From April 19 to 25, 2026, I traveled to Kanazawa(金沢) for six nights and seven days. The trip also included a day trip each to Shirakawago(白川郷) and Toyama(富山).
Now that I’m back, I want to put together some tips about traveling in Kanazawa, based on what I experienced firsthand.
Kanazawa is a famous, popular destination, so tourist information is easy to find and there’s plenty of it. So I think I’ll skip the obvious stuff.
So this epilogue is less a “complete summary” and more “light tips from personal experience.”
1. Why Kanazawa?
Before I get into the tips, let me talk briefly about why I chose Kanazawa for this trip.
An alternative to Kyoto, which is going through overtourism
My favorite city in Japan used to be Kyoto(京都). I went a lot, and often. I had shops I visited regularly, and I got to know the owners.
Kyoto has always been a city full of tourists. People pour in from all over the world. But it’s gotten worse since COVID. Just by feel, it seems like the numbers have grown by more than 1.5 times.
Kyoto is no longer a city that gives me rest. It’s become a place that hands me enormous stress and exhaustion in the middle of a trip. Tourists beyond a city’s carrying capacity — and I’m one of them — are a disaster, plain and simple.
Then I learned that Kanazawa, a city sometimes called a “little Kyoto” — though after visiting I don’t really think so — had preserved its old character well. And that piqued my interest.
I’d like to see Shirakawago at least once.
A scene from a photo that anyone interested in Japan has probably seen at least once. A quiet mountain village with snow piled on steep, pointed roofs.
Yes, that’s Shirakawago.
I’d wanted to go there at least once. And I heard it takes only about an hour by bus from Shirakawago to Kanazawa. So I figured a route based in Kanazawa with a trip out to Shirakawago would be doable.
And some smaller reasons.
When I travel, I mostly fly Korean Air. So I tend to pick destinations near cities Korean Air flies to. This time it was Komatsu(小松) Airport.
The fact that I’d never been to the Hokuriku(北陸) region in all my travels around Japan was another reason.
The place I’d visited right before, Karatsu(唐津), was a fairly small city, so that trip was a bit too quiet. So this time I also wanted to go to a city at least the size of a prefectural capital.
For reasons like these, I ended up choosing Kanazawa as my destination.
※ Related links
2. From Seoul to Kanazawa — Komatsu Airport
If Kanazawa itself is your only goal, there’s realistically no alternative to Komatsu Airport. It’s the closest airport to Kanazawa with an international route from Korea.
But quite a few travelers combine nearby spots like Kanazawa, Shirakawago, and Takayama(高山) into one trip. I understand those travelers sometimes take the Limited Express Hida from Nagoya(名古屋).
That said, since I should give tips based only on what I experienced and leave out what I didn’t, I’ll assume you’re using Komatsu Airport.
The biggest problem is the departure time
The biggest issue with Korean Air’s Incheon–Komatsu round trip is the departure time.
It leaves Incheon at 7:30 a.m., and on the way back it leaves Komatsu at 10:15.
As of July 2026, Korean Air is the only airline serving Komatsu, with exactly one flight a day. Still, it’s a relief that there’s one every day.
The departure is so early that it’s exhausting, but there really is no alternative. You could almost call it the single biggest obstacle to a Kanazawa trip.
From the airport to downtown Kanazawa, take the airport bus
There are about two ways to get from Komatsu Airport into downtown Kanazawa.
In my opinion, the airport bus to Kanazawa Station wins by a landslide. The downside is that you have to wait about an hour at the airport for the bus. Even so, it’s the better choice.
You’ll see this if you read the Komatsu airport bus timetable. The bus from Komatsu Airport to Kanazawa Station is scheduled to “depart 15 minutes after the domestic flight arrives.” So if the flight is late, the bus time probably slides back with it.
So in practice, use the airport bus timetable only for the Kanazawa Station → Komatsu Airport direction, and check again at the airport for the trip into the city.
The other way is to take the airport bus to Komatsu Station and then take a train to Kanazawa. But even doing that, you won’t reach Kanazawa any faster than the airport bus that goes straight to Kanazawa Station.
So I recommend just spending a little time at the airport and taking the airport bus that goes directly to Kanazawa Station.
※ Related links
▶ Komatsu Airport website
▶ Komatsu airport bus timetable
※ Related posts
# Komatsu Airport and APA Hotel — The Way to Kanazawa
3. Getting around Kanazawa
One good thing about sightseeing in Kanazawa is that the main points of interest are packed together very compactly. So if you just choose your lodging location well, you can use buses and taxis minimally and see the major sights on foot.
Even so, when you move from Kanazawa Station to your lodging, or to a slightly more distant spot — for example, somewhere like Higashi Chaya District — you’ll need to take a bus.
