Hegura Jima - Noto Peninsula

Hi All,

At the moment, I've got three full driving days in the Noto Peninsula.

On the first day, I'll be driving from Kanazawa to Wajima up the West Coast taking in most of the sights.

I'm also staying in Wajima on the second night, which gives me a couple of options.

My first option is to visit Hegura Jima which is a slightly remote island 45 km's off Wajima city.

The second option is to drive around the eastern tip of the Noto peninsula with some time to burn.

On the third day, I've got to make my way down to Wakura Onsen. As such, I could also travel around the eastern tip but need to be more time conscious - plus I won't be able to explore around Wakura Onsen.

This is all weather dependent of course.

I'd love to hear other peoples opinions or experiences of both of these areas.

Your suggestions have already changed my travel plans quite a lot - as I was not visiting the Noto Peninsula to spending three nights on my first driving holiday in Japan...

Though I have never been to Hegura island or north eastern tip of Noto peninsula, if I were you, my first choice would be Hegura island. Of course Japan is consisted of islands, but the most beautiful seashore is in a small isolated island. The seashore is inevitably polluted by human activity, and if there are less people, there should be less pollution. Hegura is definitely this kind of place.

There is only one boat to Hegura and only one return boat per day, but you can day-trip from Wajima.

http://www11.ocn.ne.jp/~hegura/

You will have 4.5 hrs in Hegura which will be enough time to stroll around this small island.

On a side note, north eastern seashore of Noto seems to be also beautiful place since again this area is less populated. Google map show that the road there is rather well maintained.

Have a nice trip!

That's the island I was talking about.

From memory Jima is one of the Japanese words for Island. It's kind of like 'ko' for lake or 'jo' for castle.

Your right about 4 1/2 hours is probably the correct amount of time. The trip to the island should also be fun as well I guess.

As such - I'll probably visit Hegura Jima and travel the east coast on the next day down to Wakura Onsen.

Yes, jima is island, ko is lake and jo is castle.

By the way, the boat to Hegurajima is of course not so big (around 100 t) so it might pitch and roll on the wave, therefore you might get seasick. Take care and have a nice trip!