Kia ora,
Me and my partner are heading to Japan in June (6 to the 22nd) for about 16 days. I'm after some guidance for anyone who's done this recently!
We want to spend 5 – 6 days exploring some of Japan as my partner has not been before. I've just been to Tokyo a bunch. But because of this we are looking to book and rent bicycles from Bike Packing | Spark Cycling | Japan | Hokkaido in Sapporo. I wanted to bring bikes but we only own sicko enduro rigs so don't have the touring bikes to bring (we would need to buy them).
We want to spend 10 – 12 days cycling Hokkaido from Sapporo up to Soya Bay via the west coast, then down to Abashiri (or earlier) on the East coast and back to Sapporo through the middle. There seems like quite a few ways to cycle back through from east to west and I'm not sure about timing really. Looking for some guidance on timing there.
I'm thinking we fly in to Tokyo, spend a day there and fly to Sapporo, do our bikepacking trip and then return to the main land for some sightseeing on trains. Perhaps fly out of Osaka. I'm wondering if you can train or ferry from Hokkaido to the mainland, and then down to Tokyo.
Thank you!
by cutefis