If you‘ve been following our blog for a while or know us personally, you know that we love cycling, especially in Japan where cycling in the countryside gives you a chance of experiencing authentic culture off the beaten track.

While touring Aomori prefecture, famous for its apple orchards, we stayed two nights in Goshogawara as it makes for one of the best starting points for a cycling day trip. I was amazed when I found out that someone had created lots of different itineraries for cycling around Aomori and based on the climb and distance, we chose the easiest one from Goshogawara city to Namioka along little backroads to get a closer look at the apple plantations. A big factor to this decision was that the main bike rental place was closed and instead of securing a Giant cross bike, the only bikes we could rent were very simple ones at our hotel. However, we were still happy that we got to cycle in Aomori for a day and could have easily stayed two more nights in Goshogawara to do more cycling tours to the nearby lakes. If you have your own bikes, bring them to Aomori and you can easily enjoy a week of cycling there!

It took us about 20 minutes to cycle out of the city and reach the apple orchards. From there, we just went onto random back streets and stopped for photos of the phenominal views of Mt Iwaki and of course the many apple trees!

Just before we reached our end goal Namioka, we felt a little weak and stopped at a place by the road selling apples. We pulled up with our bikes and the farmer selling his apples looked at us in a sceptical way. When I told him that we would like to buy two of his yellow apples, he laughed, took two huhe apples out and gave them to us as a present! It seemed like they only sold their apples in bulk there. We were so happy and thoroughly enjoyed this delicious apple, it felt well deserved!

Where is your favourite place to cycle? Leave us a comment below!

– Her

Other articles you might be interested in:

• Kibi Plain Cycle in Okayama
• Cycling with Mount Fuji Views in Odawara
• Autumn drive through the Hakkōda mountains