Kumano Kodo inn to inn: what the hosts told us about booking

The person who runs the inn at Takahara asked for my booking reference before asking my name. It was 3:40pm on 21 April, two minutes after I had put my pack down on the porch step. The reference was on my phone. The question was new to me.

I walked the Nakahechi route from Takijiri-ōji to Kumano Hongū Taisha twice this year, from Tuesday 21 to Friday 24 April and from Tuesday 8 to Friday 11 September. Both times I slept in the same three places, Takahara, Chikatsuyu and Yunomine, and both times I asked each host the same thing: what is different about booking now? This page is what they said, with my own numbers beside it. The route itself, day by day, is in Four days on the Kumano Kodo.

I do not have the text of any rule and I will not paraphrase one. What follows is what the hosts described to me. The Tanabe City Kumano Tourism Bureau's site has the current terms, and you should read them before you book.

Both trips were the same four days. Day 1 was Takijiri-ōji to Takahara, about 4 km and steep. Day 2 was Takahara to Chikatsuyu, about 10 km. Day 3 was the long one, Chikatsuyu to Hongū, about 25 km, and I slept in Yunomine. Day 4 was the short Dainichi-goe trail and a bus out. I slept the night before each walk in Kii-Tanabe, so that the first bus to Takijiri was not at the mercy of a train.

April was dry for three days and showery on the fourth. September was dry on the first two days and wet on the third, with rain from 6am that did not stop. I cut the middle of day 3 by bus on the 10th, which I will come back to.

Three hosts, three villages, and an answer that was close to the same each time. I have left out names, and where I paraphrase I say so.

The host at Takahara said that most of the inn's rooms come through the shared reservation site run by the bureau, and that the inn keeps a room or two back for people it already knows. I asked what happens to a walker who arrives with no booking. The host said the inn sends the walker back toward the bus stop, because the other beds in the village are also taken and the next lodging down the trail is a long way off. That was a sentence said gently, and it is the part I would pay most attention to.

The host at Chikatsuyu talked about cancellations. Dinner is bought and cooked for the number booked, so a no-show costs the inn a meal as well as a bed. The host asked walkers who are running late to phone the inn and not to cancel on the site, and said the site is slow to show the inn a late change. In April the host had two empty places at dinner for that reason. In September, one.

The host at Yunomine said the luggage shuttle is the part walkers misunderstand. It moves bags between inns booked through the site, it needs notice, and it will not pick up a bag from a place that was booked another way. The host gets a handful of calls each week from people who want it after the notice period has passed. The advice was to send a large bag ahead with a regular delivery service instead.

None of this is a rule I can cite. It is a pattern, repeated in three villages by three people who have no reason to coordinate. The bureau's site is where the terms are.

I counted walkers who passed me or whom I passed, not counting the people I slept with. These are my counts on my days, not a survey.

• Takijiri-ōji to Takahara: about 40 in April, 9 in September. The buses to Takijiri were full on the morning I went in April.

• Takahara to Chikatsuyu: 14 in April, 3 in September.

• Chikatsuyu to Hosshinmon-ōji: 11 in April, 2 in September. This is the long quiet middle of day 3.

• Hosshinmon-ōji to Kumano Hongū Taisha, the last 7 km: about 60 in April, 22 in September. Day visitors arrive by bus and start here, so the last stretch is the most crowded on both trips.

• Tsuboyu at Yunomine: I arrived at 8:20 in April and went in at 8:50. In September I arrived at 7:50 and went straight in.

The middle of day 3 is where the hosts told me not to be tempted to skip. It is the part with nobody on it. If you want company, walk the last 7 km. If you want the forest, do the middle early and finish before the buses arrive.

These are the prices I paid, per person, with dinner and breakfast, at the time I booked.

• Takahara guesthouse, April: ¥11,000. September: ¥11,500.

• Chikatsuyu minshuku, April and September: ¥9,500, paid in cash.

• Yunomine ryokan, April and September: ¥15,400.

• Lunch box from the inn, ordered the night before: ¥900.

That puts the three nights on the trail at ¥35,900 in April and ¥36,400 in September, before lunch boxes, the night in Kii-Tanabe and getting there. The Takahara host said the rise was a change in the price of rice and gas, and that they had not raised it in two years. I took that at face value. I did not total the bus and train fares, and I have left them out because I would be quoting from a timetable page I have not rechecked for this piece.

The Chikatsuyu minshuku asked for cash both times. Chikatsuyu has the last shop I passed before Hongū and there are few cash machines on the trail, so bring yen from Kii-Tanabe or Osaka.

From Shin-Osaka the Kuroshio limited express takes a little over two hours to Kii-Tanabe. From the station, a local bus to Takijiri takes about 40 minutes. There are few buses and they do not wait. On day 4 I took a bus from Yunomine to Kii-Tanabe and the Kuroshio back to Shin-Osaka, which ran to plan both times.

I slept the night before in the Kii-Tanabe station area on both trips. The rooms were small and quiet, and being within a few minutes' walk of the bus stop meant I did not have to think about the first bus.

If you are coming from Osaka, the first bus is the constraint. Build the train around it, not the other way around. Our guide to getting around covers passes, and you will not need one for this trip.

In April I got the bus wrong. My method says to check timings on the day. I had checked them the night before, from a PDF that turned out to be out of date, and the bus I wanted did not run that Tuesday. I waited 105 minutes in Kii-Tanabe and started walking at 12:20 instead of 10:35. I reached Takahara at 3:40 with the light still fine and the porch quiet, but I had cut my margin to nothing.

In September I misjudged the rain. I started day 3 on foot at 7:05 and after 90 minutes on wet stone and roots I took a bus from the Chikatsuyu area to Hosshinmon-ōji, then walked the last 7 km. It was the right call. The trail was running with water in places, and a slip with a day pack is a long way from help. I walked about 12 km on the day instead of 25.

I also under-packed on the first trip. I carried one change of socks and wore them wet on day 3. In September I carried three pairs, and a dry pair in a bag at the bottom was the best thing in my pack.

I would put the inns before everything else, because the inns are the scarce thing.

• If your dates are fixed, book the three trail nights first, as soon as the site shows beds, and leave the transport until after. In both seasons I booked about three months ahead and got my first choice everywhere.

• If your dates are flexible, pick midweek in spring or early autumn and expect far fewer people on the trail than in April. In September my counts were between a fifth and a third of April's.

• If you want the luggage shuttle, book it with the inns, not separately, and do it with plenty of margin. If you miss the cutoff, send the big bag ahead by delivery service and walk with a day pack.

• If rain is forecast on day 3, take the bus hop and walk the last 7 km. Do not try to prove anything on wet stone.

• If you are late for any reason, phone the inn. The hosts said that was the single thing they wished walkers did more.

I will go back in October, because I have not walked the route in that month. Before I go, I will book the inns, check the bus timetable on the morning I leave, and carry three pairs of socks.