Kanazawa
Kanazawa makes ninety-nine per cent of Japan's gold leaf, beating a piece of alloy the size of a stamp until it covers a tatami mat. It escaped the bombing, so its samurai quarter is original.
Kanazawa in a nutshell
Kanazawa: what to expect
This page is built on 562,000+ stops planned across Japan on Stippl.
Kanazawa is a two-night city and it is unusually clear about being one. Kenrokuen is one of the three great gardens of Japan and opens early enough to be walked nearly empty. Nagamachi still has its earthen walls, its canals and the Nomura samurai residence; Higashi Chaya has the teahouses, Kaikaro among them; and Myoryuji, nicknamed the Ninja Temple for its hidden tunnels, trapdoors and staircase maze, has no ninja connection at all. Most travellers give Kanazawa 2 nights on Stippl.
Kanazawa is unusually decisive about how long it wants. 44.1% of Kanazawa stops planned on Stippl are exactly two nights, and only 3.21% are day trips. Most places in the country split between one night and two; here the plans agree, because the garden, the samurai quarter, the teahouse district and the museum are four half-days and they do not compress.
Two nights, and settle Myoryuji before you arrive. The Ninja Temple takes advance phone reservation and turns people away without one. Reach Kenrokuen ten minutes before it opens and walk it empty, then take Nagamachi on foot and Higashi Chaya in the late afternoon. Omicho Market has been running three hundred years and is where lunch is. The 21st Century Museum holds Leandro Erlich's Swimming Pool, ten centimetres of water over glass so that the people below appear to stand at the bottom of it.
Per chi è Kanazawa
History and crafts travellers
for the samurai quarter, the chaya districts and the gold leaf
Art travellers
for the 21st Century Museum, which is a genuine international-standard collection and not a provincial afterthought
Food travellers
for Omicho and for Kanazawa's own dishes
Anyone doing the Alps corridor
our data puts Shirakawa-go and Takayama as Kanazawa's two strongest companions by a wide margin
Quando andare a Kanazawa
Winter
December–February
snow, damp, and the yukitsuri rope cones going up over the Kenrokuen pines. Coldest and quietest, and the emptiest stretch in our own planning data
Blossom
late March–April
the start of the recommended window, and Kenrokuen is free during blossom season
Green season
May
green, mild and the most comfortable month before the rains
Rainy season and summer
June–August
hot, humid and wet, with July the wettest month by most measures and August the hottest; the Hyakumangoku Festival falls on the first weekend of June
Autumn
September–November
the colour season and the busiest stretch in our own data, with October alone taking 14.1% of planned starts
- Hyakumangoku Festival: first Friday, Saturday and Sunday of June. Re-enacts Toshiie Maeda's entry into Kanazawa Castle: taiko, shamisen, lion dances, marching samurai and a street dance said to involve over 10,000 people
- Kaga Fire-fighters' New Year event: first Sunday of January, at Kanazawa Castle. Free; Edo-period fire-fighting drills
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Cosa non perdere a Kanazawa
Kenrokuen at opening.
7:00 (1 Mar–15 Oct) or 8:00 (16 Oct–end Feb). Our own data tip is to arrive ten minutes before and walk it nearly empty; both sources say the same thing in different words
Myoryuji, the "Ninja Temple".
No ninja connection: the nickname comes from its hidden tunnels, trapdoors, concealed rooms and staircase maze, built so the Maeda could signal the castle under attack. Advance telephone reservation is required; English-speaking staff are available. Tours run in Japanese with an English printed translation
Nagamachi on foot
earthen walls, canals, the Nomura samurai residence and the Shinise Kinenkan (a restored pharmacy, telling the merchant side of the same century)
The 21st Century Museum
and specifically Leandro Erlich's Swimming Pool: 10 cm of water over a glass floor, so people below appear to stand at the bottom of a full pool
Gold leaf workshops
at Gold Leaf Sakuda and elsewhere, applying leaf to a small object yourself
Kaikaro teahouse
the largest chaya in Higashi Chaya at over 195 years old, with a tea room matted in paper woven with gold. Geisha performances remain invitation-only; the rooms are open to the public
I quartieri di Kanazawa
Higashi Chaya District
first-timers
The largest and best-preserved of three chaya (teahouse) districts, north of the Asano river. Edo-period two-storey wooden teahouses with lattice facades, the only two-storey wooden buildings feudal law allowed. A tourist magnet by day that empties after sunset.
Edo-period two-storey teahouses, the only style feudal law once allowed here.
Kenroku-en · Castle · Museums
art-lovers
The green core: the garden, the castle park, the 21st Century Museum and the D.T. Suzuki Museum all within a walk. The city's most-visited block.
One of Japan's three great gardens, plus the castle and two major museums.
Omicho Market Area
eating
A covered market of ~170–200 stalls, running 300+ years, on Sea of Japan seafood: crab, yellowtail, shrimp, plus produce and lacquerware. Bridges the station and the historic core.
A 300-year-old covered market of Sea of Japan crab, yellowtail and shrimp.
Nagamachi Samurai District
walking, photography
High earthen walls and canal-lined lanes west of Korinbo, the best-preserved mid-ranking samurai quarter in Japan. Quiet, residential, and the most photogenic streets in the city.
Japan's best-preserved mid-ranking samurai quarter, with canal-lined lanes.
Korinbo · Katamachi
foodies
The commercial and after-dark district, department stores giving onto back alleys of izakaya and bars. The city's social hub and the practical base for food.
Department stores giving onto back alleys of izakaya bars after dark.
Kanazawa Station
budget travellers
The transit hub under the wooden Tsuzumi-mon gate, and the densest supply of capsule hotels and business hotels.
