Trip Report – Wakayama City, Shingu, Nachi Falls, Hongu, and Ise

### Background

My husband and I have been traveling to Japan several times a year for more than a decade. We’re both into the 20-somethings for number of trips we’ve taken, so our trips these days tend to be relaxed and a little out of the way. We were supposed to do this Wakayama area trip in 2020, but that obviously didn’t happen. My husband speaks, reads, and writes Japanese at an intermediate level, so we don’t have problems with language on our trips. I read katakana, some kanji, and speak basic words and phrases.

### Trip Introduction

This Wakayama City/Shingu/Ise adventure was part of a larger 19-day trip. We flew into Tokyo Narita and immediately took the shinkansen to Osaka. We spent 4-5 days in Osaka doing some low-key stuff like errands (for instance, [renewing our TTP cards](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/11pyqxw/japan_trusted_traveler_ttp_renewal_report/)) and drinking coffee (Glitch, Mel, Millpour, Takamura, Lilo). After that, we went to Koyasan for a few days, staying at [Ichijoin](https://www.itijyoin.or.jp/), where we have stayed several times in the past. We even got engaged there in 2019!

### Transportation

For the portion of the trip in this report, we utilized the Ise-Kumano-Wakayama Pass, a 5-day tourist pass. [See here for details](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_ise_kumano.html), although I will say that even buying the pass online cost ¥12,220, so that page’s pricing isn’t quite up to date. We ended up getting about ¥21,130 worth of train and bus travel out of it, so it was well worth it.

Our breakdown of rides/costs looked something like this:

* Wakayama -> Shingu (Kuroshio Limited Express): ¥6450
* Shingu -> Oyunohara/Hongu (bus): ¥1560
* Oyunohara/Hongu -> Shingu (bus): ¥1560
* Shingu -> Nachi (Kuroshio Limited Express and bus): ¥2260
* Nachi -> Shingu (Kuroshio Limited Express and bus): ¥2260
* Shingu -> Iseshi (Nanki Limited Express/Rapid Mie): ¥5230
* Downtown Ise -> Futamiokitama Park (limited express train): ¥740
* Futamiokitama Park -> Downtown Ise (local train): ¥210
* Downtown Ise -> Ise Jingu: ¥390
* Ise Jingu -> Downtown Ise: ¥470

The pass itself is a little weird, though. It’s not linked from any of the main JR pages, and if you reserve it online, you cannot use a machine to pick it up (you must go to a manned window). We had to ask around Osaka Station to figure out where to go, and none of the station staff we talked to knew what this pass was. We didn’t really have trouble using it once we got it, although a couple of bus drivers seemed a tiny bit surprised to see it. Overall, a really good value. Do note that you can only reserve seats up to four times with this particular pass, which was perfect for us, since we knew ahead of time that we’d likely want to take four limited express trains.

### Wakayama City

**Hotel:** [Candeo Hotel Nankai Wakayama](https://www.candeohotels.com/en/wakayama/) at Wakayamashi Station. This was actually an amazing hotel with new, clean rooms, a great view, and a rooftop public bath, located right at Wakayamashi Station. I’ve never stayed at a Candeo before, but I’ll definitely keep an eye out for them in the future, as this was pretty impressive in the realm of mid-range to upper-range business hotels. We paid ¥14,937/night (about $110 USD), which was what we’d consider a great value.

**March 18:** Arrived in Wakayama City from Koyasan (via the Nankai-Koya Line and Wakayama Line). Our luggage had already been forwarded from Osaka, so we only had small backpacks. We stuck our things in a locker and hopped on the [Wakayama Dentetsu](https://wakayama-dentetsu.co.jp/en/) (the line “run by cats”) and visited a few of the stations to see the cats and get some goshuin. Had amazing late afternoon pizza for lunch at [Alla Luce](https://goo.gl/maps/KzaoY4sFFhPRD2S99). Did a sake tasting at [Heiwa Saketen](https://goo.gl/maps/cCmUfV7daRfhdspM7) and had soba for dinner at [Shinanoji Kino](https://goo.gl/maps/Wsdgj5DSJ2opcQYj8) after visiting our hotel’s baths and relaxing for the afternoon.

**March 19:** Our room attendant at Koyasan (who always remembers us!) recommended we visit Kada while in Wakayama City, so we did that early in the morning. We went to the shrine there, walked by the seaside, ate amazing grilled shellfish. We walked around Wakayama City in the afternoon, did laundry, and had a low-key dinner at the Pronto at Wakayamashi Station (which turns into a wine and scotch bar at night).

