{"id":3320,"date":"2019-01-18T16:17:50","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T07:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/cycling-in-kobe\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T11:34:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T02:34:53","slug":"cycling-in-kobe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/cycling-in-kobe\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycling in Kobe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-37214\" src=\"http:\/\/japaninfoswap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Cycle-Base-Asashi-500x375.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Japan is a bike-friendly country and many of its roads accommodate for cyclists with bike lanes. Cycling is a nice way of getting around, whether that be travelling from A to B or simply seeing the sights. If you want to cycle in Kobe, there are plenty of outlets where you can rent or buy a bicycle as well as some nice scenic cycling routes. Here is a quick and convenient guide for anyone who would like to pursue the two-wheeled option of navigating the city.<\/p>\n<h2>Cycling rules and safety tips in Japan<\/h2>\n<p>Before you get on a bike in Japan, it&#8217;s important to familiarize yourself with the country&#8217;s bicycle laws and do all you can to keep yourself safe. Here are some of the basics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ride on the left side of the road<\/li>\n<li>Ride at a sensible pace and yield to pedestrians on sidewalks<\/li>\n<li>Use headlights and rear lights if cycling during the evening<\/li>\n<li>Children under the age of 13 should wear a helmet, and it&#8217;s advisable for adults to wear a helmet too<\/li>\n<li>Talking on the phone or listening to music while riding a bike is prohibited<\/li>\n<li>Riding side by side on the roads is not permitted unless there is a sign saying it&#8217;s allowed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Penalties for disobeying the cycling laws in Japan include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Maximum penalty of 50,000 yen and\/or three months in prison for riding dangerously or with broken brakes<\/li>\n<li>Maximum penalty of 1 million yen and\/or five years in prison for riding while drunk<\/li>\n<li>Maximum penalty of 20,000 yen for carrying an illegal passenger<\/li>\n<li>Maximum penalty of 50,000 yen for not using lights at night<\/li>\n<li>Maximum penalty of 50,000 yen for disobeying traffic lights<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep your bike safe by locking it when it&#8217;s not in use. Many Japanese bikes come with small locks built into the wheels. Also, if you buy a bike, make sure you register it in your name at the police department of your prefecture.<\/p>\n<h2>Renting or buying a bike in Kobe<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s not difficult to get hold of a bicycle in Kobe. Renting is a good option if you just want to use a bike on the odd occasion or don&#8217;t have the storage space for one at home. There are a few bike rental places in the city. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobelin.jp\/\"><strong>Kobelin<\/strong><\/a> rents bikes through cycle ports (there are 10 in the city) for prices that start at 100 yen per hour. Just register on the website and you&#8217;ll be given a password to use at any of the ports. Bikes are fitted with electric pedal-assisted motors that make them ideal for long distances. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spark-kobe.jp\/bicycle_rental_english.html\"><strong>Spark Scone and Bicycle<\/strong><\/a> offers bike rents along with tea and scones. It&#8217;s a cafe that&#8217;s an 8-minute walk from the Kobe municipal subway. You can rent bikes online and then pick them up\/return them to the cafe (by 5:00 p.m. at the latest). Costs range from 1,400 yen a day for a 6-speed bike to 2,800 yen for a tandem. <a href=\"https:\/\/globalwheels-japan.com\/\"><strong>Globalwheels<\/strong><\/a> is based in Osaka but offers a delivery service and has a wide range of bikes available from 2,800 yen a day.<\/p>\n<p>If you prefer to buy your own bike, there are several cycle shops in Kobe such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cb-asahi.co.jp\/\"><strong>Cycle Base Asahi<\/strong><\/a> that sell a range of bicycles. Prices range greatly. A rough price guide is:<\/p>\n<p>City bikes \u2013 from 12,000 yen to 80,000 yen<br \/>\nElectric bikes \u2013 from 75,000 yen to 400,000 yen<br \/>\nSports bikes and mountain bikes \u2013 from 15,000 yen to 900,000 yen<br \/>\nFolding bikes \u2013 from 10,000 yen to 350,000 yen<\/p>\n<p>Many bike shops also offer cycle maintenance and parts replacement should you need anything. Stores such as <a href=\"http:\/\/yamadabike.com\/\"><strong>Yamada Bicycle<\/strong><\/a> offer permanent free maintenance for any bikes bought from their store.<\/p>\n<h2>Kobe routes<\/h2>\n<p>If you fancy getting out and really exploring Kobe and beyond by bicycle, there are some great routes that take you through or past some of the city&#8217;s many visual attractions. You can cycle to some of the nearby cities if you have a bit of time on your hands. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bikemap.net\/en\/r\/3579628\/#\/z11\/34.7130633,135.34862\/terrain\">Kobe to Osaka<\/a> is 34 km while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bikemap.net\/en\/r\/1824278\/\">Kobe to Kyoto<\/a> is 65 km and a bit more of a test as it&#8217;s hilly in parts.<\/p>\n<p>You can find local routes, trails and courses of all kinds at these websites:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mapmyride.com\/jp\/kobe-shi-hyogo\/\">https:\/\/www.mapmyride.com\/jp\/kobe-shi-hyogo\/<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bikemap.net\/en\/l\/1859171\/\">https:\/\/www.bikemap.net\/en\/l\/1859171\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u308f\u305f\u3089\u305b\u307f\u305a\u307b [<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>], <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:%E3%82%B5%E3%82%A4%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AB%E3%83%99%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9%E3%81%82%E3%81%95%E3%81%B2%E6%97%A9%E8%89%AF%E5%B0%8F%E7%94%B0%E9%83%A8.jpg\">via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japan is a bike-friendly country and many of its roads accommodate for cyclists with bike lanes. Cycling is a nice way of getting around, whether that be travelling from A to B or simply seeing the sights. If you want to cycle in Kobe, there are plenty of outlets where you can rent or buy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162,165,63],"tags":[72,74],"class_list":["post-3320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-friendly","category-kobe","category-outdoors","tag-hyogo-prefecture","tag-kobe-city"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50612,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3320\/revisions\/50612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}