Narai, Tsumago or Magome

Hi, I will be in Japan in less than 2 weeks, my base will be Nagoya where my wifefs family live.
I went to Tsumago more than 25 years ago, so itfs been a long time.
I plan to do a day trip to Kiso. Narai is a fair bit further from Nagoya than Tsumago or Magome, but many seem to rate it highly. From what I can tell, it seems pretty evenly split in terms of which of the three towns is favoured by travellers. Magome has the hill vibe which gives it character, but seems a bit more touristy and less authentic. Narai looks quite cool but has cars running down the main street.
I am tending towards Tsumago, even though I have been there before (canft remember much). It appeals to me more than Magome, and probably wins out for me over Narai being closer to Nagoya.
But keen to get some thoughts, I might still do Narai instead even though itfs further!

Narai is further from Nagoya, but the town is just steps from the train station. That means you donft have to transfer to a bus, which runs infrequently. Narai is the biggest of the three and my recommendation.

The first thing I noticed in Magome is that town is not in its original build. The town was rebuilt after a big fire in 1915. You will notice it in things like how flat the rooflines and eaves lines are. Tsumago is smaller than Narai. Thatfs why I recommend Narai.

Thanks Kamahen!

Narai certainly seems somewhat the edark horsef of the three, from pictures and videos its streetscape looks very attractive.

I have visited all three places this May and liked Narai the least - it was just boring, and not because I was there on monday afternoon and many shops were closed (I am not into window shopping anyway), but mostly because the town is basically just two streets next to each other so you walk there and back and thats all.

I liked Tsumago and Magome more and theoretically you can visit both in one day. There is an option for shuttle bus from Tsumago to Magome (+-30 mins ride) so although it takes almost 2 hours from Nagoya to Nagiso station and then +-30 mins walk to Tsumago, if you depart at 7-8am, it would be easily doable (at least for me). And I am pretty shure there is direct bus connection from Magome back to Nagoya, but I took the bus to Nakatsugawa and from there I took the train to Nagoya.

So I think you can look at your choices as Narai or Tsumago+Magome.

I overlooked that you plan to visit in two weeks. I dont know what temperature and snow conditions will be at those places and when is the sunset in mid December so I am not sure if the Tsumago + Magome trip would be as easy as in May...

Thanks Haens. I think I am leaning towards Tsumago. I think it just looks more appealing to my eyes