### Shingu

**Hotel:** [Hotel New Palace](https://www.hotel-newpalace.com/) in Shingu. There weren’t a lot of options in Shingu for “real” hotels (not hostels or guesthouses), so this one was perfectly serviceable. It’s a decent walk from the station (probably a solid 7-10 minutes), and it definitely lacks any sort of personal touches or charm, but it was fine for a few nights. We paid ¥12,100/night (about $90 USD), which I’d say was high for the level of the room and service.

**March 20:** This was the first day our Ise-Kumano-Wakayama Pass was active. The day before, we used our pass to get tickets for the Kuroshio Limited Express to Shingu, where we were staying for the next few days. We arrived in Shingu in the early afternoon and visited the [Shingu Castle Ruins](https://goo.gl/maps/tTpEgwH1HK96wSbFA) (really cute park with amazing views), [Kumano Hayatama Taisha](https://goo.gl/maps/zJREDzQiBhL8oxB36), and [Kamikura Shrine](https://goo.gl/maps/H3bXavveyDUvP8Bx9) (which had way too many stairs!). Dinner was udon and tempura at [Masaya](https://goo.gl/maps/zkHaVEAnyTKuY8Wk7) near the hotel, which definitely felt like we were eating in someone’s living room. No English menu, and the lady taking our order also spoke no English. Honestly, “no English” was a very common theme of this part of our trip.

**March 21:** We visited [Oyunohara Torii Gate](https://goo.gl/maps/KeFmL2D1kfWhPkQR8) and [Kumano Hongu Taisha](https://goo.gl/maps/HED6a6NbycrDhxBH7), which were both pretty incredible sights to behold. The buses run infrequently in that area, so with so much time, we took a quick ten minute taxi ride over to Yunomine Onsen where we [boiled eggs in the water in the town center](https://goo.gl/maps/jQ3Js8zEYQovrWJK6) and had lunch. We accidentally ended up walking part of the Kumano Kodo to get back to Hongu, where we enjoyed some wagashi and tea at [Yata-an](https://goo.gl/maps/tHJduYUNXyzvn2xE8) before catching a bus back to Shingu.

**March 22:** We visited Nachi Falls and [Kumano Nachi Taisha](https://goo.gl/maps/iTwUCJf8wwiBnoBy9), completing our visits to the three Kumano taishas. We took an early Kuroshio Limited Express down to Kii-Katsuura (making use of that pass!) and then a bus to Nachi. The whole area was beautiful, although it once again had so many steps. I was pretty sick of hiking and steps at this point. Regardless, we got goshuin, saw the falls, drank the waterfall water, and my husband picked up a bunch of omamori for his coworkers. We were back in Shingu by mid-afternoon, where we had great sushi at [Jofuku](https://goo.gl/maps/tfGo5WCAKpCnJjkw9) near Shingu Station. The afternoon was relaxing in our hotel’s public bath before okonomiyaki at [Go Mi Hiro](https://goo.gl/maps/VH3MQZECY7NcmNcA6) nearby. The place was super popular, and I’m glad my husband speaks Japanese, because the menu was entirely in Japanese and waitress asked us to write down our orders and hand them to her. Then we had an early night at the hotel to watch the women’s short program of the World Figure Skating Championships, which were taking place in Saitama (yay, I was in the same time zone as a major competition for once!).

### Ise

**Hotel:** [Sanco Inn Iseshi](https://www.sanco-inn.co.jp/ise/en/) at Iseshi Station. This was another pretty bare-bones business hotel, although perfectly serviceable. It was right near the train station, which is a huge must-have for us in most cases. It also had laundry machines, which I wasn’t expecting, but that was pretty welcome since we were caught in the rain one of the days. It cost ¥17,100/night (about $128 USD), which was pretty high all things considered, but I really liked the location.

