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Ninety seconds on Sagano Scenic Railway
Booking is strongly advised. Reserved seats go on sale on the operator's website from midnight Japan time, a month before the travel date, and they sell out in November and at weekends and holidays. Seats cancelled by 23:59 on the day before boarding are refunded free of charge.
Yes. Every ride needs a paid ticket, and no round-trip fare is sold, so going out and back by train means buying two one-way tickets. The river boat back to Arashiyama is ticketed separately by its own operator.
A one-way ride between Torokko Saga and Torokko Kameoka takes about 25 minutes. A return by the Hozugawa boat is the longest leg of the outing, and its length varies with the water level.
Trains start at Torokko Saga, a short walk from Saga-Arashiyama Station on the JR Sagano Line from Kyoto. The line has four stops: Torokko Saga, Torokko Arashiyama, Torokko Hozukyo and Torokko Kameoka, which lies ten minutes on foot from JR Umahori.
No. The season runs from 1 March to 29 December, and there is no service from 30 December to the end of February. The present carriages make their last runs on 29 December 2026, and a new train takes over from 1 March 2027.
Rain reaches only Car 5, whose seats can get wet; the other four cars are enclosed. Umbrellas are banned on board in every car, so riders who booked the open one need a raincoat.
Open on both sides, the fifth car puts nothing between you and the Hozugawa below as the train follows the mountainside up the valley.
The line runs 7.3 kilometres along the mountainside above the Hozugawa, from Torokko Saga on the Arashiyama side to Torokko Kameoka upriver. The water stays in sight below the track, and the old-fashioned train takes it slowly.
Each train is four enclosed cars and one fully open car. That open car has no windows, and its side panels and floor are open too.
Seating throughout is in four-person boxes lettered A to D. Conductors point out the sights as the train runs, so the ride comes with a commentary.
The slopes change most in spring, when the cherry trees flower, and in autumn, when the leaves turn. At the Kameoka end, the boats set off back downstream through rapids and calm pools.
The Saga terminus has two ticket offices, one for the train and one for the Hozugawa boat. Torokko Saga, as the station is called, lies five minutes on foot from JR Saga-Arashiyama Station.
Online, you choose a car and then a seat from the map; to sit in Car 5, select No. 5 on the form. Same-day seats are sold first come, first served at the counters, and a limited number of standing tickets follows once the seats are gone.
The ride ends at Torokko Kameoka, and there are three ways back. Take the boat down the river to Arashiyama, buy a second one-way ticket for the train, or walk to JR Umahori Station for the line back towards Kyoto.
Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is ten minutes on foot from Torokko Saga, and the path through it reaches Torokko Arashiyama, the line's next stop, about twenty minutes later.
In Golden Week and the autumn leaf season, reserve the river boat ahead as well as the train. Light rain does not stop the boats, so a wet morning need not cancel the return.
Take a train from 16:30 onward until 29 December 2026, except on 16 December, to see the line lit up after dark.
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