Shirahama

Shirahama means white beach, and the sand at Shirarahama is genuinely white - it is also, since the 1980s, largely imported from Western Australia, because the original sand eroded away and replenishment with local material did not match. That is not a secret and the town states it. Around the beach is a resort built on hot springs mentioned in the Nihon Shoki in the seventh century, which makes them among the oldest recorded in Japan; Saki no Yu, an open bath on the rocks at the water's edge, has been in use since then and is the one worth queueing for. Sandanbeki is a cliff of some fifty metres south of the town with a lift down to a sea cave inside it. Engetsuto, an islet with a hole worn through the middle, sits offshore and frames the sunset. Adventure World, a large zoo and marine park, is the other local draw.

The landscape

• Imported white sand - the beach replenished from Western Australia since the 1980s.
• Saki no Yu - a rock-edge bath fed by springs recorded in the seventh century.
• Sandanbeki - fifty-metre cliffs with a lift down into a sea cave.
• Engetsuto - an offshore islet with a hole worn through it, framing the sunset.

When to go

July and August for swimming; April to October otherwise. Two days.

What to expect

Summer weekends are extremely crowded and accommodation prices double. The resort strip is dated in parts. Saki no Yu has no roof and closes in high seas and rough weather. Getting there from Osaka takes over two hours.

Nearby

Kumano Kodo trailheads are east; Wakayama city is north.