I recently got back from a 3 week trip in Japan and the Shimanami Kaido cycle route was easily my favourite part. I’m writing up a brief overview for anyone who’s also interested in including it as part of their trip. If you’re not familiar with the route, it’s ranked as one of the top 7 best cycle routes in the world with many beautiful views and purpose built cycle paths.
We were leaving Hiroshima on a Monday morning and due to arrive in Tokyo that evening, and looking at train times saw that if we left Hiroshima at 6am we could get to Onomichi (where the route typically starts) by 7:30am and as long as we finished the route in Imabari (where it ends) by around 6pm, we could get on a bus at 6:20pm which would bring us back to Fukuyama in time for the last bullet train to Tokyo.
The whole route is \~70km, which is achievable in a day for most cyclists, but neither me nor my gf are cyclists and we wanted to just enjoy the route rather than treat it as a challenge so when we got to the bike hire place we opted for the e-bikes, which were 6000jpy each for the day (inc helmet).
I read different things about how early you need to arrive at the bike hire place to secure a bike (with some saying 4am to guarantee something) as they have 60 bikes available each day for those without reservations (which we didn’t have). It opens at 7am and when we got there at 7:30am, there were only 2 other customers there and loads of bikes to choose from. This was a Monday and a non-holiday so it may vary. Reserving in advance would definitely be my suggestion to avoid disappointment though.
After getting the bikes, you hop on a ferry that takes 5 minutes to get to the first island where the trail begins. As an estimate, I would say 30% of the trail is on bike only paths, 50% on shared pavements (bike + pedestrians) and 20% on the road. The road parts generally had minimal traffic though.
The entire route is easy to follow with blue marks and arrows showing the way.
The e-bikes were great and meant we could stop numerous time to enjoy views, take pictures and get food. My favourite rest stop was just before you start the climb to the Ikuchi Bridge (to the third island) – we’d been cycling past orange trees for a while and stumbled across a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it orange farm serving up fresh orange juice. It’s a small farm, and the owner gives you a basket of freshly picked oranges to choose from, a knife to cut them and a hand press to crush them into juice. They then set up some chairs for you overlooking the next bridge. The address is 竹長区, Innoshimatakumacho, Onomichi (I believe usually it’s only open on weekends though).
I would strongly recommend getting some padded shorts for the ride, as after a few hours we were taking regular breaks just for some relief from the saddle.
The Kirosan Observatory Park is at the peak of the last island and gives you the best views of the entire trail. This is off the main route so you’ll need to be aware of it or you’ll cycle straight past. It’s a 3.5km steep climb and I started at the bottom with 30% charge remaining and my bike died 500m from the top. My gfs bike was fine, but I’m much heavier which drained the battery faster. Something to be aware of for heavier riders as I then had to finish the last \~20km with no charge.
We ended up getting to Imbari station at 6pm (the return place is on the right of the station if you’re looking at the front of it), return took a minute and then we were on the last bus.
We both had backpacks with food/water and I don’t think this was necessary. There’s plenty of places and vending machines along the route to get what you need when you need it. We took 10 hours, but with many stops, you could do this <5 hours on a e-bike quite easily but it wouldn’t be as enjoyable. You could do the route in a day on a regular bike with a reasonable fitness level but again you’d be losing a lot of the enjoyment from stopping at various spots.
by I_Am_Kylo_Ren_AMA
16 comments
Thanks for taking the time to write this down!
Im planning to do this route in december, was fun to read!
Great write up. We did the same last year in November on standard cross bikes but over 2 days with night stay right in the middle at setoda. Was the highlight of our trip.
I’ll be driving this route in a month so this was pretty helpful for me too. Thanks for the write-up!
i did it last November and honestly it was soooo much fun. My bum was aching in the end but was totally worth it! It took me 8 hours in totally on normal bike and the last bridge was a bit of a struggle I’d be honest.
Was the highlight of our first visit to Japan! We took
more time and did it in 1 1/2 days, staying at a ryokan half-way. Glad you enjoyed it as well!
Whats an E-bike? Do you still have to pedal yourself?
Did you just leave you luggage in the train station? If you were to do it again, would you spend a night on one of the islands halfway through the ride?
This was the highlight of our trip too! Did it over a couple of days with a ryokan stay halfway on ÅŒmishima. 100% recommend
Need to fit this in one of these days!
Are the paths suitable for running? Would like to run it instead of cycling if possible
Was also a highlight for us last month! We did Onomichi to Imabari over 1.5 days on cyclocross rentals. We’d intended to get Giant road bikes but forgot to make reservations in advance (the city-run cyclocross and cruiser bikes have plenty available to just show up). We’d done it between Kyoto and Osaka stays and had our luggage forwarded to Osaka and just biked with a small daypack of essentials. Total mileage ~55 miles with ~2400 ft of gain including a misadventure attempting a lookout with much steeper incline then we were up for on the first island and successfully checking out a lookout on the 2nd island [Shiratakiyama](https://maps.app.goo.gl/gRJ2A56E9gpKwAeJ6?g_st=ic)
Highly recommend staying at WAKKA on Omishima island! The staff were so kind, and you can stay in some yurts and BBQ your own dinner outside with all fresh meats, produce and Hakata salts/seasonings from the islands. They also provide pajamas, coats, shoes, and toiletries so you really can travel light on the ride there! It was our favorite accommodation in our 2 weeks in Japan! We had to hurry out the second morning to try to finish before rain hit all afternoon, but they also are a tour guide company and can organize fishing, paddleboarding, ferry to an island of rabbits etc if you had more time.
We did 1/2 of it in 2019 but we had to stop because of a monsoon, we went back in march this year and we got the 78km done in just over 6:30 with stops for lunch and photos at a few spots. We were racing the rain once again. I ended up getting bad cramps in my thighs at about 63km which slowed me down heaps. But defo one of the best things we have done.
If you have partner hotels on each side you can use sagawa same day cycle transfer for luggage. The luggage was there before we got to our hote it cost 2200 yen per luggage.
I have done this at summer 2019. I do around in every island and took me 3 day. Start from imabari (rent bike), build camp(just air bed) park and beach. I didn’t go to hotel or ryokan cuz budget problem😅.
Great write up, thanks. Doing this in October with my family. Did you see any families/kids doing it? My eldest will do fine but my currently 7yo (8yo come October) I’m not sure if we’ll need a tandem bike or not…
I don’t think I’ve ever experienced something as amazing as the shimanami kaido route. It was so incredibly beautiful and serene. Although the temperature was killing it was the highlight of my entire trip!
Thanks for sharing! My husband and I are doing this in 3 weeks. We are also hoping for e-bikes, we’re staying the previous night in Onomichi so we’ll still show up early just in case it’s low inventory. Did you lose your 5000 yen deposit by returning it in Imabari?