Tips for the Kumano Kodo

Similar to my article on the Camino de Santiago, this article is primarily designed as a list of suggestions for folks who have already decided to walk the Kumano Kodo. I highly recommend it -- it's much more secluded than the Camino, and while it takes a lot more planning, it's well worth the effort.

Routes

The Kumano Kodo is the name given to the many pilgrimage trails that go around the Kii Peninsula. My experience is only with the Nakahechi Route, which goes from Tanabe to the Nachi Grand Shrine. I'd love to do the other routes in the future! However, the Nakahechi seems to be the most developed, primarily from the services and promotion provided by the Tanabe City Kumano Tourism Bureau, who created most of the official English-language resources.

Physical Requirements

The Nakahechi Route is thoroughly doable for anyone who hikes or runs regularly. Most days involve walking around 15km/9mi, with the second day being 25km/15mi (though you can always take a bus to shave off some of that distance if you'd prefer). The more difficult aspect is the vertical, since each day involves 700-1000m in elevation changes. If you pack light or forward your luggage, it's totally reasonable to do without much training, in my opinion.

Packing

My suggestions for packing are much the same as my suggestions for the Camino, so just go see those. The only change I'll note is that the Kumano Kodo is much more remote than the Camino, and there is not nearly as much of a "cottage industry" around the trail so far. You'll find some small grocery stores on occasion and there's a small convenience store near Hongu Taisha (at the end of Day 2), but that's the extent of what you'll find, so it's probably wise to pack supplies for the full few days, since there's no guaranteed places to restock.

Otherwise, my general advice stands: pack light, then pack lighter. You don't need much. Most accomodations geared towards walkers will provide dinner, breakfast, and a bento for lunch, so you don't need much food. It's still Japan, so even in the most remote towns, you'll find vending machines with coffee, Pocari Sweat, all the usual candidates.

Accomodations

Booking accomodations is perhaps the most tricky part of walking the Kumano Kodo if you don't speak Japanese. There is a travel service called Kumano Travel that you can book through. My experience with it is that it was incredibly slow -- I submitted reservations and didn't hear back from them for a full week, so I cancelled and just booked places myself. This makes sense given the reality of the Kumano Kodo: many of the hotels and accomodations are run by older folks who rarely, if ever, use the internet, and the service operates (as far as I understand it) by having people from the Tourism Bureau literally call up the places every now and again to book for people.

Personally, I just booked through Booking.com and AirBnb, and while this allowed for less options than Kumano Travel, it meant I got much faster confirmation and could book at any time.

One note about seasonality: many of the smaller minshuku, guesthouses, or other businesses are run by a single person, and it's not uncommon for that person to be traveling or not open during certain parts of the year. The few options there are can go fast, especially if you're looking to go in the high seasons around spring/fall. Book well in advance.

Here are the places I booked:

• Tanabe: DJANGO Hostel - Great budget option, and the owner is a very friendly guy who spoke great English.
  • There's an onigiri restaurant right across the street from Django that opens at 4am and serves coffee. Great breakfast option for folks catching the early bus to Takajiri-oji.
  • For kissa fans, Caravan is right down the street. Great lunch option if you get into Tanabe pretty early.
• Day 1: I stopped in Chikatsuyu and stayed at SEN. RETREAT, the newest and most modern place I stayed on the walk, but I probably wouldn't recommend it for most folks. It was more expensive than most options, and it's more geared towards Japanese tourists than walkers, so they do not provide any food like you'd get at most guesthouses. There is a grocery store and a restaurant across the street, but it's a bit harder to piece together breakfast/packed lunch from them. At the time it was the only place bookable/available, but there's several other guesthouses/minshuku available in the same town that are bookable online if you look far enough in advance.
  • There are many other minshuku/guesthouses in the area that are bookable online, especially if you plan far enough in advance. I'd recommend checking them out, there's several on Booking.com.
• Day 2: Guesthouse Yui is a good old-fashioned guesthouse run by a sweet older lady. (Note that she doesn't speak English, but other reviews have said communicating through translation apps is fine.) It's right next to the local sento if you want to soak in a bath, though the shower in the guesthouse seemed fine too. There's some packaged food available for purchase.
  • This place also does not serve food, but there's plenty of restaurants around Hongu Taisha, and there's a convenience store near the next trailhead for trail food.
• Day 3: @koguchi was by far my favorite place I stayed on the trail. The hostess is incredibly kind, not to mention a particularly excellent cook¹. It's a classic ryokan experience -- tatami rooms, a prepared bath, dinner/breakfast with onigiri for the next day's lunch. Highly recommmend.
  • Koguchi is, as an aside, an astonishingly beautiful place. The hostess will pick you up from the trailhead if requested, but the walk in was so nice that I chose to walk and soak it all in.
  • Koguchi is also the city with probably the fewest accomodation options. I believe the only other places are a hostel built from what used to be the local elementary school, and I believe there's another AirBnb that was quite expensive and didn't provide any food, and there's really nowhere to eat in town.
• Nachi: WhyKumano is a great little hostel right next to the station. It's nothing to write home about, but a good budget option.
  • If you want to ball out and relax after so much hiking, there are many resorts around Nachi-Katsuura; it's an area well-known for having a lot of onsen, so options galore for your post-Kumano-Kodo relaxation period.