Sagano Scenic Railway

When JR straightened the San'in main line in 1989 and drove it through new tunnels, the old alignment along the Hozu gorge was left with no trains on it. Two years later it reopened as a tourist railway, and it has been running open-sided carriages along the cliff edge ever since. That is the reason the route is so good: it was built as a working railway on the only ground available, not laid out for views.

Seven and a bit kilometres, twenty-five minutes, from Torokko Saga near Arashiyama to Torokko Kameoka. The train runs slowly, crosses the river twice, and spends the middle section on a ledge above the rapids with rafts and river boats passing below. Autumn is the reason most people come, and the maples in the gorge are worth the ticket. Spring cherry and fresh green in May are quieter and nearly as good.

Book ahead. Reserved seats for the four enclosed cars go on sale a month in advance at JR West ticket windows and online, and autumn weekends sell out immediately. Car five, called The Rich, has no windows and no roof glass, and its tickets are sold only on the day at the station, which means queueing. In cold or wet weather it is a serious decision.

Closed on Wednesdays and shut for winter, roughly from the end of December to the end of February.

The classic combination is one-way on the train and back down the Hozu river by traditional flat-bottomed boat, about two hours of poling and rapids from Kameoka to Arashiyama. Book that too.