Borrow bicycles for free in Himeji!

[ddell]

When we were in Himeji in April we discovered that the Tourist Bureau lends bikes for free! These are standard one-speed city bikes with fenders, a bell, and lock. We borrowed ours at noon and kept them until they closed at 6pm. The Tourist office is located on the main road from the Shinkansen station to the castle -- about two blocks before the castle on the right.

It was probably the most pleasant day on our trip -- and having the bikes played a major part. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and the weather was fair. It was mid week so not very crowded. The best part about having the bikes was that we were able to cover more ground -- not to mention get off our sore feet! Most people were only seeing Himeji's famous castle from the front, but we were able to leisurely ride all the way around the vast grounds. We ended up riding around the park three times -- and with all the moats and walls we never went the same way twice! When we toured the castle or wanted to go into a shop, we just locked them up with the provided lock and key.

All the bikes appeared to be about the same size -- no children's bikes. That wasn't a problem for us -- our son is over 5'6" (168cm). I'm 6 feet tall (183cm) and I put the seat up all the way and it was still a bit low, but it wasn't bad. My son's bike got a flat tire (when he ran over a rock). He walked it back to the tourist office and exchanged it for another bike!

I would definitely recommend it to anyone going to Himeji.

Are there any other places in Japan where you can borrow bikes for free?

[dlai]

OMG.. I wish I read this sooner. 2 weeks ago I was walking all over the place in Himeji. Thanks for the advice, I'll remember it next time.

BTW.. Himeji Castle is awesome. If you haven't been there, you have to check it out.

[ddell]

I agree -- Himeji Castle is very nice. It was originally built in the 1600s and renovated in the 1950 & '60s using original materials, tools and methods.

We just happened upon the free bikes -- as we walked past the tourist bureau, I saw a rack of bikes and a small sign that said "Free Bicycle Rental", so we stepped in to see what it was all about. Later, when we were leaving Himeji, I noticed a sign on the floor of the train station advertising the free bikes, but I hadn't seen that before.

The Tourist Information Center website, http://www.himeji-kanko.jp/english, says they also lend bikes at a second tourist office at the train station! That's convenient!

[ddell]

2 weeks ago I was walking all over the place in Himeji.

When were you in Himeji? I was there on April 11th.

[dlai]

2 weeks ago I was walking all over the place in Himeji.

When were you in Himeji? I was there on April 11th.

I was actually there around the 9th. The sakuras were in full bloom and it looked awsome. I guess when you were there, you probably saw the sakura petels snowing down, which I think looks rather beautiful in a mystical way. I think I was in Ueno park in Tokyo around then.

[ddell]

Cool -- it sounds like we swapped places! We were in Ueno on the 7th. Yes, the 'flower storm' is quite pretty. We saw some of that in Himeji, but even more a couple of days later in Kyoto.

[ddell]

I forgot to mention one thing about the bikes -- they have baskets on the front. This is an unusual feature on adult bikes that I'm used to in California, but in fact they are very useful! I put my backpack in the basket and put a map on top -- so I can see where we're going! Who needs GPS!

I should also mention that before my trip I was not sure how safe it would be for us to ride bikes in Japan since we're not used to driving on the left. It turns out it wasn't much of a problem. We found that in the cities people tend to ride on the sidewalks along with the pedestrians so in one sense we just acted like "pedestrians on wheels". Sometimes the sidewalk is marked with separate areas for pedestrians and bikes, but we were still separated from the cars except at intersections. Crossing streets is similar to being a pedestrian -- you have to look all around to make sure no cars are coming -- or just go with the crowd. When we rode on some smaller, one lane streets we weren't separated from cars, but the low traffic made it pretty easy to deal with -- we stayed by one side when a car came, and whenever we met a car at an intersection, we just waved them on through.

[dlai]

Cool -- it sounds like we swapped places! We were in Ueno on the 7th. Yes, the 'flower storm' is quite pretty. We saw some of that in Himeji, but even more a couple of days later in Kyoto.

Guess we had the same vacation. We saw Kyoto a couple days before Himeji. The Sakura definately is really beautiful in Kyoto, especially over all those water channels running all over the city.