My husband and I will be in Japan in early October. We are flying into Nagoya from Seoul and taking the train to Kyoto. We will stay in Kyoto for 5 days. We have 2 days after Kyoto and can't decide where to go. Then we are going to Tokyo for a few days then flying from Tokyo back to the US.

We are not that interested in Hiroshima. We love the outdoors and are trying to find something very scenic and nature centered. Any ideas of places around Nagano? Hiking trails?

Whenever we are searching for places to go there are always so many... please help.
Thanks!

Well, you could do the Magome-Tsumago hike - not overly long, about 3 hours or so (plus lunch, poke-around-the-villages time.) We did this hike as a daytrip from Nagoya, although many do it with an overnight in one of the villages.

Or you could head west of Kyoto and see a bit of the inland sea, very scenic with lots of islands.

Koyasan? Miyajima? Lake Chuzenji and Nikko?
For these and other options, see japan-guide.com

Shikoku? Kanazawa?

You might want to try the Kiso Valley area like Sue mentions above with Magome-Tsumago. See here for more details:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6075.html

Or you could do an overnight Shirakawago and Takayama:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5950.html

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5900.html

For something different other than the Alps you can go to the Izu Peninsula for the two days and spend some time at a ryokan maybe like this one with lots of hiking trails all around the area.

http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/d...ka/amagiso.htm

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6310.html

All depends on your likes and budget.

Aloha!