Get around town by bus
Kanazawa has no trams. So buses are your only option. The intervals between buses are far from short, and the last bus tends to stop running early, so check ahead of time, or consider a taxi in a pinch.
And Kanazawa Station is literally the “transit hub,” where nearly every bus stops.
At Kanazawa Station’s west plaza, buses heading out of the city tend to stop, and at the east plaza, buses circling the city center tend to stop.
Every bus takes credit cards; the Kanazawa Loop Bus also takes nationwide IC cards
You can board any bus in Kanazawa with a credit card right away. You just tap the card on the machine when you get on and when you get off.
The Kanazawa Loop Bus, which mainly circles the city’s major sights, also accepts Japan’s nationwide IC cards like ICOCA and PASMO. So this bus has two kinds of card readers, and you need to check whether it’s the credit card reader or the transit card reader before you tap.
When paying cash, as in any other Japanese city, you take a seiriken(整理券) when boarding and drop the fare for that number in cash when you get off. You can make change for a 1,000-yen bill yourself, right before you pay.
※ Related links
▶ Visit Kanazawa – How to ride buses in Kanazawa
※ Related posts
# Kanazawa Station — Kanazawa: Start Here, End Here.
4. Getting to Shirakawago(白川郷)
If you ask me whether it’s worth including Shirakawago in a Kanazawa trip, my answer is “yes.”
That is, unless you have a separate trip planned down the line that bundles in Shirakawago, Takayama, and other areas.
Famous places are famous for a reason, it turns out. I already knew from photos that the snow-covered winter scenery is stunning, but Shirakawago in April, as spring begins, was plenty beautiful too.
So let me lay out some things to keep in mind when making the trip from Kanazawa to Shirakawago.
Shirakawago is a world-famous destination — booking the bus is a must!
No need to explain. You absolutely must book in advance. You can book online, so definitely do it early!
For what it’s worth, I only tried to book after I’d already arrived, and maybe because it was the off-season, I luckily managed to reserve a bus two days out.
To book in person locally, go to the Hokuriku Railroad ticket office at Kanazawa Station’s west plaza. It’s right in front of where you actually catch the bus.
From the platform at Kanazawa Station to the Shirakawago terminal takes about an hour and twenty minutes.
You’ll need at least three hours; eat lunch a bit early
I think even a very quick look around Shirakawago takes more than two hours.
If you also want lunch, it’s a place where you should set aside at least three hours comfortably. The round-trip bus takes about three hours, so it’s really a course that uses up a whole day.
When lunchtime comes, restaurants fill up, tour groups included. There aren’t that many restaurants within the Shirakawago area, so eating a bit earlier than the lunch rush is a good move.
And a little way out of the village, over near the parking lot, the Gassho-zukuri Minkaen(白川郷合掌造り民家園) is a place where you can look around quietly, away from the crowds. I liked that you can see the entire interiors of the houses too.
If you also visit the Gassho-zukuri Minkaen, three hours won’t be enough. In my case, I had about five hours total to look around. It was a fairly relaxed amount of time, but even so, I don’t think I saw everything.
※ Related links
▶ Japan Bus Online
▶ Japan Bus Online: Kanazawa → Shirakawago, search results for 2026/12/25
▶ Shirakawago Tourist Association website – reservations for lodging, etc. also possible
▶ Shirakawago Gassho-zukuri Minkaen website
※ Related posts
# Shirakawa-go – Beating the Snow with a Steep Thatched Roof
# Gassho-zukuri Minka-en – Where the Crowds Thin Out, and the Thatched Houses Open Up
# Teuchi Soba-dokoro Nomura – Cold Soba Made from Mountain-Village Buckwheat
5. Sightseeing in Kanazawa
This might actually be the main part of this post. Information about sightseeing in Kanazawa really floods the internet. So I recommend looking up the specific places you need according to your own tastes and route.
What follows is what I experienced walking around myself.
One-line tips for each sightseeing spot
Kenrokuen(兼六園), Kanazawa Castle(金沢城), and Oyama Shrine(尾山神社) are best bundled into one course. They’re right next to each other.
For reference, the largest shrine in Kanazawa is Oyama Shrine. There’s also a place called Kanazawa Shrine(金澤神社), but it’s much smaller.
Higashi Chaya District(ひがし茶屋街) is a little too far to walk, so it’s a spot you’ll want to reach by bus. You can check bus routes on Google Maps. Don’t miss nearby Kazuemachi(主計町) either.
And I recommend wandering a bit more widely around Higashi Chaya District. It’s an area where a lot of traditional buildings remain, so the city of Kanazawa manages it as a landscape-preservation zone. Because of that, even the streets outside the Higashi Chaya District proper have a distinctive feel.
