Bridge to Osakishimojima

The Akinada Tobishima Kaido (安芸灘とびしま海道), also marketed as the 7 Bridges of Tobishima, is a 46-km road from Kure, Hiroshima across seven islands in the Seto Inland Sea.

Understand

"Akinada Tobishima Kaido" means "sea road of stepping stone islands in the Aki Strait", an apt description of this series of quiet road with seven bridges connecting seven islands to the mainland. It is also known as the Ura (Back/Rear) Shimanami Kaido after its neighbor, Japan's best-known cycling route, which passes nearby but is not directly linked.

Prepare

See also: Cycling in Japan

Get in

The nearest train stations on the north/mainland side are at 1 Nigata (仁方駅) and 2 Aki-Kawajiri (安芸川尻駅), both on the JR Kure Line west of Kure and Hiroshima. Local bike rental companies like Kajigahama can arrange to drop off/pick up rental bicycles here, but by prior arrangement only.

The other option is to take a ferry to 3 Okamura Port (岡村港), at the south end of the road, from various points along the Shimanami Kaido. Rent your bike before you board the ferry and plan your route so you can return it, since there are no bicycle rental or drop-off facilities at Okamura.

• Sekizen runs from 4 Imabari Port at the Shimanami Kaido's southern terminus Imabari to Okumura up to 8x/day (1 hour, ¥870).
• Omishima Blue Line runs from 5 Munakata Port (宗方港) on Omishima, at the halfway point of the Shimanami Kaido, to Okamura up to 5x/day (23 min, ¥420).

Go

The main route is generally flat except for reasonable and well-graded approaches to the bridges. The first and largest bridge, Akinada Bridge, charges a toll for cars but is free for cyclists and pedestrians, while the remainder of the route is free for all.

• Kure
  • 1 Akinada Bridge
• Shimokamagari
  • 2 Kamagari Bridge
• Kamikamagari
  • 3 Toyoshima Bridge
• Toyoshima
  • 4 Toyohama Bridge
• Ōsakishimojima
  • 5 Heira Bridge
• Herashima
  • 6 Nakanoseto Bridge
• Nakanoshima
  • 7 Okamura Bridge
• Okamura Island

See

• The historic town of Mitarai on Osakishimojima

Go next

If you want to keep biking, the obvious choice is the Shimanami Kaido Bikeway (70 km), Japan's most popular cycling route, just take the ferry to Imabari and keep pedaling.

You can complete the triangle with the Sazanami Kaido (さざなみ海道) from Onomichi back to Kure. However, unlike the other two, you're basically cycling along National Highway 185 and sharing the road with cars, so this is more for the advanced biker.