Shirahama Things to Do

It's divided into 4 sections:

Marine World: with seals, penguins, performing dolphin and killer whale. Highlight for me was the awesome polar bear.

Safari World: take a bus ride and check out the scary lions and tigers. It's even possible to rent a bike but this is limited to the area with camels and giraffes. Unless you are are very fast at pedalling :)

Enjoy World: roller coaster rides and petting zoo

Panda World: amazing to see pandas (and they have several) so close up. Equally amazing to see their enormous poo. Who would have thought bamboo could turn into that !

...while u are embracing each other....i would not recommend to go to a place like shirahama without someone to hold ur hand and kiss u on moments like this!!! even if its just ur favourite teddy bear, or kitty-chan ;))

the shirahama village is a charmingly small resort, with a population of less than 20 000 people :)) almost everything is centered around the little main road, which runs right by the beach, and yes the beach is wonderful!!! just u might not be able to spot it if you go in the peak season, as it seems like all the japanese have migrated on it!!! the sand is so white and fine it makes you wonder: how come a volcanic island like honshu has such white beautiful sand??? well, the answer is of course because it was imported from australia!!!

the peninsula is best explored by foot or by bike :)) biking around gives you a chance to see more and enjoy all the nature and everything more deeply than just by driving around with the car. you can move easily in the traffic and explore more inaccessible places like this in the photo :)) the beach waters near this trail was filled with small crabs and we had to watch out not to smash any on the way :))

shirahama is a popular hot spring resort u should not miss!! if u don`t like the crowd though, avoid national holidays like obon and golden week, as its gonna be packed!!!
its a lovely small peninsula in central japan, wakayama prefecture. there are great nature spots, and the views on the pacific ocean are fantastic! the peninsula is kinda small so a weekend is enough to explore it :)) a lovely getaway from the busy cities of kansai!!!

yes, you have come here to bathe :)) there are several places to experience authentic japanese hot spring; try shirara-yu, murono-yu or sakino-yu.

the onsen is not expensive, in case you do it publicly where men and women bathe separately. its only if you want to have the lovely private one with your darling that you have to pay...usually a private one is attached to a room of a ryokan (guest house) and one night stay usually starts from 20 000yen....but hey, what would you not do to have a little pre-honeymoon weekend...;))

.....find a nice barbecue spot with ur honey and have nice evening picnic admiring the setting sun :)) ur belly will be screaming for food after biking those hilly roads!!!