Hiroshima 3hr Peace Cycling Tour with Local Guide
Description
This is a guided cycling tour in which participants ride an electric bicycle and learn about the reconstruction of Hiroshima's bombed heritage sites and how we are trying to protect peace in the city of Hiroshima. This tour is led by our friendly team from Hiroshima. This tour is an English guided tour. ・Learn about local feelings towards the Peace Park from about 70 years ago. ・The area within a 2.5km radius from the hypocenter was severely damaged. We are heading to multiple bombed heritage sites that still remain. ・You will ride a comfortable electric bicycle through the local area to experience the Hiroshima Peace Museum and more. ・We will take you to unique places well-known by our local Japanese team. ・We will ride along the beautiful riverside and in the park to get an idea of the destruction of Hiroshima at that time and how the city has changed into what it is now.
Tour Options
Itinerary
10:00-10:05 Meet up at the rest house of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Start off with greetings, introduction, explanation of the route, and corona prevention procedures (temperature checks, etc.).
10:05-10:25 Hiroshima Castle Your guide will take you to Hiroshima Castle which is the location of the military fort that was the first to report about the atomic bomb. Your guide will explain the situation and significance of the military base and castle.
10:25-10:40 Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine and Shrine Gate You will learn more about some lesser-known heritage sites such as the Guardian Dog statue and the Gokoku Shrine gate which withstood the atomic bomb.
10:40-11:00 Hiroshima Central Park Walk through a vast green park to enjoy the beautiful nature that Hiroshima has to offer.
11:00-11:10 Aioi Bridge Next, you will visit the bridge that was the target of the bomb. Both the river and the bridge have remained since that time. You will witness the continuation of history.
11:10-11:25 Atomic Bomb Dome After that, you will witness the world-renowned Atomic Bomb Dome. You will learn about the many stories and memories of the local people.
11:25-11:40 Motoyasu River and the Peace Bridge When heading south towards the suburbs from the Atomic Bomb Dome and Peace Park, you will see the gorgeous riverside nature. Your guide will explain the meaning and memories that are embedded in the Peace Park.
11:40-12:00 Higashisenda Park Located 1km from the center of the blast is a park filled with trees sent from countries all around the world. You will hear the stories related to this site.
12:00-12:20 Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital Located 1.5km from the center of the blast is the remnants of the Red Cross Hospital's building. Here, you will face the hard reality of how strong the bomb was.
12:20-12:30 Hiroshima Railway Located 2km-2.5km from the center of the blast is the Hiroshima Railway. Did you know that there are two trains that survived that blast and still used today? They started running again only three days after the explosion.
12:30-12:40 Miyuki Bridge and Kobayashi River Right where the bomb's reach ended, there is a picture on display. This significant picture shows the reality of the difference between now and then.
12:40-12:50 Surviving Weeping Willow Tree This is the highlight of the tour. This tree continued to grow despite the rumors that there would be natural growth for at least 70 years. This tree represents the strength, determination, and hope of the people of Hiroshima.
12:50-13:00 Peace Boulevard On the way back to the Peace Park, we will pass by various monuments and trees that are significant to Hiroshima's history. At the same time, you will also witness the current thriving city.
13:00 Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park Once we arrive back at the park, your trip will come to an end. *The afternoon tour is scheduled to meet at 14:00 and return at 17:00.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- If you are late for the meeting time without prior notice, the tour will be cancelled. In such cases, a 100% cancellation fee will be incurred on the day of the tour and is non-refundable.
- In addition, even if you contact us in advance, it may be canceled due to the convenience of other customers.
- Participation requirements ： Adult bicycle (electric): Height 145 cm or more
- Bicycle with seat for children (electric) : Infants' ride here are free of charge.
- Children's bicycle (cross bike type): 2 Children's bicycles* for one booking are available. Children under age 15 can use both children's bicycles and adult bicycles at child rate. (For children of height 110 cm to 145 cm)
- Bicycle with seat for infants (electric) and Children's bicycle (cross bike type) are limited, so please contact us before making a reservation if you wish.
- Bicycles with seats for children (electric) are for children under 22 kg and under 115 cm.
- If the number of seats for infants and children's bicycles are full reserved, children of heights who cannot use adult bicycles may not be able to participate. After making a reservation, we will contact you after checking the stock of the bicycle.
- Free Wi-Fi: None（Hiroshima Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the city）
- It will be a mixed tour for up to 10 people.
- The timetable may change depending on the situation on the day.
- Others (exemption from liability): Depending on the weather, etc., it may be canceled for safety reasons.
- As this is a shared tour, if there are guests in other groups who are not accustomed to cycling, especially children, we will adjust the pace accordingly. We appreciate your understanding.
- Insurance available: Insurance for bicycle accidents (included in price)
- If the plan cannot be held due to rain, you can choose to change to the Rainy Day Limited Peace Route or refund the tour. Please select a suitable option.