**March 23:** We grabbed some breakfast at the konbini and hopped on a very early train to Ise (Nanki Limited Express to Rapid Mie). It was pouring rain, but we still decided to head to [Futamiokitama-jinja and Meoto Iwa](https://goo.gl/maps/dSnTWSSNfDsi1PKQ9) (Wedded Rocks). It was too rainy to do much, so we headed back to the our hotel’s general area to get some castella and coffee at [Terrace Cafe](https://goo.gl/maps/rizTqHaoUe26z2CF8) while we waited for check-in. After that, we relaxed for the early evening at the hotel’s public bath, did some laundry, and then went to get amazing pasta bolognese nearby at [Bigoli](https://goo.gl/maps/PWLFsTyAySUcPVGH8). They literally have one thing on the menu, and that’s it. After, we returned to the hotel to watch the men’s short program for figure skating.

**March 24:** We visited [Ise Grand Shine](https://goo.gl/maps/qBpWMV2R6fsrsFq76)—so important that it is merely known as “Jingu”. That’s it. It’s *the* jingu. We visited the main shrine and the outer gate, ate a bunch of street food, and walked a lot. This was the last day of our Ise-Kumano-Wakayama Pass though, so we took some buses around to make use of it. While I’d say that Ise Jingu was interesting for the religious and historical aspects, it’s also one of the plainest shrines I’ve ever been to. It also has one of the plainest goshuin I’ve ever seen. I guess when you’re the most sacred shrine, you don’t need anything fancy! The streets leading up to it are packed full of food and shops, though, and it was super crowded. In the afternoon, we headed to [Camino Coffee](https://goo.gl/maps/C5rc5oei8kn8d8gP9) for awesome espresso, and at night, we went to [Takumi](https://goo.gl/maps/c29tfFbT5qifExwf8) to eat Matsusaka beef—one of the big, famous, ridiculously good beef producing regions alongside Kobe and Omi. Then we went back to the hotel on the early side to watch Kaori Sakamoto take the women’s world title in figure skating.

**March 25:** We traveled back to Osaka via the Kintetsu Limited Express for the final days of our trip, which we spent in Osaka, Arima Onsen, and Nagoya before returning to Tokyo for our flight home.

### Mask Usage

We arrived before the change in official recommendation, but even after that, mask usage was like 95%+ both inside and outside for much of our trip. The exception to this was in Shingu, Hongu, and the Nachi Falls area. For the four days we were in that region, mask usage was much, much lower. I would say it sometimes dropped as low as 30% or 40% outside, and even inside, it was sometimes as low as 50%. Shopkeepers and restaurant staff also often didn’t wear masks, and no one seemed to care much either way because nothing was overly crowded. It was also reasonably warm and sunny for much of that time, which may have contributed to people dropping their masks.

We wore masks in accordance with local norms, so masks on most of the time in cities, but we eschewed them a lot of the time in the Shingu area.

### Lessons from Wakayama

* It takes a lot longer to get around in this area. Everything is more infrequent—buses, trains, etc. You definitely need to plan more. We were usually deciding the day before when we’d roughly want to arrive at and leave a place, and we booked train tickets if needed. When we were out on our day trips, we’d routinely check to see when the next buses/trains were so that we wouldn’t miss things.
* Barely anything is in English. Even a lot of menus at places you might expect (like the Pronto at Wakayamashi Station) didn’t have English. Almost no one offered an English menu to us. Bus schedules and train schedules were also often not in English. I was lucky enough to be with someone who had no trouble getting things done in Japanese, but I could see how it would be intimidating for someone unfamiliar with the language.

### Overall Random Trip Stats

* Goshuin received: 24
* Hotels/ryokan stayed at: 7
* Number of times luggage was forwarded: 2
* Hours of figure skating competition watched: ~10
* Omamori purchased: 15
* Cheesecakes eaten: 2 (both from [Rikuro](http://www.rikuro.co.jp/shoplist/134.html), which you’re missing out on if you haven’t been)

### Some Goshuin Pics

* Ise Jingu’s [main goshuin and outer gate goshuin](https://imgur.com/LuzptCB).
* Our two [goshuincho from Kumano-Nachi Taisha](https://imgur.com/QgVF3G9).
* The [goshuin of Atsuta Jingu](https://imgur.com/E3YOKZS) in Nagoya, another one of the most sacred jingu. It it similarly plain, like Ise Jingu’s.
* The [goshuin of Tama-jinja](https://imgur.com/ocLs1cA), the shrine on the platform of Kishi Station, where the stationmaster cat lives.

Edit: My husband insisted I mention [this adorable and amazing Yatagarasu daruma](https://imgur.com/a/ICrsfED) we got in Hongu. It was really common to see them for sale there, but they weren’t anywhere else (not even Nachi).