’s what to know (Nagoya day trip to Nakasendo)

Kon’nichiwa!

To go from Nagoya to Magome on your own, it will include taking the bus from Nakatsugawa Station to Magome. (You’ll first take a train from Nagoya to Nakatsugawa.)

It’s about a 30 minute bus ride to Magome from Nakatsugawa Station. The bus fare is 800 yen in cash with exact change. You’ll pay as you get off the bus. I’ll show you below how to confirm the current cost.

Once you get off at the bus stop in Magome, you’ll walk just a few minutes, and you can start walking the ancient samurai route that is called the Nakasendo Trail! You’ll start passing small shops in the rural town of Magome almost immediately.

Taking the bus to Magome is pretty straightforward, but you will want to plan ahead, as the bus timings are not the most frequent. I’ll lay out below what you can expect and what to look for once you arrive at Nakatsugawa Station.

 

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PLAN YOUR MAGOME TO TSUMAGO TRIP > Nakasendo Trail map

Where to stay: Nikko Style near Nagoya Station | OnnNakatsugawa | Magome Guesthouse

 

How to plan your route for Nakatsugawa and Magome

So I think the easiest way to plan out your day is to use google maps! I found it to work out well for me. It is literally the only thing I used to plan out the train timings and bus timings.

I felt comfortable in trusting google maps for the train timings on this route. I did for the bus timings too, but maybe if I was going to be a little doubtful, I would check a secondary source for the bus timings, since this is a rural bus route.

To confirm Magome bus timings, you can go to Kitaena bus company website. Then you can look under the “Magome Line” section’s “timetable” to see the bus schedule for “Magome Line (Nakatsugawa Station – Nakakiri – Magome)” weekdays or holiday/weekend. If the page doesn’t auto translate for you, look for your device settings to translate the whole page.

The bus schedule is a pdf in Japanese, but the first line in the top box is Nakatsugawa-eki-mae (中津川駅前), which is the Nakatsugawa Station bus stop. The last line is Magome (馬籠). The top box is the bus schedule for Nakatsugawa to Magome. The bottom box is in the opposite direction (Magome to Nakatsugawa), so the first line is Magome and the last line is Nakatsugawa.

 

👆 Google maps can make planning the different sections of Nagoya to Nakatsugawa to Magome easy! It will give you different options, and you can decide which you want to do. Make the starting point Nagoya Station and the destination Magome-juku, and it will put together a route for you to follow, including train and bus timings, as well as estimated cost. (map)

 

👆 You can tap to get more details. If you tap “also at” it will also tell you future Magome bus timings. Your phone (google maps map) will give you more details compared to the desktop version.

 

Arrive at Nakatsugawa Station by train

So once you arrive at Nakatsugawa Station, you will follow the signs to the exit. Once you’re outside of the train station, you’ll go left. If you look over in that general area, you’ll see there’s a bus area. (Or, if there are no buses there, you’ll just see an empty area.)

 

👆 Stepping off the train at Nakatsugawa Station already starts to feel like you’re in a more rural part of Japan!

 

👆 Follow the signs for the exit. If you have luggage with you, you can look for the elevator sign.

 

👆 If you have physical tickets (because you took the JR Shinano limited express train), then you’ll put your tickets through the ticket gate so you can exit. Otherwise, if you took the regular train using your IC card, you’ll tap to exit.

 

👆 Nothing will come out, so you will just walk straight out of the ticket gate.

 

👆 Walking outside of the train station!

 

👆 Welcome to Nakatsugawa!

 

Nakatsugawa Station bus stop

👆 Off to the left once you step outside the Nakatsugawa Station is the little bus area, which is where you will get the bus to Magome.

 

👆 If you still have time before the bus to Magome, then you can walk straight head to the building, which is where you’ll find the tourist information center (desk). You can pick up a paper map of Magome and the Nakasendo here.

 

👆 The tourist information area also serves as a bus waiting area.

 

👆 Once at the tourist information desk, you can confirm the bus schedule. You’ll see the information desk almost immediately upon entering the building. Just look around.

 

👆 You can also go to the Naegi Castle ruins from Nakatsugawa. It’s a 15 minute bus ride and 30 minute walk to get there (map).

 

👆 Pick up an English paper map of Magome when you get to Nakatsugawa!

