This is a private rural e-bike tour with local lunch at the Maze Village and the Hagiwara Town in the Hida region. Because it has no businesses specifically catering to tourists, the area is largely unknown and overlooked in the main guidebooks, though it’s close to the tourist towns like Takayama or Gero. Please do not worry about uphills because our e-bike helps you a lot so that you can easily enjoy seeing the nature of Hida Mountains. In the area of the Maze Village, there are 10 small hamlets that located along the beautiful Maze River. Each has only 50-300 people and these many small communities are together referred to as the Maze Area Villages. Our friendly and knowledgeable English-speaking guide will take you to picturesque spots and offer you some local stories about history, culture and lifestyle. Seeing the tranquil views and tasting the special meal with local ingredients, you can fully enjoy the authentic rural Japan.
This is a private rural e-bike tour with local lunch at the Maze Village and the Hagiwara Town in the Hida region. Just a short hop from Takayama or Gero Hot Spring but only a few tourists know and visit the areas, which makes this tour special. On the way to the village, we have a long uphill but our e-bike helps you a lot so that you can easily enjoy seeing the nature of Hida Mountains and the super crystal Maze River. Our friendly and knowledgeable English-speaking guide will take you to picturesque spots and offer you some local stories about history, culture and lifestyle. Seeing the tranquil views and tasting the special meal with local ingredients, you can fully enjoy the authentic rural Japan. Why not join the tour to explore the hidden part of Japan's countryside? We promise you that we will offer you off the beaten path experience. - Introduced on The Guardian in Sep, 2018 - Certified as one of the top 10 experiences in Japan of TripAdvisor 2019 Travelers' Choice
Savor Japan
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.
1-Day Private Rural E-Bike Tour in Hida lasts about 6 hours. The itinerary has 2 stops.
Prices start at $290 per person for this Gero experience, booked through Viator with the price shown before checkout. There is 1 booking option, so the final price depends on the option you choose.
All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.
The meeting point is The specific meeting point is Hida-Hagiwara station. It takes 40 minutes from Takayama by train. 8:00am train leaving Takayama is the best option for this tour. Your guide will pick you up at the station by 8:50am. Hotel pickup is not part of this experience.
The experience is available in EN.
It is a private experience: only your party takes part. Up to 6 travellers can book together.
Confirmation is sent by the operator within 24 hours of booking.
Travellers rate it 5.0 out of 5 across 190 reviews on Viator and Tripadvisor; it is run by UMESEKO TOUR.
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
If Miyagawa Asaichi were Bottakuri, the name of the exhibitor would be displayed and the price would be slightly lower than the general price, and the quality of the crops would be good. Best of all, the fact that not only tourists but also locals come to buy them confirms that.
Awesome experience biking around the Hida countryside! Beautiful mountain and river views, and Dai is a great guide; very kind and very knowledgeable! The spot we stopped for lunch was delicious too!
A very pleasant way to see Japanese rural culture and soak in the amazing nature Great guide and experience Something different in our trip
Dear Marie, Thanks for coming and enjoying the rural experience with your lovely family members. The day was just perfect and I was also happy to cycle around the countryside of Japan with you. As you saw, the village is located at middle of nowhere, just surrounded by plenty of nature. I love all sceneries we have here such as the pristine river and the terrain of mountains. Japan has a variety of different cultures so hope you will explore this country more from the northern island Hokkaido to Okinawa in the south. See you again! Warm Regards, Dai
This bike tour was amazing! It was a great chance to get outside of the major cities of Japan and see what the countryside has to offer. Seeing Japan’s beautiful mountains and rivers via bike was the way to go. The e-bikes made it super easy to get around and up hills and make this tour doable for a lot of people. Dai is also an amazing guide! He goes above and beyond to make sure everyone is having a good experience and is very knowledgeable and open to sharing Japanese culture. I’d recommend this tour to any and everyone looking to get outdoors and be in nature. It’s an experience I won’t forget.
Dear Brad, Thank you so much for coming and writing a great review about the full day e-bike experience in the beautiful countryside of Japan. It was a great time with you and I also enjoyed the day. You seemed to love the food with local produce at the restaurant, which is really one of the highlights o f this rural experience. Hope you will have another chance to visit Japan soon. Maybe with your wife next time! Warm Regards, Dai
This bike tour was a great break from the busy cities of Japan! It was a great experience getting to see the mountains and rivers of Japan via bike. Dai was very knowledgeable and really cares about sharing the Japanese culture. The e-bikes make it very easy to get around. We also had one of the best meals I’ve had while in Japan on this trip. It felt like they were cooking for family. I highly recommend this tour for anyone looking for a different and fun way to see Japan’s countryside.
