12 day solo bike tour itinerary 14th to 25th Oct – Tokyo → Kyoto via Tokaido, Shimanami Kaido → Shikoku → Osaka

Keen to hear any criticisms and open to any suggestions. Also putting this down as a bit of a sanity-check for myself as well as I finalise my plans. This will be my 5th or 6th time in Japan. I’m a fairly seasoned cyclist, I’ve participated in a number of one-day alpine audax and gran fondo events in Victoria, Australia but this will be my first-time bike touring. Renting a road bike from roadbikerentaljapan.com with a rack and two panniers and bringing a 25L backpack.

I expect I’ll be able to do most of the bike segments slightly faster than the estimates, as they’re mostly taken from Google Maps which is quite conservative. Exception is Nagoya to Kyoto and Shimanami Kaido/Shikoku, where GMaps cycling navigation doesn’t work so I gave my own estimate.

With a few exceptions, most of the food places are me looking on Tabelog (JP Yelp/Zomato) and picking a place with the highest score within my distance/budget. Happy to take recommendations!

| 14 Fri | |
|———— |————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- |
| 0600 | Flight lands HND |
| ~2h or so? | Customs, catch bus to hotel in Nihonbashi and drop off luggage. |
| 0800 | Hit up Thermae Yu Onsen in Shinjuku. I used to visit Oedo Onsen Monogatari in Odaiba every time I was in Tokyo, but that place is no more sadly. |
| 1000 | Stroll around Shinjuku Gyoen maybe? Depends how I feel, 2400yen fee for Thermae Yu means I feel like I want to make it worth my while there, even though Shinjuku Gyoen is one of my favourite places in Tokyo to visit. |
| 1200 | Lunch at Tomato, curry place in Suginami. Seriously, best curry in Tokyo, place is cute and super quaint, run by an elderly couple. |
| 1430 | Afternoon tea at Amamidokoro Hatsune for anmitsu, as seen in Netflix show Kantaro. Around the corner from my hotel. |
| 1530 | Check into hotel. Ask concierge to help make a couple of restaurant bookings and bus pick up on the 23 Sun. |
| 1600 | Set up bike, test ride to Odaiba to visit Gundam Statue |
| 1730 | Head to Tokyo Station to reserve Shinkansen ticket on 20 Thu for Kyoto to Shin-Onomichi. |
| 1800 | Grab conveyer sushi dinner at Nemuro Hanamaru in Ginza |
| 1900 | Errands and stock up on supplies for trip |
| | |
| 15 Sat | |
| 0600 | Hotel breakfast |
| 0630 | Ride to Enoshima. 60 km/210 m elev, ETA 4h. |
| 1100 | Lunch – Enoshima-tei (Enoshima don and shirasu don) |
| 1200 | Ride to Hakone. 54 km/900 m elev, ETA 4.5h. |
| 1700 | Check into ryokan. |
| 1800 | Ryokan dinner. |
| | |
| 16 Sun | |
| 0800 | Ryokan breakfast. |
| 0900 | Ride around east side of Lake Ashi, checking out Hakone-en Fuji Ashinoko Panorama Park and the Pirate Ship. Circle back to south side of lake. 32km/215m elev, ETA 2h. |
| 1100 | Ride to Fuji, 48 km/145 km elev (but mostly downhill), ETA 3h |
| 1400 | Lunch – Flowers (Omurice) |
| 1500 | Ride to Shizuoka, 41 km/180 m elev, ETA 3h |
| 1700 | Stop along the way at Shimizu/Suruga Bay to see Mt Fuji across the bay. |
| 1830 | Check into hotel |
| 1900 | Dinner – Yaizuko Minami (Izakaya/Kaisen Don) |
| | |
| 17 Mon | Haven’t got too much planned for today aside from food places, will go by feel and explore. |
| 0700 | Hotel breakfast. |
| 0730 | Ride to Hamamatsu, 81 km/350 m elev, GMaps ETA 5.5h, my ETA 4.5h. |
| 1200 | Lunch – Unagi Ryouri Atsumi, Hamamatsu famous for unagi. |
| 1500 | Check into hotel |
| 1800 | Dinner – Tonbei (Tonkatsu) |
| | |
| 18 Tue | |
| 0630 | Hotel breakfast, this place has unagi rice! |
| 0700 | Ride to Toyohashi, 40 km/80 m elev, ETA 2.5h |
| 0930 | Second breakfast |
| 1100 | Ride to Higashi Okazaki, 34 km/151 m, ETA 2h |
| 1200 | Lunch – ginkai-ramen |
| 1300 | Ride to Nagoya, 41 km/53 m, ETA 3h |
| 1600 | Check into hotel |