- The tour can be changed to a walking tour for rainy days only. Visit the hypocenter, which was reduced to scorched earth in an instant. Walk around the site with a radius of about 0.5 km to 1 km. If you do not wish to change it, we will offer a refund.
- 【Rainy Day Route】10:00 / 14:00 set: → Peace Memorial Park → Atomic Bomb Dome → Hypocenter → Former Bank of Japan → Fukuromachi Elementary School → Main street → Tour is scheduled to end at 13:00 / 17:00
- What is the difference between the 2 and 3 hour tour types?： Explore Hiroshima city with a focus on the wartime and post-war recovery during this 2 hour guided tour.This cycling tour takes you through Hiroshima, with an emphasis on the Peace Park and the city's beautifully reconstructed present. Key highlights include the Peace Park and significant sites related to the atomic bombing.
- 【2 hour】Explore Hiroshima city with a focus on the wartime and post-war recovery during this 2 hour guided tour.This cycling tour takes you through Hiroshima, with an emphasis on the Peace Park and the city's beautifully reconstructed present. Key highlights include the Peace Park and significant sites related to the atomic bombing.
- 【3 hour】In addition to the 2 hour tour route, we will guide you to spots such as Hiroshima Castle, providing more detailed insights into the pre- war and post-war recovery. Visit places that still hold stories from different eras and experience Hiroshima's history.This tour is recommended for those who want to go deeper and communicate closely with their guide.
- Luggage storage：About luggage, there is no place to leave your luggage at the Rest House. There are coin lockers at the International Conference Center Hiroshima and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, located a 6-minute walk from the Rest House.
- International Conference Center Hiroshima：https://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/icch/facilities.html
- Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum：https://hpmmuseum.jp/modules/info/index.php?action=PageView&page_id=50〈=eng
Reviews(173)
Amazing cycling tour and definitely worth it! You get to see a lot of Hiroshima while learning about the city’s history. But the best part of the tour was our guide, Shin. He was incredibly funny, very knowledgeable, and shared everything in such an engaging and entertaining way. He made the whole experience both educational and a lot of fun. Highly recommended!
We had a great morning with Shin. We learned a lot about Hiroshima, but he was actually the best part. He tells the story of how his family experienced the atomic bomb in such a beautiful way. He tells everything very theatrically, which makes it really fun.
We had an excellent experience on the Hiroshima cycling tour with Sokoioko Tours, and our guide Karl was outstanding. The tour was incredibly informative, combining the history of Hiroshima with personal stories from the post-atomic bomb period that made the experience deeply moving and memorable. Exploring the city by bicycle was a brilliant idea. It allowed us to comfortably visit all the major atomic bomb memorials and landmarks while getting a real feel for Hiroshima today. It was the perfect balance of history, culture, and seeing the city from a local perspective. Karl was knowledgeable, engaging, and sensitive in the way he presented such an important chapter of history. By the end of the tour, we came away with a much deeper understanding of both Hiroshima's tragic past and its inspiring recovery. We highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Hiroshima—it's one of the highlights of our trip to Japan.
This was hands down the biggest highlight of our recent Japan trip. It combined all the elements our family loves to enjoy together: history, exercise/biking, and travel perspectives that help us have a better view on life and the world. We enjoyed our time with Moe, who is an absolutely awesome guide. There is no history that is better than personal history and she so generously shared hers (multi-generational Hiroshima family including during WWII) with us to help us understand the lessons of Hiroshima. Her family’s story of survival and the time before the war helped highlight the very human lives that all people lead and strive for, independent of politics or nationalism. It is for humanity’s sake that peace and history need to be shared, to avoid human tragedy, again. Our family finds that message very powerful and this tour was great to help share it with my little one so he can learn it by teaching, rather than having to live it or watch it happen, again. I only hope other families everywhere get to experience the same powerful message. The biking tour was at a perfect pace and covered a lot. We even stumbled upon a school trip and impromptu presentation and dedication from a farther away Japanese middle school. It is nice to see that the next generation has such dedication to history, too. It was great to hear their songs of peace. I highly recommend this tour, as we were able to see and do more than the walking tours.
10 out of 10. Informative and fun for the whole family. Electric bikes were great and tour subject matter was age appropriate for ages 10 and up.
Our Guide was Moe, she did a great job. She was able to give us a lot of insights into Hiroshimas tragedy, but also to the current everyday life. You see different parts of the city. We enjoyed the tour and especially her hint for a delicious Okonomiyaki.
Our guide (Karl) was fantastic. Very knowledgeable and friendly, really easy to talk to, did a great job of helping the two of us find key places and understand the stories that were attached to them.
Karl was an excellent guide and was very, very skilled at telling about the terrible events of August 1945. We were six in the group, who all agreed that Sokoiko and Karl fully fulfilled our high expectations for this trip. Can be recommended
Karl was knowledgeable and friendly
Shiro was a great guide and the tour was really informative. I can totally recommend it. As a local, he could also tell us the story of what his family experienced when Hiroshima was destroyed by the A-Bomb.