Dear Megan, Thank you so much for coming to the full day e-bike ride in the rural part of Japan. I was so sorry for your mom that she could not join with you for Japan trip this time but also glad to see you and your lovely dad then. Have you got your favorite Tofu successfully? It was really fun for me because you were the first guest who loved it so much! Much appreciate your interests in our food culture. Hope you still have had a great time in Japan and made a lot of nice memories. Please come back to Japan for sure with your family or friends at any time. Warm Regards, Dai
My family and I were very impressed with this trip. It was an important experience riding a bike with family and friends. On a cool day and has a beautiful view It might be far and quite difficult for me. But it was so worth doing. Once in a lifetime. Thank you guide Daisuke, you were very friendly to us.
Dear June, Thanks for visiting us with your lovely family members. I also had a great time on the beautiful spring day. I was also relieved that the small accident did not break your family trip overall. Appreciate your patience. You told me that you would come back to Takayama in this April, which also made me so happy. I am honored to make a great memory for you in this beautiful mountainous region. Hope you will have a great experience here at the 2nd visit and please do not hesitate to contact me! Warm Regards, Dai
We had a great time on the 6-hour Maze e-bike tour with Dai in early November. Our route took us through the Hida-Hagiwara town centre, then up the mountains towards Maze village, and the pedal-assist function on the Panasonic e-bikes used on this tour made the uphill portions a breeze and super fun. We really appreciated Dai’s many conversations with our small group throughout the tour, especially his candid sharing about how he moved on from busy Tokyo city life to the countryside. Tour highlights for us were: our bento lunches, thoughtfully prepared using local ingredients by one of the ladies from the village (she even handwrote a menu so that Dai could explain to us what we were having that day); getting to see and touch the crystal blue waters of the Maze River; stopping by a roadside mountain spring to refill our water bottles; seeing pockets of autumn colours on the surrounding hills and mountainsides. We would recommend this to anyone who enjoys cycling!
Dear Janice, Thank you so much for sharing your memory you made in the last autumn. I was also happy to show you around the beautiful countryside in the region. Also, great to hear that you enjoyed the conversation of various topics especially about my private life story. You have been to Japan for many times so maybe you are already planning the next visit. Hope we will see again some time in the near future. Take care always. Warm Regards, Dai
We had a great time on this tour and Dai was an excellent guide. After visiting all of the city hotspots, visiting Takayama and cruising through the countryside on this cycle tour was a really relaxing way to end our trip. We got to see see the contrast between the city and rural areas, and the packed lunch was one of the best we had!
Dear Miro, Thank you so much for sharing your memory with us on the bike ride in the beautiful part of Hida. I am so happy to see how much you loved the area and the experience including the pretty lunch box. Hope you will have another chance to visit Japan soon in the future. I will be always expecting you to be back to the rural village. Warm Regards, Dai
We had the most wonderful time with our guide Dai, discovering the Hida mountainous countryside, local shires and enjoyed a beautiful prepared Japanese lunch. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and for showing us breathtaking scenery off the tourist track with vibrant autumn colours. One of our favourite days on our honeymoon🍁
Dear Sheona, Thanks for choosing us for a day trip of your valuable 2 weeks honeymoon to Japan. I still remember how enthusiastic you want to understand the Japanese culture and shoot me a lot of questions. I was really happy to answer for them! You also mentioned about one of the biggest benefits of the bike tour, which we offer the opportunity to get away from tourist crowds. The area is surrounded by only the vast beautiful nature and some peaceful houses. Hope you will come back to Japan some day in the near future. I will be always expecting you to visit the beautiful part of our country. Warm Regards, Dai
We had a great time biking the rural villages surrounding Hida with Dai. The scenery, lunch (bento box made by a friend of Dai) and exercise made for a day we will cherish for a long time. Thank you Dai and we wish you every success with your biking tours.
Dear Grandedigue, Thanks for sharing your memory of the full day bike trip to the beautiful rural valley village in Hida region. I am so glad to see how much you loved the whole experience including the bento box made by a friend of mine, who is actually living in the village. I am also proud of what I am doing here and always appreciate all efforts and interests of travelers that they want to know more about the Japanese culture. Hope you will have another chance to visit Japan and please feel free to contact me then. Warm Regards, Dai
| Tour | Duration | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-Day Private Rural E-Bike Tour in Hida | 6 hours | 5.0 (190) | $290 | |
 Half Day Private Rural E-Bike Tour in Hida | 3h 30min | 4.9 (101) | $193 | View |
 Private Countryside E-Bike Tour in Hida | 2h 30min | 5.0 (6) | $160 | View |
 Private Sake Brewery Visit and Tasting Tour in Hida | 2 hours | 5.0 (65) | $128 | View |
 Hida Osaka Cycling Guide Tour Long Course Experience | 2 days | — | $517 | View |
 Hida-Osaka Cycling Guide Tour Short Course | 4 hours | — | $162 | View |
 Hida: Discover Gero Onsen’s Historic Gassho Village | 1 hour | — | $52 | View |