4 Days Around Koyasan/Kumano Area

Hi,

In the middle of August, we are looking into spending some time visiting the Kumano Kodo trails and area, and would like a bit of help sanity-checking our plans.

We'll be coming from either Osaka or Kyoto on August 16th, and the current thinking is something like:

August 16: Travel to Nara in morning for half-day, then onto Koyasan and stay at a Shukubo overnight.
August 17: See some of Koyasan then travel down to Kumano-shi and watch the fireworks. Stay overnight in Kumano, unless it is simple and better/easier to stay somewhere else? Tanabe, Katsuura etc?
August 18: Walk the Daimon-Zaka short trail up to Nachi Taisha and the waterfall.
August 19: Travel to Tokyo

We will have a JR pass, but no access to a car.

How does this seem?

Thanks.

In the middle of August, we are looking into spending some time visiting the Kumano Kodo trails and area, and would like a bit of help sanity-checking our plans.

Probably be rainy. Expect mud, and possibly tripping on roots.

16
Koya San has nothing much to do in the day (unless religious). Mostly nice in the evening, night, and early morning. So do spend more time in Nara.

17
I love the onsen at Kii-Katsura. They either look out into the bay, or they look from the bay back to the town. Either way you can see a body of water. If you stay at Urashima or Nakanoshima then you can see the night view of a pretty lighted town. Really great. Tuna is common in the area for your sashimi fix.
Kumano is better if your idea of nature is not waves but trees.

18
Short is the right word. After this, what's next?

My wife's research is on religion so Koyasan does appeal.

Interesting to know much of the trails would be muddy. We're not massive hikers or anything, hence the plan for just a short walk up to the Nachi Taisha.

That said, if there's not much to see there, we might instead then head back round and up to another temple area, Hongu Taisha perhaps.

It looks uncomplicated, but is perhaps more time consuming than it appears: http://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/transport/hongu-nachisan-access/

If we stay in Katsuura, hopefully we can arrange to forward our luggage to a lodging in Hongu while we do the Daimon-zaka walk, then travel across to Hongu. Is that realistic? Then the next day we'd set off from Hongu back to Shingu Station and on to Tokyo.

Thanks for your help!

Another option we might consider:

August 16: Nara half-day - Koya-san overnight
August 17: Koya-san AM - Katsuura - Evening in Kumano-shi for firework festival
August 18: Daimon-zaka trail - Nachi Taisha - Koguchi via Ogumotori-goe
August 19: Koguchi - Hongu Taisha via Kogumotori-goe - Late travel back to Tokyo via Shingu.

How late does public transport run in the area? If we reached Hongu Taisha after a 5 hour walk from Koguchi at around 3pm, spent a couple of hours in Hongu Taisha, then planned to leave, is that impossible?

Otherwise I guess we would need to stay overnight in Hongu Taisha or Shingu, to leave early the next day for Tokyo.

One thing, Hongu Taisha will be quite underwhelming just visiting it after Nachi Taisha. Perhaps consider popping in and checking out Hongu, but then hiking an hour or so to Yunomine Onsen. It's a lovely onsen town, with Japan's only UNESCO World Heritage-designated hot spring. From there you could take a bus and head out.

If you do Hongu, don't miss out on Yunomine!

So many options, Yunomine looks great too!

We're thinking now we might shift our dates 1 day earlier, and instead of doing the Daimon-zaka and having an afternoon free, do the Daimon-zaka and Nachi Taisha on the morning of the Kumano fireworks festival. We'd travel down to Kii-Katsuura from Koyasan the day before.

To get a bit more hiking/trail in, we found the Magome- Tsumago 2-3 hour trek, which is in between Kii-Katsuura and Tokyo. So spending less time in that area, and having a travel day from Kii-Katsuura up to Magome, then the next day hike to Tsumago and train via Narai or maybe Matsumoto back to Tokyo.

Okay. The main religious areas of your trip would be Koya-san and Nachi. Nachi more for just the view and feel. Nachi isn't too big in terms of space (though the steps leading down to the shrine are big and tiring)