Hi all, considering the Nakasendo trail with my wife. Anyone have particular experience and recommendations to share? We’re both fine with 8-20km walking per day and I’m mainly wondering about:
- How ‘worth it’ is the scenery and villages?
- Quality of accommodation (preferrably rather high)
- Quality and ease / accessibility of gastronomy (neither of us particularly wants to eat horse offal or yet more tofu skin - my adventuring days are behind me :))!
We did a small portion of the Nakasendo, the Magome to Tsumago leg (about 8km). Accommodations were pretty standard ryokans with dinner & breakfast included in room rate. In Magome, we stayed one night at Tajiyama (bare bones, yet comfortable enough). The town itself was very small, not much to do. We loved our Tsumago ryokan, Fujioto, quite a bit more. The grounds and rooms were more spacious and comfortable. The dinner was not too adventurous (other than local baby wasps served in honey). They served a kaiseki dinner of pickled veggies, sashimi, grilled fish, small steak, etc. We did our small hike between towns in the fall, and the foliage was just stunning. Highly recommend!