Tours & Routes

Walk Japan's original and best-selling tour, The Nakasendo Way is a unique walking exploration of Japan, its history and culture. This 12-day tour explores one of the old highways of Japan, the Nakasendo, the 'road through the central mountains'. Once a main thoroughfare of feudal Japan, today the Nakasendo provides a delightful excursion through scenic countryside.

The Nakasendo Way tour provides us with a fascinating insight into the world of feudal Japan, the samurai and, also, village life today. We start in the ancient capital, Kyoto, and gently find our way through rural Japan and the central mountains to Tokyo. We follow some of the most enjoyable and best-preserved parts of the old highway. On route we stay in beautiful old inns, enjoy fine regional cuisine and share life with the Japanese, some of the most polite and friendliest people in the world. We rate this as a level 2 walk, which is suitable for anyone who is an occasional walker and can walk for a couple of hours in comfort. In general, the route is gently undulating but also includes some short, steeper climbs.

A non-walking, 11-night tour of great scenic variety that brings us into the heart of Japanese life today. We see Japan from its great metropolis capital to quiet, remote fishing villages and much in between; we enjoy every Tokyoite's favourite hideaway around Mount Fuji, visit some of Japan's best scenic sights and stop off at some less well-known, but no less fascinating cultural attractions; we ride Japan's amazing public transport system including the Bullet Train, trams, cable car and ferry; we stay in some traditional inns; and enjoy the great breadth and depth of Japanese cuisine. The Shogun Trail tour does this by taking us west from Tokyo to the island of Kyushu following in the 'footsteps' of William Adams. Adams was a real-life 16th Century adventurer, sailor and samurai who became the model for the hero in James Clavell's best-selling novel Shogun. This is a level 1 tour, where there is little or no walking and is suitable for anyone who does not walk.

This is a fascinating 7 night tour that takes us into beautiful countryside steeped in Buddhist history more than 1,200 years old and also to the heights of an ancient volcano, dominating the surrounding landscape.

The modern, urban world is far away from this long-forgotten, little touched region of Japan. Enjoy fabulous, unsullied vistas over Kyushu and the Inland Sea, climb up through stepped paddy fields and follow ancient mountain paths once traversed by monks in pilgrimage; pass by old Buddhist relics and long redundant temples; see Buddha statues being carved, then spend a night in a remote, cliff-side temple; soak in hot spring baths before enjoying a variety of fine country food. The Kunisaki Trek, at a rating of level 3, is a tour we recommend for the fairly fit who can walk comfortably for 5 ~ 6 hours. The route is mainly on forest trails and includes some rock scrambling and some short, steep climbs.

The latest addition to Walk Japan's scheduled tour line up. This time an experience of a spectacular wilderness on Hokkaido, Japan's most northerly island. We take you to the Hokkaido's special attractions including steam-spuming volcanoes, delicate alpine flower-carpeted mountainsides, crystal-clear lakes and, something not usually associated with Japan, wide open spaces.

Far from the usual image of Japan as an industrialised, crowded country, this tour focuses on the expansive, unspoilt natural beauty and excellent hiking trails of Hokkaido. Abundant hot springs and excellent Japanese cuisine provide sustenance for the mind, body and soul. This is a tour for the more experienced hiker. We rate it 4 on our scale and is for those who exercise fairly regularly and comfortably walk for up to eight hours. The route is largely mountain trails that includes some long ascents and descents over rough ground.