540km hike along Japan’s Nakasendo in early spring

We love hiking and discovering new scenery on foot. We believe these activities let you experience a country's culture more personally, talk with locals, try regional cuisine, and explore its history. If you’ve read our blog before, you may have come across our previous articles about the Pyrenees or our shorter trips through France and Japan.

What is the Nakasendo?

The Nakasendo is one of Japan’s five main roads:

• Nakasendo (中山道): Between Tokyo and Kyoto through the mountains.
• Tokaido (東海道): Between Tokyo and Kyoto along the Pacific Ocean.
• Koshu kaido (甲州街道): Tokyo to Nagano, through Yamanashi Prefecture.
• Ooshu kaido (奥州街道): Tokyo to Fukushima Prefecture.
• Nikko kaido (日光街道): Tokyo to Tochigi Prefecture.

These roads have been used and maintained since the Edo period. The Nakasendo, with its 69 stations, is the longest of them all.

Our journey

This time, we travelled along the 540 km Nakasendo route between March and April, starting in Kyoto and ending in Tokyo. We will be documenting our adventure as we walk through cities, hike over mountain passes, and cycle along Tokyo's main avenues. Together, we will explore what Japan has to offer along this historic road, dating back to the 1600s. 

From local food to breathtaking scenery and rich culture, we will share our experiences on this blog as a field guide.

Our Nakasendo itinerary over the next 19 days

We could have made this schedule shorter, but we wanted to allow enough time to explore and visit some museums related to the history of the Nakasendo, or enjoy food at a local restaurant, which turned out to be the right decision. 

We decided to finish this trip by cycling because we enjoy walking in nature, but we don't particularly like walking on paved roads in busy city areas. Cycling lets us take in the surroundings while spending more time outdoors. Instead of rushing, we stayed in Tokyo for two nights to do some sightseeing before heading to my hometown to visit my family.

What is Japan’s climate in early Spring along the Nakasendo?

In March or April, Japan typically experiences mild weather and starts to warm up. While it can be warm during the day, the evenings tend to get quite cold. During our trip along the Nakasendo, we travelled through some mountainous areas in Gifu and Nagano prefectures, which are generally cooler and may still have some snow on the ground. We encountered a few surprises regarding the weather in Japan, which you will read about in the upcoming articles.

Budget

Finding Accommodation on the Nakasendo: Hotels and Camping

Hotels 

Since this trip lasts 19 days, we stayed in reasonably priced hotels along the Nakasendo. In cities, we mainly chose “business hotels” (similar to Travelodge in the UK), which offer clean rooms with bathrooms at lower prices. We've documented every place we stayed in our complete accommodation guide: 19 hotels, inns and guesthouses, with the prices we actually paid.

In the countryside, like in Magome, we booked accommodations with shared bathrooms. However, some places may charge for items like bath towels or toothbrushes, so it's a good idea to bring your own. 

Occasionally, we couldn't find a hotel close to our destination, but there was a nearby train station. In those cases, we took a train to the hotel and returned to our starting point the next day. This approach worked well for us. 

Camping

It would have been fantastic to camp as we did on the GR10 trail, but it can be tricky to determine whether the land is public or private. We didn't want to go through the hassle of contacting each landowner for permission. Fortunately, we found it relatively easy to secure accommodations along the Nakasendo, as this route was designed in the 1600s with many stations for travellers.

Food

We are eager to try a variety of foods! During our journey through seven different prefectures, we discovered many unique delicacies. We can't wait to share our experiences with you! 

Since our budget was limited, we opted for affordable family restaurants, supermarkets, and convenience stores to save money while enjoying local dishes. It had been two years since our last visit to Japan, so we were excited to explore all the new flavours we found. 

We’ll provide a breakdown of what to look for in each prefecture or city, so you can plan your visit and try some of the local restaurants we've recommended!

What’s in our backpacks? 

We packed clothes for a variety of weather conditions: hot, sunny days; cold, windy days; and, of course, rainy or snowy days. Additionally, we brought hiking sticks, a torch, a Kindle loaded with a Nakasendo guidebook, snacks, a first aid kit, and a few other essentials. We're working on another article with more details, so if you have any questions, please let us know, and we’ll address them in our upcoming piece!

In the meantime, you can read this article, as we've reused many of the items we've listed in our holiday gift recommendations for hikers and outdoor lovers.

Closing words

Now you have an idea of what’s coming next! This will be the longest series to date for Tomie’s Cuisine. You can look forward to beautiful countryside roads and views, delicious local foods, and the amazing people we encountered along the way. We have so much to share about this experience, and we hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did!

If you have questions or want to see early photos of Nakasendo, check out our Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook pages. We’re more than happy to answer any inquiries!