The best things to do in Kanazawa, Japan

Kanazawa has lots of surprises in store for visitors. As well as being the home of Japan’s gold leaf production, it’s here you can visit one of Japan’s Great Gardens, and enjoy some green tea in a working geisha teahouse. It’s an attractive, navigable city with a lot of personality!

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Kanazawa is located in Chūbu region, which is the central part of Honshū, Japan’s main island. I spent two nights in Kanazawa on my most recent visit, which I would say is enough time to hit the main sights of the city. If you are interested in visiting some of the museums around Kenroku-en though I’d recommend giving yourself a bit longer to explore these.

I stayed at the Square Hotel Kanazawa, which was about 15 mins walk from the station and close to the Ōmichō Market which made it handy for catching the loop buses around the city. (The Square Hotel also had an indoor and outdoor sento, or public bath, which was amazing!)

The list below isn’t exhaustive but it should hopefully give you a flavour of what you can find in this varied city.

Getting to Kanazawa itself

By shinkansen/ regular trains

You can easily get to Kanazawa via a direct shinkansen from Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Toyama. You can also get a non-shinkansen direct train from Nagoya and Toyama, too.

The entrance to Kanazawa station is really impressive. As well as the massive drum gate, there’s also a cute water fountain clock!

When you’re travelling from Kanazawa station it’s worth noting that it can get really busy at times, with huge queues for ticket purchases from the ticket office. The machine queues aren’t too bad though.

Getting to Kanazawa by bus from Takayama, via Shirakawa-go

Shirakawa-go is a UNESCO World Heritage site where you can see houses with thatched roofs constructed in the traditional gasshō-zukuri style. To be honest my visit to Shirakawa-go itself was a bit of a disaster but getting from Takayama to Kanazawa was absolutely fine.

You can buy bus tickets online as well as at Takayama bus station. Both have their pros and cons – if you buy tickets at the bus station you’ll get paper copies of your tickets, and the lovely staff there speak English. However, you’ll need to work out how much time you want to spend in Shirakawa-go before you go as you’ll need to make a decision there and then.

If you book online you can pick which bus times you want at your leisure, although the website can be a bit of a faff to use and you will also have to book the bus from Takayama to Shirakawa-go, and then the next bus from Shirakawa-go to Kanazawa. You’ll also need to take screenshots of your tickets with the seat number as my internet didn’t work in some parts of Shirakawa-go, even with my pocket wifi. Overall though, buying my tickets online was absolutely fine, and it was a pleasant journey.

You can’t use IC cards on the bus, although you can use the Takayama-Hokuriku Area Tourist Pass.

Getting around Kanazawa

Getting around Kanazawa is easy once you’ve gotten the hang of the Left and Right Loop buses that go around the main tourist spots. You can use your IC card here which makes things a lot easier, and the name of the bus is listed in English on the display so you can tell which bus you need. As the name suggests, the left loop goes around the route anti-clockwise, with the right loop going around the route clockwise. 

Things to see and do in Kanazawa

Immerse yourself in nature at Kenroku-en

Established during the Edo period (1603 -1868) and opened to the public in 1874, Kenroku-en is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan. It’s 320 Yen to enter (cash only) and you can come and go as you please as long as you show your ticket upon re-entry.

The carefully considered layout of the garden means there’s lots to see, from statues to waterfalls. I found the map a bit intimidating so I enjoyed just wandering around and seeing what I could find. 

Whenever you’re visiting you’re likely to see something interesting, whether it’s cherry blossom in the Spring, flowers in the Summer, fiery leaves in the Autumn or perhaps some snow in Winter. There’s a floral calendar here.

I visited in December and whilst there wasn’t any snow, it was interesting to see the yukitsuri, which are the ropes attached to some of the larger trees to protect them from heavy snow.

There are also teahouses and a shop on-site in case you want to pick up some traditional souvenirs, and in the southern corner of the garden is Kanazawa shrine. At the centre of the garden is the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Traditional Arts and Crafts. I didn’t go in, but it costs 260 Yen (about £1.75/ $2) to enter. Bargain!

