Overview
Make your way from Osaka, through Ikuchi and Yusuhara to Kochi, then finish up your cycling adventure in historic Kyoto. Since the price of your tour goes towards raising money for the Amy Gillett Foundation, we have the opportunity to raise $34,000 without you needing to fundraise!
Exploring Japan is already an unforgettable experience, but traveling with a conscience and supporting an initiative to improve safety for cyclists adds a whole ‘nother level of fulfillment to your tour.
This tour departs in April, during the beautiful springtime in Japan. The cold weather has passed but the heat of the summer has yet to set in. This leaves you with clear skies and blossoming natural beauty, providing fantastic conditions for a two-wheeled adventure through the country.
Discover the rich culture and history of Japan on an adventure that spans from Osaka through Kochi to Kyoto and enjoy some great cycling along the way.
Highlights
Ride the picturesque Shimanami Kaido built expressly for cyclists as you make your way to Ikuchi Island!
Stay in traditional Japanese inns complete with onsen hot springs to soak your aching muscles.
Give Washi paper making a try in the charming town of Yusuhara.
Enjoy a breathtaking ride into the Iya Valley through a small tea plantation, past thick forests and clear streams to visit a Kazurabashi Bridge.
Day to Day
Meet at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel at Shin Osaka Station at 4pm for a tour briefing by the Group Leader. A Q&A Session will follow, then drinks and dinner. Shin Osaka Station is the Shinkansen or Bullet Train Station, so you can easily travel here from any major city in Japan including Tokyo and Kyoto. The nearest International Airport is Osaka-Kansai (KIX).
An early start is required today with a 6:30am breakfast. We then join the rush hour hoards and squeeze our way onto a Shinkansen heading south to Okayama and then onto the smaller city of Onomichi. Here we find the bikes sitting on a pier overlooking the bay. After a bike fitting, we pile onto a ferry and so starts the ride.
We’ll be out on the route by late morning and enjoying the panoramic views from the bridges, out over the Seto Inland Sea and the islands scattered as far as the eye can see. This is the Shimanami Kaido and you’ll be on it for two days. The Shimanami started welcoming cyclists with purpose built cycleways over the bridges in 1999 and whilst the direct route is only 70km long, the real fun is in detouring off that path and exploring the islands over which the Shimanami hops.
Today we do just that, riding along the waterline, over the hills and through the sleepy towns that sit on the islands. Our home for the evening is the small town on Ikuchi Island where a traditional Japanese Inn awaits. That’s right, futons for all and a delicious, multi-course Japanese dinner. The communal hot bath or “onsen” also awaits to help you soak away the aches and pains of your travels that brought you here.
You might have been slightly weary from your travels yesterday, but with a good night sleep in Ikuchi, you can start out fresh today and really take in the scenery and the experience. We start out by riding up over the middle of the island to find the first span bridge. From there, we have five bridges to cross today and lots of great riding on quiet backroads and cycleways. Lunch is a bowl of Udon and as we coast into the minor city of Imabari, we can stop in at the visitor’s center, arguably located in the best viewpoint of the whole Shimanami Kaido. We stay in a business style hotel this evening with western style mattresses. A great BBQ restaurant serves our dinner.
Today you wake up on Shikoku, the fourth largest island in Japan.
One of the great things about Japan is that the trains run on time and they run well. They are fast and efficient and comfortable and provide a much better way to cover distance than in the van. So we do just that. We take the express train out along the coast and inland slightly to where the crew have trucked the bikes. This helps to keep the day achievable and enjoyable and avoids almost all the traffic.
The riding starts out fairly tame, but we do have to gain some elevation and for the long route riders, that starts around 35km with a sustained climb. The scenery today is lush and green as you ride along fast flowing rivers and through tight gullys. There is some descending to do to reach the tiny town of Yusuhara and all of the riding is on roads that are in excellent condition with hardly a car in sight.
This small town is a great place to spend a night, with a workshop activity tomorrow. A recently built, boutique hotel is our accommodation with western style mattresses and ensuite bathrooms.
Yusuhara is a tiny village. It is in a nice location on a small river with hills all around. It sees very few tourists (pretty much only Grasshopper groups). There is a well stocked gourmet store on the ground floor of the hotel and an even better stocked convenience store over the road with ready made meals like sushi rolls and noodles. There is also a coffee shop down the road where the proprietor takes his coffee very seriously. Quite a ritual to behold.
