Honshu Island - Noto Peninsula & the Alps

Here we mix big city sightseeing with quiet coastal backroads, hot spring baths, delicious local food and ancient farming and fishing practices.

The Noto Peninsula has long attracted me after having traveled extensively throughout Japan for many years. It seemed like a perfect place to add the third arm of our trilogy of unique guided cycle tours, giving us the very best of Japan cycling.

What I discovered here was a superb blend of smooth, mostly low traffic cycling amidst a smorgasbord of cultur and history. From the famous city of “kanazawa,” we jump right into the very best of Japanese history and culture, from famous castles and classic gardens, to streetscapes left mostly unchanged for over 400 years, to morning markets and rural landscapes that evoke the ancient samurai warriors of days gone by.

Throughout we have a choice of accommodation from traditional style inns, to luxury “Ryokans” to western style hotels. Streetscapes going back centuries, from the “Kyoto” style backstreets of Takayama to the Unesco heritage town of Wajima, there are delightful eateries tucked away to be discovered of a night time.

The existence of this landscape though is not enough to ensure a great cycling and cultural holiday. Going over the riding routes and checking the actual riding I found some superb coastal scenery and seemingly endless small fishing villages where modern lifestyles reflect the heritage of the area and in some aspects, have not changed in centuries.

Many of these coastal back roads carry little traffic making for some great cycling, and in some sections, we will use the support vehicle to ensure we miss the one or two areas of heavy traffic.

Highlights

• Cycle from 60 km (37 m) to 95 km (60 m) per day and explore from the historic city of Kanzawa, the classic scenery of the Noto Peninsula Coast and the foothills of the Japan Alps.
• Soak up culture and history as you cycle through some of japan's most famous cultural and historical sites including castles, temples, grass thatched hut villages and ancient streetscapes and a thousand year old morning markets.
• Cycle along Japan's beautiful coast line, through villages and towns that are redolent of history with classic old style construction.
• Experience first hand the ancient fishing style of "Ukai" or cormorant fishing (Note: May and October only).
• Visit UNESCO world heritage areas including Shirakawago and the town of Wajima.

The roads are mostly smooth and narrow. The bulk of the riding on roads with very little vehicle traffic.