Cycling The Kii Peninsula | Japan’s Pacific Coast Cycling Road Through Mie, Wakayama 800, and Nara

The Kii Peninsula, one of the most southerly points on the main island of Honshu in Japan, offers some of the best and worst of coastal cycling in Japan. While it would be easy to focus on the terrible parts of this route, the fact of the matter is the parts that were good, were very good. And the parts that were terrible could mostly have been avoided with some better routing than what is recommend by the blue arrows.

On one hand you have a mix of stunning coastal features, rocky cliffs, and even a few views across the Setouchi Inland Sea to Shikoku. With that, is contrasted long stretches of road full of endless streams of large tractor trailers, trucks, and busses. These vehicles are unfortunately sharing twisty shoulder-less roads with you leading to a familiar scene on the Pacific Coast of Japan. Once again a blue arrow does not a good bike route make, but in this case, it makes about 25% a great route, 50% an alright route, and 25% a downright dangerous route.

So with all of that prefaced, this article will be a summation, review, and recommendations for cycling the Kii Peninsula between Mie’s Ise City to Wakayama. For those interested in understanding if this route is right for them or who want to ride the best part and not repeat the bad parts, keep reading. This and a few other mentions along the way such as cycling to Koya, and hiking the Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage will round out the remainder, so come along for the journey.

But first the TL:DR for those just wanting the bullet points.

TL:DR | The Quick Summary Before the Full Deep Dive

Ok Rob, you have a tendency to go into great detail in these write-ups. All I want to know is should I ride there, if so what is the best route, and what else do I absolutely need to know?

Should I Ride There?

Sure! It’s a bit out of the way if coming from Tokyo, but it’s close if you are in Kansai region, and best to be done nowheres near the (muggy) summer or (rainy) typhoon season. Best to avoid it say late May-end Oct.

What is the Best Route?

100% not the recommended route. It is very dangerous for probably 20-30% of the time and honestly many parts are lacking coastal views, or their are views but you are unable to enjoy the views as you battle the large trucks trying to pass you on narrow roads.

Jump down to the route section below to grab my recommended route that I promise has very little to no “junk kilometers” and minimizes dangerous roads as much as possible while still seeing the best parts of the coast.

What else do I absolutely need to know?

50% or more of this route is “by the ocean” but does not see the ocean. Therefore you can easily get all of the best parts of this route by skipping most of it and focusing on a few key areas mostly on the west coast of Wakayama.

For those looking to ride the full peninsula, consider the alternative roads & route listed below.

For those who are not set on the area, if you must see coastal Japan, consider the Shimanami Kaido as well. If you are open to other areas consider one of Japan’s many car free cycling routes or mountainous quieter regions such as Kita Kanto.

And with that, let’s get into the full detailed write up on cycling the Kii Peninsula.

What is the Kii Peninsula and Why Should I Cycle There?

So just what the heck is the Kii Peninsula in the first place?

Well in short, the Kii Peninsula is the region directly south of Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagoya. It is comprised mainly of three prefectures, Mie & Wakayama on the coast, and Nara Prefecture nestled inland. It is technically part of the Kansai Region, but Wakayama and Mie are quite distinctly rural in comparison to Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara.

Further, the peninsula is home to the southern most point in Honshu (the main island) and two major tourist regions, the Ise Grand Shrine in Ise City, Mie, and the Shirahama Resort area just south of Wakayama.

The former, is THE home and center-point of the Japanese Shinto religion, and the later the very opposite, a wildly overbuilt tourist area home to massive high rise hotels, resorts, and capitalism at its finest.

Along the way the Kumano Kodo Hiking Pilgrimage is nestled in the lower middle of the peninsula, as well as the city of Nara to the center north (you might have heard about its deer), and the spiritual mountain town of Koya somewhere between the two.

Alongside this, the area promises what all coastal regions do, fresh seafood, ocean views, and a relatively temperate climate.

Sounds Great! Can Someone Make Me A Route?

Funny you should ask, it turns out a few years back when Japan dreamt up the “Pacific Cycling Road” they actually went ahead and painted tens of thousands of little blue arrows along much of the peninsula to help cyclists navigate the area!

Now, to be fair, Japan has a track record of marking such routes. Some to great success (see the Shimanami Kaido or Kasumigaura Ring Road), and others far less success (see Lake Biwa Ichi).

So what exactly did the Kii Peninsula region do when it decided to lay down its blue arrows?

Well, I’m not sure if there was one or many “route designers” for this section but I have a feeling Wakayama & Mie were not really in communications when they made their respective portions of the route.

It is not all bad. In fact a lot of it is great, but just like Lake Biwa, a lot of it is downright dangerous.

This is the part of many bike routes people don’t want to talk about, but for me is one of the most important parts. At one point after a constant rush of large trucks and non-stop vehicles driving by us all morning, we pulled off and hopped off the bike to let some of the vehicles pass and wait for a break. I then grabbed my phone to record this short clip below that I think perfectly illustrates what it feels like to share the road with these massive trucks on roads with no real shoulder.

Below you will find a map I made with the area largely mapped out based on road condition for cyclists. You can press the little white box in the top right corner to pull down a legend for the map to understand what the different colors mean.

You will notice the dark red color on many stretches, those are the dangerous, shoulder-less, heavy traffic roads I just shared with you in the video above. But, you will also notice many blue and yellow roads (many I have added as alternatives). These represent low traffic and generally good to great cycling roads.

You will also notice very little to no actual cycling paths along this “Cycling Road”. This route is near 99% cycling on the road, not to be confused with a real “Cycling Road” like the many river paths also called Cycling Roads.

Feel free to use the above map to make your own route and trip. Alternatively, check out a few routes below in my routes section towards the end of the article (or use that nifty table of contents to bop around).

The Pacific Cycling Road & Wakayama 800 | Japan’s Blue Arrows, A Blessing And A Curse

The main lap around the Kii Peninsula is part of the greater Pacific Cycling Road Project. So below let’s delve into how the Pacific Cycling Road is in the Kii Peninsula region.

The Pacific Cycling Road | Just Too Many Dangerous Roads

The Pacific Cycling Road is a project that comprises, as their website states,

“A 1,400 km cycling road that runs from Choshi City, Chiba Prefecture through Kanagawa Prefecture, Shizuoka Prefecture, Aichi Prefecture, and Mie Prefecture, and ends in Wakayama city, Wakayama Prefecture.

Along the cycling road, there are many sightseeing spots and scenic spots including Mt. Fuji, a World Heritage Site.”

Sounds dreamy!

Unfortunately, it seems something is lost in translation in Japan, as the term “cycling road”, as the vast majority of this route seems to mean, “a blue arrow drawn on a very busy main road with little to no shoulder or cycling path in sight, often full of large vehicles and 50kph speed limits driven at closer to 80kph.”

Contrary to the name in English, this is not a cycling road in the sense of the many Rive Cycling Roads you find in Japan or even the