I am currently planning my itinerary for a trip to southwestern Japan, and I am having trouble with one particular part of the journey. I will be travelling from Tokyo towards this region, and I have decided to include the Shimanami Kaido in my plans, splitting it into two days. After completing the route, I would like to visit Okunoshima Island and then continue on to Hiroshima.
I am wondering if it is feasible to travel to Okunoshima Island on the same day that I complete the second part of the cycle. Is it easy to get to the island from Imabari? Alternatively, would it be better for me to stay overnight in Onomichi or another interesting city near Okunoshima after finishing the cycle, and then visit Bunny Island the next day before heading to Hiroshima? I have one extra day within my JR Pass budget, so I could afford to add another night somewhere, but I don’t really want to stay in Hiroshima for more than one day and I don’t want to backtrack.
If someone who has completed a similar route could provide me with some feedback, I would greatly appreciate it.
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Day# – **Shimanami Kaido Day 1**
Travel from Okayama to Onomichi
\-Start at Onomichi
\-Rent a bike \[Reserve in advance\]
\-Take a ferry to Mukaishima
1. Mukaishima (1st Island)
\-Ushio Chocolat (Artisan chocolates – Open Thu – Mon 9 am-5 pm)
\-Iwashijima Itsukushima Shrine
1. Innoshima (2nd Island)
\-Mt. Shirataki Buddha Statues Trail
\- Innoshima Amenity Park – Dinosaur statue
1. Ikuchijima (3rd Island)
\-Kosanji Temple (last admission 4.30 pm)
\-The Hill of Hope
Overnight stay at Ikuchijima
Local onsen visit
Day#- **Shimanami Kaido Day 2**
Resume early morning from Ikuchijima
1. Ohmishima (4th Island)
\-Cyclist Sanctuary (Viewpoint)
\-Oyamazumi Shrine (Closes 5 pm)
1. Hakatajima (5th Island)
\-Marine Oasis Hakata
1. Ohshima (6th Island)
\-Kirosan Observatory Park View Point
Cross the last bridge to Imabari
Return bus to Onomichi (1,5h)
Travel to Bunny island (If too late, or not enough time, move the Bunny Island to the next morning)
Travel to Hiroshima
\-Check-in hotel, pick up luggage
Day#- **Hiroshima**
Ferry to Miyajima
\-Peace Park
\-Atomic Dome
\-Hiroshima Castle
5 comments
OK, your plan contains multiple silly or semi-silly ideas:
* Onomichi is generally a very nice town with very picturesque Temple Walk and generally pleasant (and sort of cult) waterfront, so general recommendation is to spend an afternoon (and night)
* It’s worth noting that unless you are skipping breakfast, you won’t get to Okunoshima until after 4pm – you will spend 4&12;-5 hours in transit if you go to Hiroshima
* if you visit Okunoshima on the following day, then even if you take the earliest possible ferry – you won’t get to Miyajima before noon – meaning you will have to skip most of your itinerary
I recommend taking the Yosan Line limited express from Okayama to Imabari at 07:22 (takes 2H) and starting from Imabari instead. (Or take it the night before and stay in Imabari if you didn’t book accommodations yet.)
This will make it a lot easier to travel to Okunoshima/Hiroshima after biking. Still, if you want to do an onsen visit in the morning and bike up Mount Shirataki (which has beautiful views), I highly doubt you would have time for an afternoon visit to Okunoshima. Not to mention the first day you may not make it to Kosanji in time.
If possible, I’d add in an extra day for it. On day one do Kirosan and Oyamazumi (both quite the detour), day two onsen, Kosanji and Mt. Shirataki, and day three Onomichi town and Okunoshima before traveling to Hiroshima.
An alternative is to visit Okunoshima with the ferry from Omishima, taking into account you may need to skip some of your planned stops if you want to do the full 76km in two days.
For Okunoshima, you can consider taking the last ferry there, and then spending the night at the hotel there, going to Hiroshima the next day. I did something similar some years ago. But I’d recommend having an extra night in the area. Trying to pack Miyajima, Peace Park, Dome and Castle is pretty whistlestop I think.
Just in case you didn’t know, the Okunoshima ferry times are available:
[http://rabbit-island.info/en/](http://rabbit-island.info/en/)
The single hotel on the island is this one: [https://www.qkamura.or.jp/en/ohkuno/](https://www.qkamura.or.jp/en/ohkuno/)
The ferry that leaves from near Tadano-Umi station takes only about 15 minutes and runs every hour from memory. Definitely do-able in your time frame from the Hiroshima side, way more difficult from the Ehime side. The bunnies are the least interesting part of Okunojima, the dark past is pretty well documented and well worth your time to investigate.
We did this bike ride in November over two days and it was great. Stayed at the I-link bike hostel on omishima after the first day of riding. Then the next (second) morning, we rode to okunoshima (bunny) island ferry, took the ferry, spent a few hours pedaling around the island and petting bunnies, then took the ferry back to omishima to continue our riding to imabari. Even with the stop at bunny island, we still made it to imabari before it got dark, returned our bikes and took the train to matsuyama.
Hope this helps!