Ise and Kii Peninsulas

We are planning a trip to Japan at the beginning of November 2011. We plan to fly into Osaka, train to Kyoto for about 3-4 nights, train to Nara for 1-2 nights and then we are planning to hire a car and travel around the Ise Peninsula and the Kii Peninsula, staying overnight at Mount Koya before returning the hire car and flying out of Osaka. Is this a good option or would you advise us otherwise?

then we are planning to hire a car and travel around the Ise Peninsula and the Kii Peninsula, staying overnight at Mount Koya before returning the hire car and flying out of Osaka.

You need more than two days to cover the Shima Peninsula (that's how the peninsula around Ise is called ) and the Kii Peninsula. Koyasan alone would require two days.

I recommend at least 4-5 days for the two peninsulas, but it depends on how much you want to see.

Thanks for your response. Are we wise to hire a car to travel around these Peninsulas - Shima and Kii.

We spent 5-6 days in the Kii Peninsula and Shima Peninsula and used just public transport, train + bus. By the look of the relatively light traffic a rental car is a good option and I would go for it. Having said that we went April and don't know how different it would be during Nov, esp. if it coincide with the autumn foliage season.

Koya-san has direct rail link with Osaka so consider going by Nankai rail instead of a car. Actually instead of renting from Osaka and fight through city traffic, I would go to the town of Wakayama and rent from there. From Wakayama you can do an anti-clockwise loop of the Kii Peninsula along the coast. In the east you can use Ise as your base for the drive down the Shima Peninsula.

I'm not sure why you want to spend your time driving around the peninsulas. It is rather unspoiled, other than the resort areas, but the main attractions are rather inland. Keep in mind that that area is very mountainous and driving will be slow even with little traffic. I agree that renting a car at Wakayama is a better idea than Osaka. You can drive to Koyasan but you'll need to plan to stay overnight to do it any justice. You can also drive to Yoshino, but again, the driving is slow. The drive up to the actual town is a bit hair-raising if you're leery of heights - few guard rails.

Thanks so much for the responses. They are making us consider other options. We plan to be in Japan for about 15days in November 2011. Our plan was to begin in Kyoto for about 3 nights, then train and overnight stay in Nara, then collect hire car and spend about 6 days on the Peninsulas, however due to your responses we are wondering if we should re-plan. Perhaps, train to Hiroshima, and then onto Kyushu or Skikoku. What do you think? As Australians we really love hiking and the outdoors and visiting more remote and historic places. Looking forward to your advice.

Kyushu and Shikoku deserve their own separated individual trips. With 6 spare days, concentrate on mainland Honshu to minimize long distance travelling.

For hiking, the Kumano-kodo pilgrimage route in Kii Peninsula is a World Heritage Site. Kamikochi is another well-known hiking destination but access is opened till mid Nov only. Equally popular is the hiking trail between Tsumago and Magome in the Kiso Valley.

Agree with william5. And there is a lot of good hiking in the Yoshino area (if it sounds like I'm pushing that area, I am). If you end up in the Kiso area, the Torii Toge between Narai and Yabuhara is a nice walk.