Takimi House (formerly Takimi No Ie) — Hotel in Nagiso

My husband and I stayed here after walking the Nakasendo trail to Tsumago. The place is owned by Miyoharu Koike and his wife, Kazoku. Miyoharu-san picked up at Nagiso station after a phone call. If you need help with this, the tourist information people in the station, will kindly call for you. We booked easily on Booking.com. ||The place was very cozy and we had the inn to ourselves. They only cater to one party (up to eight people ) a night. We had access to an indoor and outdoor onsen which my husband and I could enjoy together which is rare unless you book family bathing time at most onsen ryokan. The outdoor onsen has an awesome view of some waterfalls. So relaxing after the hike. The room was spacious and the futons very cozy. It was cold outside but very comfortable. ||I have been to Japan five times and stayed in a few ryokan. The food here was amazing and unique from the kaiseki meals served at most ryokan. Miyoharu-san cooked at the irori and the meal was a cornucopia of local meats (wild boar, duck, roast beef, salmon and some wagyu beef that my husband woke up dreaming about) and some delicious fresh water fish, a rich soup (I literally almost killed the entire pot myself), tempura, vegetables mochi and more. We have never eaten so much of the food at any ryokan dinner. If you are American, sometimes the ryokan dinner dishes may be too far from what your palette is used to eating. Everything here was just spectacular and we loved it. ||Breakfast was great blend of western and Japanese breakfasts. Tasty ! ||This ryokan gives a cozy and warm feeling from the moment you arrive and I would definitely recommended this t anyone, especially those waking the Nakasendo trail. We felt like very special guests. ||Miyoharu-san speaks better English than my Japanese so English speakers will be fine here. ||One more thing, he was kind enough to drop us back to Nakatsugawa station which is about 15 minutes farther away from our pick up point so we could more easily meet our schedule. ||We really hope to come...

We stayed with Koike and his wife in their beautiful inn near Nagiso, just off the Nakasendo way. Our visit was very brief - just one night - and specially designed for us to have a taste of the Nakasendo between Magome and Tsugome. Koike picked us up from the Nakatsagawa station and dropped us at Magome, before collecting us from Tsumago.||||Takimi inn is in a particularly memorable location, with a massive waterfall literally in the back yard of the inn. The inn has been in Koike's family for many years and the original buildings are over a 100 years old. The onsen is fabulous - two steaming cypress baths, one indoors and one outdoors, each with an amazing view of the waterfall. You could spend hours in it!||||Our room was very warm and comfortable, especially since outside in the morning the temperature was minus 5oC.||||For dinner, Koike served us a truly wonderful irori meal, cooked over hot coals and featuring an amazing range of delicacies; including wagyu, wild boar and bear. Breakfast was more relaxed, but again featuring really special Nagano delicacies; soy curd, local fruit, pickled vegetables and fish.||||When it was time to go Koike again drove us to the Nakatsagawa station.||||Our visit was highly memorable, and so special since it gave us a real insight not only of a wonderful part of the Nakasendo, but an especially important and historic Japanese...

A wonderful experience throughout, the very best I've had in a two-week vacation in Japan.

This beautiful small ryokan in the mountains welcomes only one family at a time, so you could not ask for a more private and relaxing stay. Their on-site onsen is the perfect way to unwind. It's closed to the public after 5pm, so you can enjoy it at your own pace during the evening and it feels very special, gazing at the falls while bathing in naturally alkaline water.

Dinner and Japanese breakfast the next day were total treats, cooked by the owner, a former Tokyo chef. It was truly the best meal my family and I had during our trip, despite eating at a reputable kaiseki restaurant a few days before.

My family and I stayed there after walking the Nakasendo trail. The owner picked us up from Tsumago-juku, bringing a friend so they would have two cars to transport our luggage and ourselves -we were 6! They also drove us to the train station in Nakatsugawa the next day with the upmost kindness. My mother was recovering from hip replacement surgery and they did everything to accommodate her.

I highly recommend Takimi Onsen. It would be worth a two-day trip from Kyoto or Tokyo on its own, not even considering the several tourists...