Then there is the main reason for spending a morning here, Rogier. Dutchman, Rogier has been in Japan for decades and has become the master of Washi Paper, an ancient art, producing incredibly durable paper from a plant grown in this area. He and his family host morning workshops on request and Grasshopper have been doing these since we started operating tours in Japan. The riders get to make the paper themselves and then craft it into an item to take home with them. This will conclude in the late morning. We will have lunch in town, then have an afternoon ride to our next location.
But for a short section on a main road, this ride is almost entirely on tertiary roads. In fact, if you told locals in Yusuhara the route you planned to take, they may tell you that it is not possible, that it is not a good road. But actually it is possible and it’s a great road because everyone thinks that you cannot use it.
This evening we stay in a traditional Japanese Inn, the style of which is known as a Ryokan. The property overlooks the Pacific and an Onsen. Dinner is a traditional style meal.
We start out by riding through a built up area and through a busy town. Then we are back on the open road and after crossing a long span bridge, we ride a terrific section of undulating coastal road along a peninsula, where we wind around headlands and have a great view out over the ocean.
The last part of the ride takes us up along the river and into Kochi, the largest city on the southern side of Shikoku. Here we will stay for two nights and so you can let your hair down at the night market where we dine on a variety of dishes and enjoy cheap drinks and fun with the locals.
The hotel here is a business style property with western mattresses.
There are no planned activities today. It is a day for everyone to rest the legs and have an opportunity to explore this small city on their own.
Kochi is an interesting city, with a tram line running down the main street and a few small parks scattered around it. There is a castle as there are in many cities and there is a night market with lots of food and drink options and it often draws quite a crowd.
After a day of rest, we start out on fresh legs. For the long ride option group, you will ride out of the city on the network of cycleways that follow the canals and then the river. As we get into the hills, the two groups converge, with the short ride group alighting the train here.
The rest of the riding for the day is just stunning as we come into an area with narrow valleys closed in by cedar forests and rapid streams and rivers. We pass a small tea plantation and have a great winding descent down into Iya Valley where we visit one of the three remaining Kazurabashi Bridges. These bridges are made from forest vines and around a dozen of them actually used to exist in this area.
The accommodation for the evening is another traditional inn with futons and with a natural hot spring Onsen. The real deal! This is a soak worth enjoying.
After a slow, traditional breakfast at the Inn, we hit the bikes for our last Shikoku ride. The scenery is more of that stunning mountain, forest scenery from yesterday as we follow the valley out to the train line. Here we rack the bikes onto the van and board an express train and then a Shinkansen to Kyoto, the cultural heart of Japan
Here we stay in a hotel that sits in a quiet, residential area, by a canal with weeping willows along it. The hotel is a cross between a Ryokan and a hotel with mattresses and a certain aesthetic reminiscent of the Ryokan. We are within walking distance of the Kyoto Station area, the Gion District and a number of shrines and museums.
There is no better way to top off a Japan trip than an exploration of Kyoto by bike. Starting out through the bustling Kyoto Station area, we track over to the western side of the city where we ride a cycleway along the river leading us all the way up to Arashiyama, the area known for its Bamboo Groves. A wander through these groves is a nice break from the bike, then we pedal onto the Kinkakuji Golden Pavillion, a structure that you will almost certainly recognize from iconic images of Kyoto. After lunch at a Sushi Train restaurant, we continue on to the Imperial Palace, then finish up our ride at a craft beer bar nearby the hotel.
Our final dinner is had in a little known, but highly regarded restaurant serving contemporary Japanese cuisine.
A Japanese breakfast is the norm at Takasegawa Bettei, but they can also serve a western option. Breakfast is actually served in the rooms.
A bike packup session will take place this morning where you can retrieve any gear that you added to your bike. Then your support crew will bid you farewell after assisting you with your onward travel plans.
WHAT MAKES US STAND OUT
GRASSHOPPER STYLE
With our experience crafting cycling tours in Asia, we have our itineraries down to a science. This means you can expect fulfilling cycling, gorgeous views, comfortable accommodations, delicious local food, and plenty of opportunities to immerse yourself in Japanese culture along your tour. Visit small towns off the beaten tourist track, savor tasty local treats, and choose between a long ride and short ride option depending on how you’re feeling. The greatest aspect of this tour, however, is that by signing up you are donating some of the tour fee to the Amy Gillett Foundation that strives to make cycling safer for riders.
