Japan

During our travels around Japan, we wanted to get out and experience some days of nature in between visiting bustling cities.

The Shimanami Kaido trail caught our eye as it is one of the most popular cycling routes in Japan and connects several islands together over an approximately 70 kilometer route between Onomichi and Imabari (plus numerous side trails for those who want to explore each island in more depth).

As avid bikers, we knew we had to check out this route. So we booked our dates several weeks in advance, said a little prayer to whatever spirit controls the weather, and made our way to Onomichi to get ready to ride.

Thankfully, we got lucky with mostly great weather for our ride and only had to rush to Imabari quickly in the final legs of our ride before a larger storm came in. So in this one, we thought we’d share more about what you can see when biking from Onomichi to Imabari on the Shimanami Kaido, and give some tips we learned along the way to have a great time!

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When visiting Japan, odds are good you have soaking in the natural hot springs of an onsen on your must-do list.

But did you know there is a town with not one, not two, but seven onsens open for visitors to enjoy? And, perhaps important to many, are also tattoo-friendly? Enter Kinosaki Onsen, a beautiful mountain coast town in northern Japan that is just a 2 1/2 hour train ride from Kyoto.

While we have an entire article dedicated for how many days in Kinosaki Onsen (read: more is always the answer), in this one we thought we’d share a little bit about the seven onsen you can find in town- what they’re like, which ones we liked, and which ones we did not spend much time in at all.

Although all the onsen here are quite fun and you should check each out on a visit, a few were standout favorites.

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We decided to visit the aptly named Japanese onsen town, Kinosaki Onsen, halfway through our 16-day journey around Japan as we thought it’d be a welcomed escape after nine busy days in some of the country’s largest cities.

As expected, it was everything we hoped for and then some.

Between hopping around six of the seven tattoo-friendly onsens found in the town (the seventh was closed for construction during our visit), enjoying incredible food and drink, and checking out some of the other non-onsen sightseeing activities, we really wished we had stayed for more than two nights as we only really got a brief teaser of what this town has to offer!

So, in this one, we thought we’d share more about what there is to do in Kinosaki Onsen and nearby and why you may want to book more nights than you think here!

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Kyoto is an amazing city, quite possibly my favorite in Japan.  It is one of those places you can picture yourself living if you had to move abroad. There is little else that can be said to generalize the place better than that. 

Although Kyoto has well over a million residents, it is hard to tell except for the southern end of town near JR’s Kyoto terminal which has a constant exchange of both locals and tourists alike. 

Unlike smaller towns in Japan, such as Nagano and Nagoya, the city of Kyoto has the benefit of having large town attractions as well, making it rather unique in the tightly packed country of Japan.  However, like all big cities, some of the tourist attractions fall short, especially when compared to other, more unique options that are available. 

The following is my take on some of my favorite things to do in Kyoto that I have visited in the previous 48 hours.

I must stress that this is my views after two weeks of travel in the country.  If Kyoto was the first stop on a trip, the sites may have been perceived differently.

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