Chirihama Nagisa Driveway is an 8-kilometer-long beach from north to south in Hakui City, in the center of Ishikawa Prefecture. It is the only sandy beach in Japan where you can ride a bicycle along the beach because the sand grains are fine and firm.
I went to Chirihama Nagisa Driveway, which I had been curious about for some time because it was a perfect cycling day.
I have driven there many times by car, but never by bicycle, so I was excited.

Bicycle rental at Chirihama Rest House

The start is Chirihama Rest House. I rented a cross bike here.
The rental bikes are Bridgestone cross bike TB1, 500 yen for 3 hours or 1000 yen for a whole day (10:00am-4:45pm), very reasonable.

Sand sculptures are made by the side of the parking lot.

There is also a corner of manga by Rumiko Takahashi and “SPY x FAMILY.”

Chirihama Nagisa Driveway

I immediately went to Chirihama Nagisa Driveway. The sandy beach is just below the rest house.

The sandy beach has a width of about six lanes in a wide place and about three lanes in a narrow place.
The hard and tight beach seems to be able to run comfortably even with thin tires of road bikes like asphalt a little softer than sandy beaches.

It is so hard that tire marks hardly stick.

A very friendly-looking couple from Aichi Prefecture.
They were enjoying riding on the sandy beach with MTB. Cycling in the ocean breeze and looking at the horizon is really nice.

You can also ride along the edge of the waves like this.

Seagulls also seem to feel good.

About 6 km from Chirihama Rest House, I arrived at Imahama exit of the turnaround.

Near Imaham exit, there are several beach houses called “Hamachaya” in this area. I went to “Luana” among them.

It is very stylish in a tropical style.

The menu includes everything from the standard items such as grilled clams and yakisoba noodles to cocktails and cakes that you won’t find at other Hamachayas.

There are five kinds of cream soda alone.

Roadside Station Noto Chirihama

On the way back, we drove along  Chirihama Nagisa Driveway and made a detour on the way to “Roadside Station Noto Chirihama”. It is located just outside Chirihama Interchange exit to the public road.
There are vending machines selling local sweets and a gelato shop popular in Noto. There is also a free footbath.

The name of the foot bath “Daikon Radish Foot Bath”, was named after the daikon radish, a specialty of Hakui, rather than “daikon foot,”  (beer barrel legs) which is the general meaning of the word.

Euphoria Chirihama

Euphoria Chirihama is a natural hot spring located 300m from Roadside Station Noto Chirihama.
It is also a good place to work up a sweat after cycling.

The goal is Chirihama Rest House

I kept riding 900m on the public road, and arrived at Chirihama Rest House. The distance was about 13km in total, and the time was 2 hours and 40 minutes.
The sandy beach cycling is the end after eating the squid dumpling of Chirihama specialty.

Course Introduction

▼ Bicycle rental information
Chirihama Rest House

▼Access from Tokyo / Tokyo metropolitan area
By train: 3h and 20min.   From JR Tokyo Station  to Hakui Station by Hokuriku Shinkansen and JR Nanao Line (express use)

▼Access from Osaka/ Kansai area
By train: 3h and 5min.  From JR Osaka Station to Hakui Station via Kanazawa Station (by express)

▼By plane and car
・From Noto Airport: about 50 min. by car
・From Komatsu Airport: about 60 min. by car
・From Toyama Airport: about 70 min. by car

Summary

It was a very pleasant cycling experience with the smell of the sea and the sea breeze.
Time seemed to flow more slowly than usual, and I spent it in a very luxurious way.
Hodatsu Shimizu Town, next to Hakui, is home to Mt.Hodatsu, Noto’s highest mountain. There is also a hill climb course with a distance of 6.2 km and an average gradient of 8.7%, so if you are proud of your legs, why not give it a try?
Chirihama is also famous as a sunset spot, and if you are lucky, you may see a sunset that turns the entire sky bright pink.