Meet Kima-chan at Ishiura shrine

Opposite the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art (where there are some outdoor exhibits to see if you don’t want to go into the museum itself) is Ishiura shrine, the oldest shrine in Kanazawa. (It was originally known as Miwa shrine but was renamed when Buddhism and Shintoism were separated during the Meiji period).

Here, in addition to the main shrine there’s a short path you can take through some small torii gates, like a mini Fushimi Inari. The shrine also has an adorable mascot called Kima-chan, and you can purchase omamori featuring Kima-chan as well as lots of colourful dotty omamori. (You can see these here!)

Admire some architecture at Oyama shrine

Positioned on the edges of Kanazawa Castle park, the entrance to Oyama shrine is a little bit different, as it fuses together lots of architectural influences from the Netherlands, China, and of course, Japan. The stained glass window is small but pretty!

Visit Yasue Gold Leaf Museum

Kanazawa accounts for 99% of Japan’s domestic gold leaf production, and as you might expect it is used in all sorts of goods, from food and drink to jewellery. I even saw sheet face masks for your skin! 

There are a number of stores selling high-end items covered in gold leaf in the Higashi Chaya district (more to come on that below) and nearby you can find the Yasue Gold Leaf museum. I hadn’t planned to visit here originally but as it was raining heavily I thought I would take a look. 

It’s only 310 Yen to enter (about £2/$3) and although it looks slightly underwhelming as you enter (there’s a lot of empty space), the exhibition is actually upstairs.

Despite first appearances, it’s actually really interesting! The museum takes you through the process of how gold leaf is made in Kanazawa, and the traditional methods that are used. There are explanations and subtitles in English, and there are hands-on activities which help to explain some of the science behind it all. There are also artworks incorporating gold leaf which were interesting to see up close.

When I visited there was also a temporary exhibit of modern gold leaf art created by contemporary artists, which was really cool to see (sadly you weren’t allowed to take photos).

Explore Higashi Chaya District

There are three teahouse districts in Kanazawa, however I visited the Higashi Chaya District, which is the largest of these districts. All the buildings here are Edo-style houses, similar to what you might see in Kyoto’s Gion district or in the preserved streets of Takayama.

Although it was raining and there wasn’t a whole lot open (which I think in part was due to it being off-season and midweek), there were still some really cool experiences to be had here.

Step back in time at Shima teahouse

Shima is a preserved teahouse where visitors can see where and how geisha used to entertain their guests in the olden days. 

It’s 500 Yen to enter and there are storage lockers and shelves to store your bags and shoes. It doesn’t take too long to look around but it’s interesting to see the space in which geisha used to perform, and imagine what it must have been like to be a guest, and alternatively, what it must have been like to live and work in such a place. 

Have some delicious tea at Kaikaro teahouse

A few steps away from Shima is Kaikaro, a working teahouse where Geisha still perform on an evening. During the day though it’s open to the public for tea and self-guided tours.

When you pay for entry, you can also select a drink and wagashi (traditional Japanese sweet) to have if you’d like. You pay for both the tour and your beverage there and then, and can choose if you’d like to explore the building first, or get your tea first instead. 

Having tea in Kaikaro was such a lovely experience. It wasn’t busy so I was able to sit (well, kneel) by the hibachi, which is the traditional sunken fireplace in the middle of a room. If you have difficulty kneeling, there are chairs available (I was struggling after about 15 minutes but made it through). 

I had ordered a green tea and a sweet. The green tea was garnished with flecks of gold leaf and arrived in a beautiful cup depicting snow falling amongst pine branches to reflect the season. The sweetness of the wagashi balanced the bitterness of the green tea perfectly. 

After the tea I went on the self-guided tour up the polished vermillion stairs and around the teahouse. I was given an English pamphlet which explained a bit more about the use of each of the rooms. It was so bright and colourful – one room was bright red, the other ultramarine. One room was also golden, with gold paint on the walls and gold thread used in the edging of the tatami matting.

Upon reflection, visiting Shima before Kaikaro was a great way to compare the two teahouses and also to imagine how Shima might have looked if it was still being used today.

Spot the ninja at Utatsu Shrine

If you’re wandering round the shops in the Higashi Chaya district anyway, Utatsu shrine is worth a quick look – if only to see if you can spot the ninja!