We felt so lucky and jumped on the bus with our bags to drop them off at the bike hire shop right next to the station (they also sell ice cream 🍦). We decided to hire a standard bike and it was absolutely fine for what we needed, they cost us ¥1500 each. If you have an ok level of fitness I'd say don't waste money on paying extra for a mountain, cross or electric bike. As we hired bikes it only cost us ¥300 per bag to store for the day which was a bargain as the other shops were ¥500 each. In fact we picked up a brochure from the station and there were vouchers for bike shops inside so we got another ¥200 off the total price. We ended up heading off about 11am riding downhill to Kawaguchi lake when we got there we took a right to go anti-clockwise around the lake. The paths were fairly quiet and we were surprised that there weren't more people out cycling as it was such a nice day.
The paths around Kawaguchi were really easy for riding. The was a little road section but there wasn't much traffic so this felt fine. After about 8km we took a right turning up hill towards Lake Saiko. The ride to the lake is about 2km and it is pretty challenging we made it up ok but on heavy bikes with only 3 gears I think some people would be walking and pushing the bike up!
Once we got there we took a left to go round the lake clockwise. The main thing to note is that it's all on the road there's no riverside paths but there are great photo opportunities especially at the other side of the lake.
We made it to the halfway point about 2pm and decided to stop for food we found a burger restaurant which was ok but nothing special. We then left about 2:30pm and passed by Iyashionsato Japanese Village which was really pretty and again had great views of Mt. Fuji.
We then carried on cycling round the shorter side of the lake, the views were amazing so I would suggest riding this way around. However it was busy with coaches, buses and cars and I felt like I needed a helmet although most cars gave us enough room! On reaching Lake Kawaguchi again the ride is a mix of paths and roads. We stopped for an ice cream in a small park area and watched a guy jet skiing and flipping in the air!
When we finished we still had about 45mins before we needed to return the bikes so we made the short ride over Kawaguchiko Ohashi Bridge and then headed back up to the bike shop & station.Our experience of the bus journey to Tokyo was so slow we were 30 minutes late leaving and 1hr 30 mins late arriving so it took 3hrs 30mins. Not sure if this was because it's golden week but it felt like a long journey! We should have been more prepared and brought some food as we didn't arrive until 10pm and we were so hungry!
Overall we covered about 35km in 6hrs we did stop a lot to take pictures and we didn't rush so I think most people would make it round both lakes in this time. If it's a sunny day like ours you're in for a treat.
