I know I'm gonna be using the SUBWAY/train majority of time but also wanted to explore on the bike when I'm near my hotel, do you guys recommend it? How easy is it navigating around? Is there dedicated parking spaces for bikes throughout the city and near train stations?
by Similar_Series6981
2 comments
Yes, I recommend it. But I would keep it to a full day where you just bike around and explore the city. Biking around gives you an amazing view of the city 🙂
But… parking is a pain in the ass in Tokyo. You need to find a dedicated parking space (Of which most have a max time for parking. Like 1 or 2 hours). Parking a bike outside a dedicated parking space, is basicly illegal. Your bike could be impounded & that’s a risk you don’t wanna take.
So if you just want to bike around and don’t expect to leave your bike parked for long periods of time, it’s a great thing to do for the day. But if you want to do explore shrines, parks, shops, etc. Then it’s better to just take the public transport in Tokyo (Which is amazing).
Navigating is quite easy. I used google maps (Both in Tokyo and Kyoto) and it got me everywhere I wanted to go on the day I rented the bike.
Personally, I think Tokyo is pretty recreational bike friendly. It is not commuting bike friendly. There are parking areas near most stations, but as a tourist it shouldn’t matter as I think the preferred option would be using a bike share system like Docomo Cycle.