 

Bus to Magome

So once it’s approaching the time for the bus departure, you can walk outside to get on the bus. The bus fare is 800 yen (US$5). You’ll pay for this in cash with exact change as you are getting off the bus. So you won’t do anything regarding the bus fare when you are getting on the bus. There is a coin exchange machine on the bus, which accepts 500 yen coins and 1000 yen bills.

Confirm the current bus fare. If your device does not auto-translate, look for your device setting to translate the page. Then, under the “Magome Line” section, there is “Magome Line (Nakatsugawa Station – Nakakiri – Magome)” which leads to a pdf. This is in Japanese, but the Nakatsugawa to Magome bus route is the most expensive option, so look where the 2 longest lines intersect, which will be for Nakatsugawa-eki-mae (中津川駅前) and Magome (馬籠).

 

👆 Once it’s time, walk over to get on the bus!

 

👆 This is more of an FYI, but in general, when riding local buses in Japan, I think it’s a good habit to check if there is a ticket available to take when you are getting on the bus, and if there is, then take it. This will be an indicator of how much you will need to pay. There will be a number on it, and you will look for that on the fare board at the front of the bus. If you don’t have a ticket, you will just pay the highest fare. That said, I don’t know why there was a ticket available for the taking here, because this is the start of the route which means you will automatically just pay whatever the highest fare is. Since this is a very touristy route, I don’t think it’s a big deal whether you take it or not. But, just so you know!

 

👆 This is the inside of the bus. The bus from Nakatsugawa to Magome is a standard local bus in Japan.

 

👆 There is a coin exchange machine at the front of the bus. If there’s still time before the bus departs, then I would recommend getting your exact change before the bus leaves so you don’t need to be doing it on the way out.

 

👆 The bus fare requires exact change. It accepts 1000 yen bills and 500 yen coins.

 

👆 The bus ride is a scenic one!

 

👆 This is another FYI for local buses in Japan. If you’re getting off in the middle of a bus route, then you need to push the button to indicate to the bus driver that you want the bus to stop at the next stop. I am pretty sure you don’t need to worry about this for Magome, as the driver will stop anyway. I think it’s the last stop and/or if there are lots of tourists on the bus, the driver will just make the stop. But you can push it to be sure. (You can follow along on google maps to know when the stop is coming up.)

 

Magome bus stop to Nakasendo Trail

So once you get off at the Magome bus stop, it’s just a few minutes walking to get to the Nakasendo Trail to start your walk through Magome!

 

👆 Off at the Magome bus stop!

 

👆 A few steps from the bus stop you can see rice fields of rural Japan.

 

👆 This is what the Magome bus stop looks like.

 

👆 Follow the crowd and hope they are going the right way! 🤪 That intersection up ahead is the Nakasendo Trail.

 

👆 There are signs, so you will know which direction to go for Tsumago. You are also going towards the Magome Pass.

 

👆 This is the direction to Tsumago, which is officially your starting point for the Nakasendo Trail after getting off the bus. The building off to the left there is also the Magome tourist information center (where you can pick up some brochures), as well as the Magome luggage storage and baggage forwarding service.

 

👆 Also at the tourist information center is a spot where you can get a souvenir ink stamp.

 

👆 Magome has luggage storage and a baggage transport service. You can store your luggage in Magome if you’ll be returning here, or you can have your luggage delivered to Tsumago at the other end!

 

👆 Luggage storage in Magome costs 500 yen for one piece of luggage. You must pick it up on the same day by 4pm or 4:30pm depending on the season. It opens at 9am. (August 2025)

 

👆 Luggage transport from Magome to Tsumago costs 1000 yen. It’s available from March 20 to November 30, every day. You must drop off your luggage in Magome between the hours of 8:30am to 11:30am. You must pick up your luggage at the Tsumago tourist information office between the hours of 1pm and 5pm. (August 2025)

 

👆 Your official Nakasendo Trail start when you are arriving at the Magome bus stop!

 

👆 Start walking through Magome to get to Tsumago!

 

Nakasendo Trail itinerary

For general planning, here’s a way to think of doing the Nakasendo Trail:

• Nagoya to Magome
  • Nagoya to Nakatsugawa train
  • Nakatsugawa to Magome bus
• Hiking the Nakasendo Trail from Magome to Tsumago
• Tsumago to Nagoya
  • Tsumago to Nagiso bus
  • Nagiso to Nagoya train

 

 

JAPAN TRAVEL > NAKASENDO TRAIL ITINERARY