Traditional Villages Full-Day Bicycle Tour Near Kyoto with Lunch

Traditional Villages Full-Day Bicycle Tour Near Kyoto with Lunch

Just a 20 minute shinkansen ride from Kyoto to our starting point, we offer an easy way to explore small town rural life in Japan on this leisurely beginner-friendly ride, with a local resident guide, fluent in English, to help you enjoy our area’s unique geographical and historical points of interest.

This 13km course features a broad range of sights such as rice and agriculture fields, historic trade routes, local villages combining old and new ways of life, a temple and shrine, a brief hike, and the shores of Lake Biwa, all in about 3 hours.

In our tours, we hope to both share and preserve our local culture and traditions. Toward this goal, we also work closely with municipalities and residents to ensure that we always respect the wishes and needs of the local communities that we visit.

Our convenient location and short tour time make it easy to explore more before or after your tour too, such as visiting Hikone Castle, or Lake Biwa!

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Maibara, Maibara, Shiga Prefecture, Kinki

Our tour starts and ends at Maibara Station, and the 13km course follows the farming areas and villages surrounding Maibara, which in the past few decades have been merged into Maibara itself for governing purposes. Throughout the tour, our guide will slowly introduce you to this rural community which is both exemplary of traditional small town life, but also has many uniquely defining points of local culture.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Iwaya Zenkodo Temple, Iogi, Maibara 521-0091 Shiga Prefecture

We stop at this small 120-meter-high mountain for a short hike and refreshments. The temple was built into the side of the mountain! There's also an Inari Shrine here, as well as an old manmade cave with a unique history. The top of the mountain offers a beautiful view of Maibara and Lake Biwa.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Lake Biwa, Shiga Prefecture

Our cycling route follows the villages and farmlands around the outskirts of Maibara, and on the western edge, we'll arrive at the shores of Lake Biwa. As we stop for a break and photos, our guide will also provide some introduction to Japan's largest lake and one of the world's oldest, which is at the heart the local culture and environment here in Shiga.

Duration: 30 minutes