Shimanami Kaido tour SEP 2022 advice

10 comments

1. It is entirely doable to stay in okayama, take the first train over to imabari, pick up a bike, bike to onomichi, drop off your bike, and get back to okayama before heading to another destination.
   Source: I have done it.

   You can check your luggage at most hotels while you go biking with no problems.

2. When I did it we started from Onomichi mid-morning and reached Imabari by sunset, dropping the rental bicycles off there. We then took the train over to Takamatsu from Imabari since it’s a nice city to spend a day or so in. As well as the slightly late start, we were both average cyclists at best, and stopped to take pictures and eat etc., and we still comfortably made it in one day of fairly relaxed cycling. It doesn’t require ‘all out cycling’ at all. It’s 90% flat-ish, with 5% up the (sometimes steep) on-ramps to each bridge, and 5% down the off-ramps for each bridge.

   From memory you can rent fancy road bikes from the Giant store in Onomichi, but we were cheap and rented whatever crossbikes they had at the city rental place in Onomichi.

   I definitely recommend overall, the views are cool and it’s a nice experience.

3. You can rent an e-bike but you have to return them to the same place within 6 hours (if I remember correctly), because they claim this is how long the battery lasts, although it works even without the battery too. This might limit how far or how long you want to cycle.

   One day to Imabari and then taking the ferry back is completely doable if you are reasonably fit. Just check the timetable and plan for it so you don’t miss the last ferry.

   But I do recommend doing 2 days to really enjoy the area & maybe do explore some of the side routes to check out different parts of the islands. You can forward the suitcase to your next hotel or ask your hotel to keep it if you are coming back to the same area. Any hotel can organize forwarding service for you.

4. With regard to staying in Fukuyama versus Onomichi: Onomichi is much more of a tourist destination with Temple Walk and waterfront, while Fukuyama is a large, industrial provincial town.

   It’s possible to rent e-bikes in Giant stores both in Onomichi and Imabari. And with an e-bike and experienced rider – you can easily traverse Shimanami Kaido in a single day. Thus said, it’s worth noting that typical September high for Seto Inland Sea is just under 30°C with very high humidity.

   As far as coming back is concerned: one option is to take a bus to Onomichi, another is to move on to Yawatahama and take an overnight ferry to Oita/Beppu (and then morning train to Hakata), another is to spend the night in Matsuyama and take a ferry to Hiroshima (which is much nicer city than Fukuoka).

   With regard to luggage: you can always forward luggage to your next destination (Yamato Transport is your friend).

5. I would absolutely stay in Onomichi, that is a lovely city and I think it is worth allowing a day to visit. I only went to the castle in Fukuyama as I was pretty tired of walking a lot during the previous week, but not sure what else I would have done.

   For bike, if you are used to cycling and raced bikes, than I would rather check to rend a road bike from Giant. There should be no problem doing it in a single day.

   For the return, as far as I understand, to return to Onomichi by ferry you would need to take several ferries and it seems to be the most complicated plan. I think it is just a better idea to take the bus back to Onomichi or take the train from there. To exit Shikoku by train your only option is to go to Okayama, otherwise there is several option to get out by ferry, like Yawatahama to Beppu, Matsuyama to Hiroshima, Takamatsu to Naoshima to Tamano, Tokushima to Wakayama.

   For luggage, you can either return to your starting point and stay in the same hotel or just forward your luggage to the next hotel. Just note that it takes a day, so you should bring a change of cloth with you for the day after the cycling.

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   Side note, I guess your plan would be to fly in Tokyo and out or Osaka, but unless there is a direct flight from your local airport to Osaka, you could also consider returning from Fukuoka, this way you do not have to return to Osaka from Fukuoka.

6. I just want to add another question because I was talking about this with a friend just the other day.

   Not sure what the speed limits are but considering it’s a highway if you rented a scooter could you actually drive it across?

   As far as I know there are bike lanes and then highway, but my friend was wondering this because the scooter would be too fast for the bike lanes and too slow for the highway.

7. The route is generally pretty chill, fairly flat for the most part. However there are a couple places with a bit of a slope, but most notable are the run-ups to the bridges. Many of the bridges have steep grades for like a kilometer or two on both sides. Fun to go down once you get over the bridge, but the way up can be pretty brutal, especially if it is a hot day.

   If you brought an ebike to handle the slopes, the whole trip would be pretty leisurely. Otherwise it is an amazing bike ride punctuated by a handful of cardio sessions.

   One way or the other, definitely fit it into your trip. It is hands down the best bike ride I have been on.

8. I stayed in onomichi, started biking around 1pm and got to imabari by 8pm i believe, taking my sweet ass time sightseeing and taking part in those drunken shrine activities. and i did it on the fixed gear bicycle i brought myself. I am not really a big cyclist either, wasnt im great shape. just be aware of the time of daylight because some of the route is not very illuminated.

9. Unless you’re a frequent, skilled cyclist or just in shape in genera, I highly recommend not trying to rush your way through cycling this trail.

   What the other people are conveniently leaving out is the fact that you’ll get to stop for nothing other than bathroom/snack breaks. Why rush through everything to see nothing?

10. I did it in a day, during this time of year in 2019. There’s a rental service run by I think it’s the rotary charity and it was reasonably priced. There are a few dud bikes but we waited for a truck load of bikes to return from imabari for a fresh new bike. If you decide to leave your bike at the terminus in imabari you will forfeit your deposit. It was money well spent though.

    I was concerned about it taking a long time (it took my friends 10 hours when they went) but they are unfit. We ended up finishing in 5.5 hours but we realised by the end of it we could have taken it a tiny bit slower. Some of the hills that lead up to the bridges are killer.

    There were some stops and food markets along the way. It was nice to stop for fresh Mandarins.

    Getting there, we stayed in Okayama the night before and took the local train to Onomichi early in the morning. We did this because there’s a direct train from Imabari to Okayama. So we didn’t have to worry too much about getting home and our bags stayed in one spot.

    Don’t ask my partner but I think it was a highlight of our trip. So beautiful! It’s crazy to see how visibly volatile the tidal currents are between the Japanese mainland and Shikoku