The Shimanami Kaido: Island-Hopping by Bike from Imabari — 2 Days

Imabari Castle is one of the very few Japanese castles built right at the edge of the sea, designed in 1604 by Todo Takatora, the greatest castle engineer of his age, with a wide moat that fills directly with seawater and rises and falls with the tide. The present keep is a 1980 reconstruction, but the broad stone walls, the water and the corner turrets give a clear sense of a working sea-fortress, and grey mullet and other sea fish swim in the moat. It is a fitting first stop before a day on the water: this whole coast was a place where land power and sea power met. Climb the keep for the view over the harbour and the islands you are about to ride.

Keep about ¥530 (approx., 2026); roughly 9:00-17:00 (last entry 16:30), closed Dec 29-Jan 3. In central Imabari. Allow about 60 minutes.

Sunrise Itoyama, at the Imabari foot of the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge, is the main southern gateway of the Shimanami Kaido and the largest of the route's cycle-rental terminals, with a huge fleet of city bikes, cross bikes, e-bikes and tandems and a one-way system that lets you drop the bicycle at any of the terminals up the route. This is the place to pick up wheels and helmets, fit your panniers and study the elevation profile before the first climb up the long looping approach ramp to the bridge deck. Note that in 2026 only the rental operation is running: the on-site accommodation and restaurant are closed while the site is redeveloped, so stock up on water and snacks in Imabari first.

Rental from about ¥2,000/day plus a refundable deposit; bridge cycling tolls small (approx., 2026); terminal roughly 8:00-20:00. At the foot of the Kurushima bridge. Allow about 45 minutes to fit out.

The Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge is the showpiece of the whole road — not one bridge but three great suspension bridges strung end to end for about four kilometres across the Kurushima Strait, the longest series of suspension bridges in the world when it opened, and the cycling lane runs the entire span. Far below, the strait is one of the fastest and most dangerous tidal races in Japan, where whirlpools spin and ships thread a marked channel; from the deck you ride at the height of the gulls with the Inland Sea opening on both sides. The looping approach ramp keeps the gradient gentle. It is the single most exhilarating stretch of the Shimanami, and the moment the route earns its fame.

Cycling toll small or waived in promotions (approx., 2026); open continuously. Between Imabari and Oshima. Allow about 60 minutes to ride and stop for the view.

Oshima, the first island north of Imabari, is the place to stop for lunch after the long bridge, and the island eats the way these islands always have — from the sea. The strait below the bridge produces some of the finest sea bream and other fish in Japan, fattened in the racing tides, and the island's restaurants and roadside stands serve them as sashimi, as grilled fish and as the local 'kaizoku-meshi' or pirate's meal that nods to the Murakami sea-lords. There is citrus everywhere too, and salt made from the sea. A simple working lunch by the water, fuel for the afternoon's ride and museum.

A meal about ¥1,200-2,500 (approx., 2026); island restaurants generally 11:00-15:00. On Oshima near the Murakami museum. Allow about 60 minutes.

On the Miyakubo shore of Oshima stands the only museum in Japan devoted to the Murakami Kaizoku, the great medieval sea-lords — often called pirates, but in truth the masters of this strait, who guided, taxed and protected the ships that passed through the maze of islands and could field navies that decided the wars of the warlords. The museum lays out their flags, weapons, fast boats and the iron fans of command, with a hilltop view over the very waters they ruled. After riding across the tides yourself, it gives the human history of the sea you have just crossed — why these narrow channels mattered so much, and who once held the gate.

Admission about ¥310 (approx., 2026); roughly 9:00-17:00, closed Mondays. At Miyakubo on Oshima. Allow about 60 minutes.

WAKKA, near Inokuchi Port on Omishima, is the kind of place the Shimanami is built around — a cyclists' lodge and cafe on the shore with cottages, glamping domes and dorm beds, bike racks and repair stands at the door, and a terrace that looks straight out over the Inland Sea. It is not a luxury hotel, and Ehime's islands do not pretend to one; what it offers instead is exactly right for this route — a hot shower, a cold drink, a place to lock the bikes and a sunset over the water before an early start. Roll in at the end of the first day, hand over the wheels, and watch the lights of the bridges come on across the strait.

Dorm from about ¥4,000, cottages higher (approx., 2026); cafe and bike support on site. Near Inokuchi Port on Omishima. Check in and settle, about 30 minutes.

Oyamazumi Shrine on Omishima is the head shrine of a god of mountains and seas worshipped across Japan, set in a grove of camphor trees said to be a thousand years and more in age, with one giant tree at its heart held to be over two and a half millennia old. For centuries warriors who passed through the Inland Sea dedicated their armour and weapons here in thanks and prayer, and the result is astonishing: the shrine's treasure halls hold the single greatest collection of historic Japanese arms and armour in the country, a large share of all the nationally designated armour in Japan gathered in one place. It is a quiet, deep stop on a day of bridges — the spiritual centre of these islands and an arms museum without equal.

Grounds free; treasure hall and maritime museum combined about ¥1,000 (approx., 2026); halls roughly 9:00-16:00 (last entry 15:30). On Omishima. Allow about 75 minutes.

The Tatara Bridge leaps from Omishima to the next island north, and where the Kurushima bridges are suspension towers, the Tatara is a cable-stayed bridge — for a time the longest of its kind in the world — its single graceful fan of cables rising from each pylon. Cyclists stop at the foot on the Ehime side, in the riverside park, for the classic photograph and for a famous trick of the bridge: clap your hands beneath one of the tall pylons and the sound runs up the structure and echoes back in a strange ringing whistle. It is the gentler, more elegant counterpart to the morning's armour and the previous day's great triple span, and the marker of how far up the chain of islands you have come.

Free; viewpoint at Tatara Shimanami Park open continuously. On the Omishima (Ehime) side. Allow about 45 minutes including the ride out.

Before turning south for the long ride back, take lunch on Omishima — an island that, beyond its shrine, has quietly become one of the best-eating islands of the Inland Sea. Small producers here make sea salt, citrus and even island wine and beer, and the cafes around the port and the shrine town serve island vegetables, fresh-caught fish and citrus desserts. After a morning of armour and bridges it is a relaxed, sunlit-by-luxury island meal, the kind the Shimanami does best, and the place to fill up and refill your bottles before the bridges back toward Imabari and the towel country.

A meal about ¥1,200-2,500 (approx., 2026); island cafes generally 11:00-15:00. On Omishima near the port or shrine town. Allow about 60 minutes.

Imabari makes the finest towels in Japan — its soft, absorbent, long-staple cotton towels are a byword for quality across the country and increasingly abroad — and the Towel Museum in the Asakura district is the strange and charming monument to the craft. Part working factory with the looms running on the 'Cotton Road' gallery, part design museum, part vast shop, it is where the trip's making-of-things thread comes to rest: you can watch towels woven, see them turned into art, and buy the genuine Imabari article direct from the source. Back on the mainland near the end of the ride, it is the natural last stop before returning the bikes, and the place to carry a piece of Ehime's craft home.

Gallery admission about ¥800 (approx., 2026); roughly 9:30-18:00, shop free. In the Asakura district of Imabari. Allow about 60 minutes.