Wakayama Hidden Gems
The spiritual Kii Peninsula — a mountaintop monastic town, pilgrimage trails through cedar forest, and hot springs on a warm Pacific coast.
6 spots
Climate & Best Season
One of Japan's wettest areas; warm and humid, with mild winters on the coast and cold nights on Koyasan. Spring and autumn suit hiking.
Famous For (Food)
- Mikan oranges
- Umeboshi
- Wakayama ramen
- Maguro (Katsuura tuna)
Signature Sights
- Koyasan temple lodgings
- Kumano Kodo (UNESCO)
- Nachi Falls
- Shirahama beach & onsen
Dorokyo Gorge
Dorokyo is a gorge on the Kitayama river where it forms the boundary between Wakayama, Nara and Mie — thirty-odd kilomet…
Oishi Kogen
Oishi Kogen is a plateau at about 870 metres straddling Kimino and Aridagawa, and what grows on it is susuki — Japanese…
Shirasaki Marine Park
A headland of white limestone laid down more than two hundred and fifty million years ago, dropping straight into deep b…
Hashigui-iwa
About forty pillars of rock stand in a line across the shallows at Kushimoto, running roughly 850 metres from the shore…
Aragijima
The Arida river makes a tight loop around a spur of land at Shimizu, and the terraces cut into that spur have the shape…
Shionomisaki Lighthouse
The southernmost point of Honshu, on a thirty-metre cliff above the Pacific, with a white lighthouse first lit in 1873 a…