jpjuggler

Has anyone done japan Shimanami Kaido route ? Any info or thoughts? Looking for a 7 day tour.
Thanks
JP

50PlusCycling

I’ve done it, and had an enjoyable time. It’s not a physically challenging ride, and is suitable even for kids. The scenery is wonderful, there are lots of places to eat and drink.

Some things to consider. First, Japan has seen a big increase in the number of tourists. This means that you need to book hotels well in advance, and book your rental bike in advance as well. As I like to bring my one bike, the latter is not an issue.

The ride is only 60km, but if you have 7 days in Japan, you can find lots of other places to ride. Hiroshima is not far away, and is worth a visit.

The best times to visit are spring and autumn, winters are cold, summers are hot and humid.

Yan 

I did it last month. It's quite short so you should plan some sightseeing and additional cycling to fill your week.

jpjuggler

thanks.. i was hoping that it could be part of a 7 day ride. but I didn't know it was so short. any other ideas for a 7 day , 30-50 mile per day route?

Yan 

We arrived at the islands from the Kyoto direction via the mainland. After the islands, we continued to Misaki and took the ferry to Saganoseki, then biked through Beppu toward Aso-Kuju National Park. I'm not necessarily recommending this route, It's just what we happened to do because we were cycling from one end of Japan to the other. We never had a bad time cycling in any part of Japan, so I suggest you pick your route based on sightseeing destinations (check some travel guidebooks), and then simply link it up with whatever roads are convenient. Try to avoid suburban sprawl, as Japanese cities are huge and these can be terrible to slog through.

These two mapping sites both show marked bike paths and were a great help to us in selecting roads:
https://brouter.de/brouter-web/
https://en.mapy.cz/

There are a ton of ferries that take you everywhere around the inland sea, so you're not limited to doing a continuous ride. You could do the islands and then ferry somewhere completely different. Japan is extremely mountainous, plan your distances accordingly.

jpjuggler

Thanks, very helpful!

hhk25

You would need to take a train and then ferry to get there but the "art island", Naoshima, is close and is an absolute blast. The entire island is filled with museums and art installations. Very pleasant place to ride around for a couple of days.