Photo: Zairon / CC BY 4.0Door to door
8 hr
From the gangway and back
Best for
A 10-hour call or longer
Room to spare
None
What it costs
A car for the day
Booking
None found
Check each place’s own page before you sail
- Best for
- Calls of 10 hours or more, such as 07:00–18:00, with a hired car or the ship’s own tour. The prefecture describes the three shrines as a one-day round from this port
- Room to spare
- Fits a 10-hour stop with nothing to add (off the ship 30 minutes after arrival, back at the gangway an hour before all-aboard). A longer call gives you the extra time; on this one, do not add a stop.
- What it costs
- A car for the day. The loop is about 115 km with the Katsuura lunch stop; on the meter by distance alone that would be over ¥40,000, so ask for a fixed day rate. We could not confirm a published price. Shrines are free; falls viewing stage ¥500.
Checked · Researched, not yet visited · times from official timetables and our estimates · Takumi Yamada
The route
How the day runs
Times are from the moment you step off, not from the scheduled arrival. Everything shifts if your ship is late; the order does not.
- +0:00By car from the berth to Kumano Hongu Taisha, 37–38 km, about 1 h 10–15 (our estimate)
The Hongu Tourist Association gives about 1 hour from Shingu city
Full guide: Kumano Hongu Taisha from Shingu - +1:15
- +2:00Oyunohara: the great torii on the river flat, a short walk from the shrine
Photo: VKaeru / CC BY-SA 3.0 - +2:30Drive to Kumano Hayatama Taisha in Shingu, 35 km, about 1 hour (Hongu Tourist Association figure)Full guide: Kumano Hayatama Taisha and the Kamikura steps
Photo: Tetsuhiro Terada / CC BY 2.0 - +3:30Kumano Hayatama Taisha
Gates 06:00–17:00
Photo: Zairon / CC BY 4.0 - +4:05Drive to Katsuura, about 17 km, about 35 min (our estimate), for a tuna lunch at Nigiwai Ichiba
08:00–16:00, last order 15:30; closed Tuesdays
Photo: 玄史生 / CC BY-SA 3.0 - +5:25Drive up to Nachi, about 10 km, about 20 min
The shrine gives 20 min by taxi from Kii-Katsuura Station
- +5:45Kumano Nachi Taisha, Seiganto-ji and the pagoda, then down to Nachi Falls
Reception closes at about 16:30
Full guide: Nachi Falls and Kumano Nachi Taisha from Shingu
Photo: Zairon / CC BY 4.0 - +7:15Drive to the berth, 14–15 km, about 30 min (our estimate)
- +7:45Back at the gangway
The margin is not optional. This route ends an hour before all-aboard on purpose. If you are running late, drop the last stop, not the hour.
What the day looks like
Shingu, along this route
Real photographs of the places above and the streets between them. Every one is credited.
Other routes
The other routes in Shingu
Shingu’s own shrines: Hayatama Taisha and the Kamikura stepsNeeds a 5-hour call · ~3hCalls of 5 hours or more. Hayatama Taisha is flat; the Kamikura climb is optional and very steep
Nachi: Daimon-zaka, the shrine, the pagoda and the fallsNeeds a 6-hour call · ~4hCalls of 6 hours or more. This is the day Noble Caledonia, Ponant and Seabourn sell from the port. Stairs most of the way: the escape has a version with fewerA wet day: Hayatama Taisha and tuna under a roofA wet day · ~3hA wet day on a call of 5.5 hours or more, except a Tuesday, when the market is closed. The Kamikura steps and Daimon-zaka are wet stone: leave them