Did we enjoy our riding in Shimabara? The answer is a big yes.

It might have been because Shimabara is making an effort to support cycling tourism. The Goigoi Ikomon website ( in Japanese) has a a lot of useful information and routes (in GPX form).

But that’s not the reason.

We were planning to do part of the Shimabara Peninsula 1 Lap Route. We were took the train to from Nagasaki to Kobe and planned to ride the route to Shimabara City.

When we had a look at the route we could say that it followed the national road route 251. It also implied that there some bike infrastructure maintained.

This route is not the Shimanami Kaido. It was a busy truck route and so we rode a kilometre or two and decided to abandon the original plan. I was looking for a photo of the busy road – but we didn’t take any. You’ll just have to trust is that there were a lot of cars and trucks. So I have included a picture of the cute train instead.

We used our Beeline App to place a few points along the route they were off the main truck route and let it work its magic. Within a few minutes we had a route of quiet byways. Much more fun and interesting.

The route is 25km and mostly flat. Riding through fishing and farming communities. The route we took is on Strava.

Here is an important piece of advice. Just because someone promotes a route as suitable for cycling doesn’t mean it is. At least in Japan there usually is a nearby quiet route that you can take instead. So if it doesn’t feel right then change your plans – either do another route or take the train instead.

I am certainmy glad we stopped and opted for plan B. I still think checking out the Goigoi Ikomon website especially for the hill climbers who want some more challenging and less busy routes.

Here are some more photos from this ride.

We also plotted out a loop ride for the next day. This route is just over 20km with 219 metres of climbing. It is also available on Strava.

It took in many of the interesting spots around Shimabara. Here are some photos from this bike route to whet your appetite.