Kii Peninsula (Mie + Wakayama) — 7 days, car

A loop from Nagoya around the Kii Peninsula to Osaka: Ise Jingu and the Ise-Shima pearl coast, the Kumano Kodo with Nachi Falls and Kumano Hongu Taisha, Mt. Koya’s temples, and Shirahama’s beaches and onsen.

Don't miss

the shojin ryori dinner at your Okunoin temple stay.

• Day 1 — Nagoya → Ise: Ise Jingu (Naiku + Geku, Japan’s holiest shrine) → Okage Yokocho (drive ~2h). Stay Ise. — Route map
• Day 2 — Ise-Shima full day: Toba (Mikimoto Pearl Museum, birthplace of cultured pearls), ama diver huts, Ago Bay cruise (pearl rafts), Kashikojima (drive ~1.5h). Stay Ise/Toba. — Route map
• Day 3 — Ise → Kumano Kodo (UNESCO pilgrimage trail) → Nachi Falls (133 m, Japan’s tallest) + Nachi Taisha + Seiganto-ji (pagoda beside the falls) (drive ~3h). Stay Nachi. — Route map
• Day 4 — Nachi → Kumano Hongu Taisha (UNESCO) + Oyunohara (great torii in the riverbed) → Yunomine Onsen (Tsubo-yu bath) → Kawayu Onsen (river bathing) (drive ~2h). Stay Kawayu. — Route map
• Day 5 — Kawayu → Mt. Koya: Kongobu-ji (head temple), Danjo Garan, Okunoin cemetery (night walk) → temple stay (shojin ryori) (drive ~2.5h). Stay Koya. — Route map
• Day 6 — Koya morning (Okunoin, Kongobu-ji) → Shirahama (Wakayama coast): Shirahama Beach, Senjojiki rock, Engetsuto (moon-shaped island), Shirahama Onsen (one of Japan’s three oldest) (drive ~2.5h). Stay Shirahama. — Route map
• Day 7 — Shirahama morning — Senjojiki rock plateau + Engetsuto (moon-shaped island) → Wakayama Castle (one of 12 original castles) + Kishu Toshogu (Tokugawa shrine) → return to Osaka → evening shinkansen (drive ~2.5h). — Route map

Highlights

⛩️ Ise Jingu Naiku — Japan’s holiest shrine, rebuilt every 20 years

🏞️ Nachi Falls + Seiganto-ji pagoda — Japan’s tallest waterfall beside a five-storey pagoda

🛕 Koyasan Okunoin cemetery — mossy lanterns along Kobo Daishi’s sacred path

🌊 Engetsuto island — the moon-shaped rock offshore at Shirahama

⛩️ Kumano Hongu Taisha — the great Kumano shrine above the Oyunohara torii

🌊 Ago Bay pearl rafts — Mikimoto’s floating pearl farms in Ise-Shima

Local food & drink

• Ise udon — Japan’s softest noodles in a dark tamari-sauce pool
• Tekone-zushi — Ise-Shima’s hand-mixed bonito sushi, the ama-divers’ fast meal
• Akafuku mochi — Ise’s iconic since-1707 red-bean rice cakes
• Shojin ryori — Koyasan’s vegetarian temple cuisine
• Ise-ebi — spiny lobster, sweetest Oct–Apr
• Kishu umeboshi — Wakayama’s plum pickles
• Iseman sake — Ise’s only brewery at the Naiku gate
• Kishu umeshu — Wakayama plum wine
• Kishu mikan juice — fresh tangerine juice Don’t miss: the shojin ryori dinner at your Okunoin temple stay.