Onomichi - A gem off the beaten path

After slightly overcrowded Miyajima we were headed for a small city called Onomichi. Despite the 25 perfectly preserved shrines and temples and its prime location at the entrance to Shikoku Onomichi still seems to be bypassed by the masses. But nothing can bypass Johanna’s incorruptible sense for worthwhile locations to visit.

We found a great little Airbnb close to both the temple walk that connects the 25 main attractions and the shopping street running through basically the whole town. The walk was perfectly sign posted and some of the information was provided in english. The shopping street was full of little boutique shops with handcrafted items, coffee roasters and good food. Perfect start.

On the second day we set out for a cycling tour, hopping from island to island towards Shikoku on the Setouchi Shimanami Kaido. We were able to rent reasonably good quality bicycles for the very reasonable price of 8 Euros for a full day! The bike trail, which in total runs for about 80km, crossing six bridges along the way, is perfectly marked providing different options to get to the final destination but mostly runs along the pristine coast line. And across the awesome bridges! Since it was a hot day, we even cooled off with a dip into the clearwater of the Seto Inland Sea. (Funnily enough, the beach’s showers were still closed. The janitor said they are only open in summer. 31 degrees in May doesn’t count yet.)

We made it a return trip heading back from the third island, Ikuchijima, and had about 70km of fun on the bike. A perfect 1.5 day stay in Onomichi!Read more