Sagano Scenic Railway

When the San'in main line was straightened and tunnelled in 1989 the old alignment along the Hozugawa gorge was left, and rather than lift it the railway reopened it in 1991 as the Sagano Torokko - seven and a half kilometres from Arashiyama to Kameoka in about twenty-five minutes, in open-sided carriages behind a diesel locomotive, running above the river through the gorge. Carriage five, the Rich car, has no windows or floor lighting at all. The standard way to do it is a loop: train up to Kameoka, then the Hozugawa boat back down - a two-hour descent in a flat wooden boat handled by three boatmen with poles, oar and rudder through several sets of rapids, which is the older activity of the two and dates as a passenger trip to 1895. Both are heavily booked in April and late November.

What you actually see

• A reused alignment - the old main line kept as a sightseeing route after 1989.
• Open carriages - one with no windows or floor lighting at all.
• The Hozugawa boat - a two-hour poled descent through rapids, running since 1895.
• The loop - train up the gorge and boat back down it.

When to go

April for cherry and late November for maples. Half a day for the loop.

Honest expectations

Seats sell out weeks ahead in the two peak seasons. The train does not run on Wednesdays outside holiday periods and closes for winter. Boats are cancelled in high water. Open carriages are cold and wet in rain.

Nearby

Arashiyama's bamboo grove is at the lower end; Kameoka is at the upper.