| 1730 | Dinner – Gensui (Soba) |
| 1900 | Stroll around town, try to find some street food? |
| 2100 | Supper – Misen (Ramen), “Taiwan Ramen” is something created locally from Nagoya, nothing to actually do with Taiwan. |
| | |
| 19 Wed | |
| 0630 | Hotel breakfast, this place has Nagoya meshi local specialties on rotation |
| 0700 | Ride to Tsuchiyama, 82 km/413 m elev, ETA 4.5h |
| 1130 | Lunch – Road station Aino Tsuchiyama |
| 1200 | Tokaido Tenmakan Museum, makes sense to stop at a Tokaido museum while riding along the Tokaido. |
| 1300 | Ride to Kyoto, 54 km/146 m elev, ETA 2h45m. Mostly downhill with a couple of small climbs. |
| 1545 | Reach Sanjo Bridge, the end of the Tokaido! |
| 1630 | Check into hotel |
| 1715 | Catch sunset from Kodai-ji |
| 1800 | Chill around the Kamo riverbanks |
| 1945 | Dinner – Torisaki (Yakitori) |
| | |
| 20 Thu | |
| 0500 | Jog Fushimi Inari/Senbon Torii. Took an hour when I did it 3 years ago, but might be a bit ambitious this year due to tight schedule this morning. 15m by bike from hotel. |
| 0630 | Hotel breakfast, might skip and grab a bento from Kyoto station instead due to tight timing. |
| 0655 | Catch Shinkansen to Shin-Onomichi, 1h45m train ride. |
| 0900 | This is the day! Catch ferry and ride Shimanami Kaido to Imabari, 85 km/980 m elev. This includes climbing Mt Kiro to hit up the observatory on Oushima, the last island before Shikoku. If I cut it out, it will save 300m climb and a 6km detour. ETA 6h? |
| 1700 | Check into AirBnB in Saijo |
| | Dinner somewhere nearby |
| | |
| 21 Fri | |
| 0800 | Ride to Miyoshi, 88 km/660 m elevation, ETA 4.5h |
| 1300 | Drop off luggage at AirBnB, continue riding to Oboke Gorge, looping back to AirBnB. 46 km/660 m elev, 2.5h ETA moving time. |
| 1330 | Lunch – Obokekyo Mannaka Restaurant |
| 1430 | River Cruise |
| 1600 | Iya Valley Vine Bridge |
| 1730 | Check into AirBnB |
| | Dinner somewhere nearby |
| | |
| 22 Sat | |
| 0800 | Ride to Naruto. 102 km/150 m elev, mostly downhill. ETA 5h. |
| | Lunch somewhere along the way |
| 1300 | Drop off luggage at hotel. Continue on to Naruto Park to look over the Strait. 26 km/260 m elev, 2h ETA. |
| 1500 | Check into hotel |
| 1720 | Catch sunset from Hide Shrine |
| | Dinner somewhere nearby |
| 1930 | Take advantage of hotel’s public bath/sauna |
| | |
| 23 Sun | |
| 0939 | Catch bus from Naruto across to Awaji. 15m bus ride. |
| 1000 | Ride north to Iwaya Port, 62 km/400 m elev, ETA 3.5h |
| 1330 | Lunch – Biker’s Cafe Circolo |
| 1430 | Ride the “Izanagi Course” loop, 56 km/255 m elev, 3h ETA — https://www.awajishima-kanko.jp/cycling/en/modelcourse_3.html |
| 1730 | Catch ferry to Akashi from Iwaya Port, 20m ferry ride. |
| 1800 | Check into hotel |
| | Dinner somewhere nearby |
| | |
| 24 Mon | |
| 0613 | Catch sunrise over the strait/Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge |
| 0630 | Hotel breakfast |
| 0900 | Ride to Kobe, 27 km /454m elev, ETA 2h. |
| 1000 | Stop by Kobe Sports Park, view over Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge from Cosmos Hill, full of flowering cosmos flowers. |
| 1200 | Lunch, Aburiniku Koubou Wakkoku (Kobe Beef Yakiniku) |
| 1300 | Ride to Osaka, 35 km/42 m elev, ETA 2h. |
| 1530 | Return bike to Road Bike Rental Japan |
| 1600 | Walk around Tenjimbashi-suji |
| 1900 | Dinner – Okonomiyaki Chitose |
| 2100 | Check into Spa World |
| | |
| 25 Tue | |
| 0600 | Catch sunrise over Ebisu Bridge in Dotonbori |
| | Breakfast somewhere nearby |
| 0800 | Train ride out to Minoh, 1h train ride. |
| 0900 | Wander around Minoh Park/Falls |
| | Lunch somewhere nearby |
| 1230 | Train ride back to Osaka |
| 1400 | Shopping for gifts/souvenirs |
| 1800 | Dinner – Yakiniku Masachan |
| 2115 | Train to airport, 45m train ride. |
| 2230 | Check into KIX airport |
| 2325 | Flight out KIX |