Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine and Seigantoji temple

While crowded Kyoto continues to suffer from overtourism, several of Japan’s ancient and soulful sights on the nearby Kii Peninsula, only an hour away, merit diversions. These include the UNESCO-listed Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trails; Koyasan, the sacred Shingon Buddhist mountain and its mossy monk cemetery where you can overnight at shukubo (temple inns); and the 8-mile long Mount Yoshino Sakura Trail, home to 30,000 cherry trees planted by monks 1,300 years ago and blooming at different spring intervals. Most mystical of them all is the sacred 436-foot Nachi Waterfall, Japan’s longest, surrounded by the primeval Nachi forest that’s home to another 48 waterfalls and sacred grounds for the Yamabushi practitioners, a form of ascetic mountain worship. The waterfall’s Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine and its picturesque, three-story Seigantoji temple reopened in December after a multi-month refurb with a fresh coat of vermillion paint—the first since its 1972 reconstruction. It shed its scaffolding and floats magically against the backdrop of the cascading white waterfalls.