Seven Bridges, Six Islands: Two Days on the Shimanami Kaido

I have cycled exactly one bike tour in my life, and I chose the most photographed route in Japan to break the streak. The Shimanami Kaido — 70 kilometers of dedicated cycleway across six islands and seven bridges between Onomichi and Imabari — is friendly enough for a first-timer, and I want to be honest about what that actually means: some hills, some wind, and one of the best two days I have spent in Japan.

Rent the E-Bike and Trust the Blue Line

The route is absurdly easy to navigate. A solid blue line painted on the road runs the entire 70 kilometers, and every junction has a sign with your distance to Imabari. I rented an e-bike from the shop near Onomichi Station — worth the extra few thousand yen, because the bridges do not care that you ate a heavy breakfast. Cyclists pay a small toll at each bridge, roughly ¥50–200 per crossing, at a machine beside the cycleway; the total for the whole route comes to less than the price of a bowl of ramen.

Day one took me across Mukaishima and Innoshima to Setoda on Ikuchijima, about 40 kilometers with stops. The bridges are the headline act: long, wind-buffeted spans where the cars rumble below you and the islands scroll past like a slow film.

Lemon Farms and the Retro Streets of Setoda

Omishima is Japan's lemon country, and the island's hillsides are stitched with terraced orchards that smell faintly of citrus even from the road. I stopped at a farm stand for lemon soda and stood looking at the sea between the trees — the moment I had crossed the country for. Further on, the small town of Setoda packs in more charm than its size deserves: a retro shopping street with shuttered wooden shops, and Kosan-ji Temple's Hill of Hope, a marble terrace lined with statues that faces the sunset.

Lemon trees in terraced orchards on Omishima Island overlooking the Seto Inland Sea — Omishima's lemon terraces.

Small Japanese port town street in Setoda with old shops and bicycles parked outside — Setoda's main street, quiet by late afternoon.

I stayed the night in a converted merchant house, and the owner marked my route on a paper map with two pieces of advice: take the ¥100 ferry that skips a hilly stretch, and save energy for the Tatara Bridge, whose 1,480-meter span makes it one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world.

The Ferry Shortcut and the Final Bridges

Day two I took her advice. A five-minute ferry across the strait replaced an hour of climbing, and I coasted into Ōshima on a flat sea road lined with shaved-ice stands. The last bridge — the Kurushima-Kaikyō, which is actually three linked spans — carries you to Imabari with a view over dozens of islands that turns pink by sunset.

Sunset over the Seto Inland Sea seen from the cycling route with islands in silhouette — The Seto Inland Sea at golden hour, from the approach to Imabari.

What I'd Do Differently

Book the Setoda guesthouse in advance — it fills up in summer. Ship your luggage ahead instead of wearing it, use the ferry shortcuts liberally, and give yourself two days instead of one. Two days, six islands, seven bridges, and one very tired left knee later, I am already planning the return trip: same route, no deadline, extra lemon soda.