Osaka → Onomichi → Omishima
🚅 Osaka to Onomichi
🚲 ⛴ Onomichi > Mukaishima - The Adventure Begins
📍 Take Your Time - Suggested Stops Along the Way
Omishima → Imabari → Matsuyama
🚲 Omishima → Shikoku: The Second Half of the Ride
At approximately 31 kilometres, the distance is slightly shorter than Day 1, leaving time to slow down, explore the islands and make a few worthwhile stops along the way.
🚂 Imabari → Matsuyama
🍱 Local Cuisine: What to Try in Matsuyama
Matsuyama sits between mountains, citrus-growing countryside and the Seto Inland Sea, and its food reflects all three.
- Tai-meshi (sea bream rice) — sea bream cooked over rice with dashi. This is Ehime's signature dish. There are two different styles to try:
- Matsuyama style (cooked sea bream)
- Uwajima style (raw sea bream accompanied by a soy-based sauce and mixed with raw egg).
- Jakoten — lightly fried fish cakes made from small whole fish, crisp outside and tender inside. Great as a snack or with sake.
- Goshiki somen — five-coloured thin noodles, a Matsuyama specialty served chilled with dipping sauce.
- Ehime Sweets: Botchan dango — three-coloured sweet dumplings inspired by Soseki's novel Botchan; a classic treat near Dogo Onsen or Nonoji Tart - sponge cake with yuzu red bean filling.
- Mikan & citrus everything — Ehime is Japan's citrus capital. Look for fresh juice, mikan soft-serve, citrus daifuku and craft cocktails.
- Imabari yakitori — grilled chicken pressed flat on a hot plate, a regional take from neighbouring Imabari that you'll find on many Matsuyama menus.
- Ehime sake — (adults only) try labels like NIKITATSU (from Matsuyama's Minakuchi Shuzo brewery) and Ishizuchi (from Ishizuchi Shuzo, a sake brewery in Saijo City).
After dinner, rest up. Tomorrow the bikes are left behind as you discover a completely different side of Ehime through Matsuyama Castle and the historic streets and bathhouses of Dogo Onsen.
Explore Matsuyama
Morning · Matsuyama Castle
Start the day at Matsuyama Castle, dramatically positioned on Mt Katsuyama high above the city. Dating to the early 1600s, it is one of only 12 castles in Japan to retain an original surviving main keep and provides a fascinating glimpse into the country's feudal past. Getting there is part of the fun. From Ropeway Street, choose between the ropeway or the open-air chairlift for the journey up the mountainside, with views opening across Matsuyama as you climb. Once at the top, explore the castle's imposing stone walls, defensive gates and original wooden interiors. Inside, steep staircases lead between floors filled with displays of samurai armour, swords and artefacts, while narrow openings and defensive features reveal how the fortress was designed to protect the city below.
📍 Other Matsuyama City Attractions
- - Ninomaru Historical Garden
- - Okaido Shopping Arcade & Ropeway Street
This is also a good opportunity to continue sampling Ehime's famous citrus. Look out for freshly squeezed mikan juice, citrus soft serve and local sweets, or visit one of the speciality stores showcasing the remarkable range of citrus varieties grown across the prefecture.
Afternoon · Dogo Onsen District
Hop aboard one of Matsuyama's trams and travel to Dogo Onsen, where the atmosphere changes almost immediately as you step out at Dogo Station.
Dogo Onsen is one of Japan's most famous hot spring districts, known for its historic bathhouses and lively streets lined with shops, cafés and traditional ryokan. It's the perfect place to slow down, soak in the healing waters of Dogo Onsen. At the heart of Dogo is the magnificent Dogo Onsen Honkan, an atmospheric multi-storey wooden bathhouse that has become the symbol of the district. Step inside for a soak and experience the simple ritual that has drawn generations of visitors to Dogo: washing, bathing and taking time to do very little at all. This building is said to have inspired the bathhouse in Studio Ghibli's, Spirited Away. For a different interpretation of onsen culture, visit the nearby Dogo Onsen Annex Asuka-no-Yu, where traditional bathing is combined with contemporary art and design inspired by Ehime's history and craftsmanship. But don't rush away after your bath - browse the shops of Dogo, sample Botchan dango and citrus sweets, watch the Botchan Karakuri Clock spring to life or rest tired legs in a free footbath. For another perspective, walk up to the Dogo Onsen Sky Walkway, where you can look across the rooftops towards the historic Honkan below.
Matsuyama → Henro Pilgrimage Trail → Matsuyama
⛩️ Walking the Shikoku Henro Pilgrimage Trail
Iwayaji Temple
The 45th temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, dramatically set into the mountainside and reached via more than 800 stone steps. The path winds through cool forest, past moss-covered rocks, small shrines and rows of stone Jizō statues, before reaching the temples that to be tucked into the cliffs themselves.
Daihōji Temple
The 44th temple sits at 579 m in the Shikoku Mountains, surrounded by ancient forest. With a history spanning more than 1,300 years, it was designated by Kobo Daishi as the halfway point of the pilgrimage. Highlights include the Horidashi Kannon Bosatsu, a gilt bronze Eleven-faced Kannon statue believed to have healing powers.
Return to Matsuyama
Matsuyama → Mt. Ishizuchi → Saijo
Sacred Peaks, Chain Climbs & Spectacular Mountain Views
There are two main approaches to the mountain.
- 1. Omote Sando route - take the Ishizuchi Tozan Ropeway and start your mountain hike from Ishizuchi Shrine Jojusha.
- 2. Tsuchigoya route - take the Ishizuchi Skyline or drive up to enter the mountain area via Tsuchigoya Yohaiden.
🚠 Route 1: Start at the ropeway
🏔️ Climb Mt Ishizuchi
Saijo → Nametoko Gorge
🌲 Journey into Southern Ehime
Nametoko → Yawatahama → Beppu
