Japan: Tokyo, the Nakasendō and the Kumano Kodo
The two classic Japanese pilgrim and post roads either side of Kyoto — Tokyo, an Edo-period highway through the Kiso valley, the temples, and a walk through the Kii peninsula to a shrine in the mountains.
Tokyo
Arrive and stay awake. Start in the east — Asakusa's Sensō-ji at dawn before the crowds, then the Sumida river. Get the IC card at the station on day one; it works on every train, most buses and half the vending machines in the country.
Tokyo: Shibuya, Shinjuku and the west
The scramble crossing, Meiji Jingū in its forest of 100,000 donated trees, and Shinjuku's Golden Gai — six alleys of bars seating six people each. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observation deck is free and as good as the paid ones.
Nikkō
Two hours north to Tōshō-gū, the shrine complex where Tokugawa Ieyasu is enshrined — carved, gilded and deliberately excessive in a country whose religious architecture usually is not. The Kanmangafuchi abyss walk with its row of jizō statues is the quiet counterpart.
To Matsumoto and the Kiso valley
West into the Japanese Alps. Matsumoto castle is one of twelve original keeps left in the country — black, moated and structurally unchanged since the 1590s. Then on to Nakatsugawa for the Nakasendō, the Edo-period highway between Tokyo and Kyoto.
The Nakasendō: Magome to Tsumago
Eight kilometres of the old highway over the Magome pass, stone-paved in places, with bear bells hanging along it that you are meant to ring. Tsumago at the far end banned power lines and parked cars from the main street and looks accordingly like 1850. Luggage forwarding between the two costs a few hundred yen.
Kanazawa
North to the Sea of Japan side. Kenroku-en is one of the three great gardens of Japan and the Higashi Chaya district keeps its teahouses. The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art is circular, free in parts and genuinely good.
Kyoto
Arrive in the afternoon and do nothing ambitious. Kyoto has 1,600 temples and the mistake everyone makes is trying to see them; pick four over three days and go to each at opening time. Fushimi Inari is open all night and is best at five in the morning or nine at night.
Kyoto: the eastern hills
Kiyomizu-dera on its wooden stage, then the Higashiyama lanes down to Kōdai-ji and Yasaka. Ginkaku-ji and the Philosopher's Path in the afternoon. All of it is packed from ten to four; the first and last hours are a different city.
Kyoto: Arashiyama and the west
The bamboo grove is worth it before seven and not after. Tenryū-ji's garden behind it is the better site, and the Ōkōchi Sansō village garden further up is nearly empty. In the afternoon, Ryōan-ji's rock garden and Kinkaku-ji.
Nara
Forty minutes away. Tōdai-ji holds a 15-metre bronze Buddha in what was for centuries the largest wooden building in the world, and the deer in the park bow for crackers and will follow you if you keep them. Kasuga Taisha's stone lanterns run up the hillside behind.
Koyasan
A monastic settlement at 800 metres founded in 816, reached by a cable car up the mountain. Stay in a shukubō — temple lodging — with vegetarian shōjin ryōri dinner and morning prayers at six. Okunoin cemetery, 200,000 graves under cedars, should be walked at night.
Down to Tanabe and the Kumano Kodo
Across to the west coast of the Kii peninsula to start the Nakahechi route — a pilgrimage network walked for over a thousand years, UNESCO-listed alongside the Camino de Santiago as one of only two pilgrimage routes on the list. Book the guesthouses before you come; there are few and they fill.
Kumano Kodo: Takijiri to Chikatsuyu
The first day proper — 13 kilometres through cedar forest with a steep start, past oji shrines that mark the stages. Luggage is forwarded between guesthouses for a modest fee, which is what makes this walkable without a full pack.
Chikatsuyu to Hongū
The long day: around 25 kilometres over ridges to Hongū Taisha, the head shrine of the whole network, and the enormous torii at Oyunohara where it stood before a flood moved it in 1889. Yunomine Onsen nearby has a UNESCO-listed hot spring bath big enough for two people at a time.
Down the Kumano river to Shingū
The traditional way is by boat — flat-bottomed craft down the Kumano river to Hayatama Taisha at Shingū, the second of the three grand shrines, which takes ninety minutes and needs booking. The bus does it in an hour if the boat is not running.
Nachi Taisha and the waterfall
The last of the three shrines, with the 133-metre Nachi falls behind a vermilion pagoda — the single most photographed view in the region and one that earns it. The Daimon-zaka stone stairway up through cedars is the proper approach.
Back to Osaka or Tokyo
The Kuroshio limited express runs up the coast to Osaka in about four hours from Kii-Katsuura, with the Pacific out of the right-hand window most of the way. From Osaka the shinkansen reaches Tokyo in two and a half hours if the flight is from there.
Dobré vedieť
Work out the rail maths before buying anything. The nationwide JR Pass rose sharply in price in 2023 and now only pays off on itineraries with several long shinkansen legs — this one is borderline, and regional passes such as the Kansai Wide Area pass are often better value. An IC card (Suica, ICOCA, Pasmo) covers local transport everywhere and is the thing you actually use daily. Accommodation on the Kumano Kodo is very limited and books out months ahead; the Tanabe City Kumano Tourism Bureau handles reservations in English and also arranges the luggage forwarding, which is what makes the walk practical. Cash still matters in rural Japan — many guesthouses, temple lodgings and bus fares are cash only, and 7-Eleven ATMs are the reliable ones for foreign cards. Autumn (late October to November) and spring (late March to April) are the best and busiest; the cherry blossom window is about ten days and moves north through the country. Summer is hot and humid and the Kumano Kodo in August is hard going.
Kratšie či dlhšie?
Two days from Kyoto by shinkansen — the Peace Memorial Museum, which is difficult and necessary, and the floating torii at Itsukushima on the island opposite. This is where a JR Pass starts to justify itself.
The Nakahechi is the standard route; the Kohechi crosses from Koyasan over three passes above 1,000 metres in four hard days and sees a fraction of the traffic. The Iseji on the east coast is longer and quieter still.
January and February for snow at Nikkō and in the Kiso valley, Kyoto's temples in the quiet season, and onsen. The Kumano Kodo is walkable but cold and some higher sections ice up.