Shimanami Kaido Cycling Route

I'm about to embark on an organised TripaDeal trip to Japan with 5 other people. During the trip we have a free day in Fukuyama and we would like to hire bikes at Onomichi and ride part of the Shimanami Kaido cycling route. As we will be staying in Fukuyama how easy is it to get from there to the bike hire shops in Onomichi and how easy is it to get from Imabari back to Fukuyama? Two of us would probably be able to cycle the entire route the rest only part of it. I’m trying to decide whether to cycle push bikes part of the way, leave the bikes at a terminal and get a bus to Imarabi and return by bus to Fukuyama or hire e-bikes, cycle part of the way and return to Onomichi. Are tandem bikes a viable option? What would you recommend? Cheers, Bill

From Fukuyama to Onomichi is pretty close, I don't know about the bike shops, but I remember back in 2016 when I went if you wanted regular bike just in front of Onomichi station you could take it, I submitted a form prior going there and booked my bike.

As fort what to do, I'd do the whole route and come back by bus or train, I did it in 1 day and half at slow pace, I overnight in Setoda and once I was in Imabari I took a train back to Osaka via Okayama, but I would not do half route and come back especially if you go from Onomichi side, I did like a lot the last part of the route arriving Imabari specially the part where there's a downhill round bridge.

Tandem, I don't see it, there are some uphills when arriving the bridge so you might have to walk with the bike up.

Would definitely reserve bicycle before you go and ask how the bike can be returned. That will determine until where you can cycle. Shimanami Kaido has become very popular so while in 2016 it was still possible to pick up a bike in the day I think now it would be much safer to reserve.

Thanks for that. We originally planned to do it in 2020 over two days, riding all the way to Imabari but as we only have one day to do the 70km we’ll only ride half the distance and return by ferry. If I were doing it on my own I’d definitely ride all the way to Imabari but 70km in a day is too far for most of our group. Appreciate your feedback.

Doing the halfway+ferry route is how I did it, it's still amazing and more comfortable than trying to squeeze too much in for the group.

Thank you everyone for your useful feedback. I definitely plan to reserve 6 e-bikes for our ride on May 17.