Posted on Jun 1, 2016
124 9

Posted on Jun 1, 2016

124 9
450km

Distance

7 days

Time

5800m

Ascent

450m

Highest point

5/10

Difficulty

95%

Paved

Aomori Prefecture. Yeah I know it's not Hokkaido, but I swear the Hokkaido locals more or less consider it to be an extension of it. The name Aomori (青森) means 'green forest'. This Aomori Prefecture cycle touring route dives deep into that green forest. Situated at the northern-most tip of Japan's largest island of Honshu, Aomori is well off the beaten track. And it lives up to its name. Vast swaths of untouched forest, teeming with wildlife. Lakes, ocean coast, and wild rivers. It is about as close as you'll get to the wilderness of Hokkaido, without leaving the Japan 'mainland'.

Last updated Aug 8, 2019

Route Map

Route Overview

Here, we outline a seven-day cycle-tour around Aomori prefecture, starting and ending in the port town of Hachinohe City. The emphasis of this tour is nature. It avoids cities such as Aomori City and Hirosaki City. That’s not to say that those wouldn’t be worthy detours. Hirosaki City in particular is well known for its beautiful old Japanese architecture. But this route as it is avoids as much as possible the rabbit warrens that are mainland Japanese cities. If you have the time for it, by all means pay those cities a visit.

  • Bicycle rental options: I don’t know of any overnight bicycle rentals available in Aomori, but after sharing this post on Facebook, Tim from Astuto in Tokyo reached out, offering approx. 5,000yen delivery of a bike to/from Tokyo to hotels in Aomori. Their prices for rental bikes are on the steep side (particularly considering you can rent great bikes in Sapporo (Hokkaido) for 3,250yen a day – see Nakamura Cycles in my list of bike shops in Sapporo). But they may be a feasible option if you want minimal fuss, high-end bikes (some with SS couplings), with customer service in English.
  • Check out www.aomori-cycling.com‘s excellent English brochure about some great rides in the area: Aomori Cycling Pamphlet (PDF). We used this quite a lot to plan our route below.

Daily Route notes

Comments | Queries | Reports

Done this route or parts of it? Thinking of doing it? Please post any feedback or queries here. Thanks!

9 thoughts on “Aomori Prefecture 7-day Loop”

  1. This looks like a great route, thanks! As a resident of Aomori, I am always happy to see anything that promotes bicycling here. The guys that built the Aomori Cycling Pamphlet do a great job, but they leave off a lot of the lesser known roads. I can also tell you that there are several options for quieter roads from Kuroishi to Sotogahama. Next time you guys want to hit Aomori let me know and I can show you those roads as well. Love the site you guys have built and one of these days I hope to make it up and check out some of your courses. Thanks for all the work.

    1. Hey Andy, sorry for the late reply! It has been a busy snow season 🙂 Many thanks for the kind words. We absolutely loved the cycling in Aomori – we’ll be back some day for sure.

  2. Hi my name is Nicolas. First of, thanks for all the info. Really interesting. The trip looks amazing. We plan on doing this trip with my family in May. I’m trying to download the google maps file so that we can start planning but cannot find the file. It would be really helpful if you can send me the file.

    I’ll write back after the trip with more reviews 🙂

    Thanks

  3. Thanks for writing the blog and taking some very nice pics !
    I’m planning a ride in Sept in this area and this has been very useful

  4. Beautiful, comprehensive blog post– love all the detail. Scrolled through to look at pics and get overview, but will get back to this to read it all.

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Aomori Prefecture 7-day Loop Difficulty Rating

Category

Grade

Points

Strenuousness

Vertical Gain

D

25

Time ascending

D

0

Technicality

Altitude

D

0

Hazards

D

Navigation

D

Totals

25/100

GRADES range from A (very difficult) to D (easy). Hazards include exposure to avalanche and fall risk. More details here. Rating rubric adapted from Hokkaido Yukiyama Guidebook 北海道雪山ガイド.