The transit hub under the wooden Tsuzumi-mon gate, with the most budget hotel stock.
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Dove alloggiare a Kanazawa
Three bases, three trade-offs: see Neighbourhoods. Station for price and early trains, Korinbo/Katamachi for food, Higashi Chaya for atmosphere
Higashi Chaya District
The largest and best-preserved of three chaya (teahouse) districts, north of the Asano river. Edo-period two-storey wooden teahouses with lattice facades, the only two-storey wooden buildings feudal law allowed. A tourist magnet by day that empties after sunset.
Kenroku-en · Castle · Museums
The green core: the garden, the castle park, the 21st Century Museum and the D.T. Suzuki Museum all within a walk. The city's most-visited block.
Omicho Market Area
A covered market of ~170–200 stalls, running 300+ years, on Sea of Japan seafood: crab, yellowtail, shrimp, plus produce and lacquerware. Bridges the station and the historic core.
Nagamachi Samurai District
High earthen walls and canal-lined lanes west of Korinbo, the best-preserved mid-ranking samurai quarter in Japan. Quiet, residential, and the most photogenic streets in the city.
Korinbo · Katamachi
The commercial and after-dark district, department stores giving onto back alleys of izakaya and bars. The city's social hub and the practical base for food.
Kanazawa Station
The transit hub under the wooden Tsuzumi-mon gate, and the densest supply of capsule hotels and business hotels.
Cosa mangiare a Kanazawa
thick, dark Japanese curry over rice with a breaded pork cutlet and cabbage
duck or chicken dusted in flour, simmered with wheat gluten
raw Sea of Japan seafood, snow crab, yellowtail, sweet shrimp, over rice
tasteless, edible gold leaf on soft-serve ice cream, made for the photograph
roasted stem tea, Kaga-style, served instead of matcha
local nihonshu poured at the city's Tabelog-listed izakaya
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Cultura ed etichetta
Sì
- Reserve Myoryuji by phone before you arrive. It is the one thing in the city that turns people away
- Go early. The garden, the market and the chaya districts all reward the first hour
- Check Omicho closing days for the day you plan to go: they vary shop by shop
No
- Don't expect geisha performances to be bookable. Dining with geisha at a chaya is by invitation; the buildings are open, the performances are not
- Don't plan Higashi Chaya for the evening: it closes down around 18:00
Budget giornaliero a Kanazawa
Budget
€70–80
a capsule or business hotel bed near the station, Omicho market meals, the Loop Bus day pass
Mid-range
€100–150
a Korinbo hotel, Kenrokuen and the castle, a chaya teahouse visit
High-end
€250+
a Higashi Chaya stay, Kaikaro's tea room, the Hokuriku Shinkansen in from Tokyo
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Curiosità su Kanazawa
99% of Japan's gold leaf is made here. A 23 mm piece of gold alloy is beaten until it covers a full tatami mat, about 1.6 m², at 1/10,000 mm thick
Kanazawa was among the largest Japanese cities outside Kyoto and Edo for much of the Edo period, and escaped WWII bombing almost entirely
Oyama Shrine's gate was designed with Dutch influence: stained glass in its upper storey, and it once served as a lighthouse
Kenrokuen means "Garden of the Six Sublimities": spaciousness, seclusion, artificiality, antiquity, abundant water and broad views, the six attributes Chinese landscape theory says cannot coexist
One of Japan's oldest fountains sits below Kasumigaike pond, driven purely by the drop in elevation from a water system built in 1632; it throws water 3.5 m
Iohzan, a municipal ski hill with two lifts, is inside the city boundary, open roughly late December to early March and reachable by public transport
Consigli locali per Kanazawa
Kyoto now means a change
the Hokuriku Shinkansen was extended to Tsuruga on 16 March 2024 and the Thunderbird limited express no longer runs through to Kanazawa; passengers change at Tsuruga in both directions. Any guide written before March 2024 gets this wrong, and a lot of them are still online
Tokyo is the easy approach
Kyoto is the awkward one, which is the reverse of what the "Kyoto without the crowds" framing implies
Take the Loop Bus to the chaya
it is the practical way to reach Higashi Chaya from the walkable core
A low-crime provincial city
no source raises a safety concern about Kanazawa
Domande frequenti su Kanazawa
It sits off the Tokyo to Kyoto corridor, so it costs a leg either way: two and a half hours from Tokyo on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, about two from Kyoto with a change. Lay it into the route in Stippl as two nights rather than a stop-off. Then ask people who went, in subreddits like r/JapanTravel.
Two nights for most. 29.6% of Kanazawa stops planned on Stippl are a single night and 26.4% run to three or more, so the city holds people rather better than a one-garden reputation would suggest. Four half-days is the honest shape of it.
By advance phone reservation, and there is no way around it. Myoryuji is nicknamed the Ninja Temple for its hidden tunnels, trapdoors, concealed rooms and staircase maze, none of which has anything to do with ninja: it was built so the Maeda could signal the castle under attack. Visits are guided and timed.
Ten minutes before it opens, which is early: seven in the morning for most of the year and eight in winter. It is one of the three great gardens of Japan and it fills quickly, so walking it nearly empty is a different experience from queueing through it. The castle is next door on a combined ticket.
About one route in nine: 11.3% of Japan trips planned on Stippl include Kanazawa. It is the main stop on the Hokuriku side, and most of the people who go are riding a loop rather than the straight run between Tokyo and Kyoto.
For the temple and the ryokan, yes. Travellers leave 116 days between planning a Kanazawa stop on Stippl and arriving, close to four months, and October is the busiest planning month here. Myoryuji in particular needs its reservation made well before you land.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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