ONOMICHI U2 / HOTEL CYCLE — Restaurant in Onomichi

This is a one of a kind Hotel in japan, it is cycling themed and no expense was spared!

The staff was courteous and greeted us promptly, Their English was very good! The room was cozy, and clean!

This is easily one of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed at!

The hotel features a very impressive harbor front view, of an active shipping port with a lot of traffic up and down the river! The seating is plentiful, and with drinks from the bar you could easily hang out and be entertained most of the night. The only thing that I felt was lacking is quality draft beer! They only had one style on tap and while it was ok, I would have preferred to see a better variety! (U2 if you’re reading this, try to obtain the Gora IPA, from the GORA Brewery in Hakone)

The restaurant is fantastic, the breakfast included in the room rate was continental in style with fresh eggs and choice of protein, fresh breads from the bakery on site and coffee.

The lunch and dinner menu is perfect, a few quality entres a selection of appetizers and drinks from the bar. Though be prepared to spend a little extra, the meals are not cheap.

The Hotel also provides bicycles for rent if you are in town for the Shimanami- Kaido Bike ride. This is the only part of the hotel that I felt was a rip-off. While the bikes are quality a one day rental will set you back 5,400 yen. I would have gladly paid 2,500 yen or even 3,000 yen. But 5,400 yen is definitely more than I felt this service was worth. I don’t fault the hotel the bikes they rent are quality and if you’re an avid cyclist who plans to complete the whole course in one day this may be the route for you. But for us it just wasn’t worth it.

We wanted to make the ride but opted to go down the street to rent “island” Bikes from the local rental agency down the street. There are several options for bike rentals in Onomichi, Red Bicycles (3,500 Yen for Merida Road Bikes, Giant Bicycle Store (located in the hotel ~5,000 yen for a road bike, the hotel 5,400 Yen for Colnago Road Bike, and the Shimanami Bike rental Agency 1,000 yen for a bike ) these are the daily rates as of September 2018 YMMV

CONS: The price per night is a little bit steep, and the reservation system on their website was difficult to navigate and slightly misleading.

The advertised daily rate was 8,470y per person but changed when I selected the room and the rate jumped to 13,400y. I don’t think it was a hotel fault, so much as a glitch in the English website in...

Beautiful hotel set in a renovated warehouse right by the water — a perfect and convenient location if you’re planning to cycle the Shimanami Kaido. One of the hotel’s highlights is that you can park your bike right in front of your room, which makes getting back on the road the next morning incredibly easy.

The rooms are spacious and modern, though a bit dark and with limited storage for clothes. Bike rental is available through the hotel — we opted for the racing bikes with Shimano 105 groupset. They’re a bit dated but still in good working condition. That said, the rim brakes didn’t offer the same confidence as modern disc brakes.

Service was friendly, but struggled to help us find a practical way to return from Imabari with our bikes. Most options were either quite expensive or logistically complex, so we ended up turning back before reaching Imabari and caught the ferry from Setoda instead.

Breakfast was nicely presented but fairly basic — not ideal for a full day of cycling. Limited fruit (just a few orange slices), and only Western-style options, with no rice or Asian dishes. On the plus side, they did provide gluten-free bread on request.

Overall, a stylish and unique place to stay that’s ideal for cyclists, but with some room for improvement in service and...

Fantastic innovative concept. A bike store, bike friendly hotel, gift shop, bakery, bar and restaurant all under one roof and run by the one company. The rooms are stylish with a good sized bathroom and free WiFi. The service is first class and every need is taken care of. There is a good coin operated laundry here which is essential after cycling the Shimanami Kaido. A massage service is also available for those people with tired legs.

The building is a renovated old warehouse on the wharf. While it looks low key on the outside, it has a modern industrial styled interior- very chic. A perfect base for the travelling cyclist.

For those interested in cycling the Shimanami Kaido, took my bike on a bus down to Imabari and cycled back. The distance was 84kms. The ferry to cross back to the boardwalk near the Cycle Hotel is very handy and the blue line and wayfinding signage leads you the whole way. I hired a good quality rental bike from the Giant Bicycle Shop located within the hotel...