Shirahama Beach & Around

Shirahama has been a resort since emperors soaked here in the seventh century. Its crescent of white sand faces the open Pacific; a few minutes away, the rock pools of Sakinoyu let you bathe as waves break beside the tub. Sunset turns the arch of Engetsu Island into a picture frame, the Sandanbeki cliffs hide a cave once used by pirates, and Adventure World — its giant pandas now returned to China — carries on with Japan's largest penguin colony and a seaside safari. With direct trains from Osaka and a small airport serving Tokyo, this is the easiest of Wakayama's escapes — and one of its most photogenic. The section runs the length of the resort coast: Minabe, whose hillsides grow Japan's finest ume plums, the izakaya lanes of Tanabe — gateway city to the Kumano Kodo — and the river valleys of Kamitonda, all within a short drive of the sands.