I strongly recommend visiting the Nagamachi Samurai District(長町武家屋敷跡). Its location is a bit awkward, though, so it’s hard to combine with other courses. I’d suggest pairing it with lunch around Katamachi(片町), and looking around it then.
Nishi Chaya District(にし茶屋街) is a small area and not that impressive, so you don’t have to go. That said, if your lodging is near Katamachi, it might be nice to see the Saigawa Ohashi(犀川大橋) bridge and take a short walk around the Saigawa(犀川) river.
The moment you enter the 21st Century Museum, put your name down for the “Swimming Pool” viewing. You can reach the waitlist sign-up page via the QR code in front of the ticket booth. The exhibition rooms are broken into small sections, so you can pop over quickly when your turn comes while you’re seeing other exhibits. Even in the off-season, you’ll wait more than 40 minutes after signing up.
The Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art and the D.T. Suzuki Museum(鈴木大拙館) are best bundled into one course. The path from the Prefectural Museum to the D.T. Suzuki Museum along a forest trail is lovely. And don’t miss the wide park in front of the Prefectural Museum.
Omicho Market(近江町市場) is a very large, spacious market. It’s a market that caters to tourists, so it won’t be cheap.
※ Related posts
# Nagamachi Samurai District – Not Kyoto, The Streets That Make Kanazawa Its Own
# Omicho Market – Kanazawa’s Kitchen, Taken Over by Tourists
# Ohoridori – Pleasant Walk Around Kanazawa Castle
# Oyama Shrine – To Me, It Was a Garden, Not a Shrine
# Kanazawa Castle – The Castle That Survived by Losing Its Keep
# Kenroku-en – This Garden Takes More Than One Photo
# Ishikawa Shiko Memorial Park – Peaceful Park — My Favorite in Kanazawa
# 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art – The Museum, Kanazawa, Present Day
# Ishiura Shrine and Kanazawa Shrine – Small Shrines, Deeper Than They Look
# Honda-no-Mori Park – The Park, Known as the Forest of Culture
# D.T. Suzuki Museum – ‘ZEN’ Experienced Through Space
# Yoshiro and Yoshio Taniguchi Museum of Architecture — Taniguchi & Son: Tradition Rendered in a Modern Language
# Katamachi Boulevard – Street Scenes: Kanazawa’s Shopping and Nightlife District
# Back Alleys of Katamachi – Street Scenes: Night Alleys, Most Missed
# Around the Sai River – Street Scenes: The Quieter Side of the Sai River
6. Kanazawa’s Downtown and Food
Part of what makes sightseeing in Kyoto appealing is its streets lined with beautiful traditional buildings, but I think its distinctive food culture is a big reason too. The same goes for Kanazawa. Sightseeing spots that blend the modern and the traditional surely make up a large share of Kanazawa’s appeal, but Kanazawa’s food culture has enormous appeal as well.
Kanazawa’s food
When it comes to Kanazawa, it’s definitely seafood. All kinds of fish are delicious. Among them, nodoguro (blackthroat seaperch), gasu-ebi, and shiroebi (white shrimp) are must-try, important seafood. That said, they’re a bit pricey. Don’t forget that Kanazawa is a famous tourist destination.
There’s a saying among Japanese people that “Kanazawa’s conveyor-belt sushi is as good as a proper sushi-ya in other cities.” I don’t recommend eating conveyor-belt sushi just to test that. Personally, I’d look for an inexpensive, casual sushi-ya.
In Japan, each region has its own distinctive oden. Kanazawa’s oden is famous too. My favorite is baigai (whelk) oden. You can basically think of it as simply blanched whelk, but it’s good because they carefully clean it and serve it with all the innards intact.
There’s a phrase, Kaga Hyakumangoku(加賀百万石). It refers to how the old Kaga(加賀) Domain — that is, today’s Kanazawa area — was a rich granary. And what happens when the water is clean and rice is plentiful? You get lots of good nihonshu. Ishikawa(石川) Prefecture has many fine local sakes too. Personally, I took a liking to the nihonshu from Tedorigawa(手取川).
Kanazawa curry tastes rather ordinary for how famous it’s said to be, but it’s not bad for a simple lunch.
Kanazawa’s downtown
Kanazawa’s top entertainment district is Katamachi(片町). The mood of 1-chome and 2-chome is a bit different. For a local nighttime atmosphere, it’s really 2-chome. Over on the 1-chome side, Tatemachi(竪町) looked like it had a cluster of somewhat stylish shops, and I’m sorry I didn’t get to look around it properly.
There are little shopping arcades packed with small but distinctive shops, like Kanazawa Chuo Mishokugai(金沢中央味食街), Shintenchi(新天地), and Yakitori Yokocho(やきとり横丁). It’s fun to wander alley by alley.
Maybe because it’s such a tourist-heavy city, people are fairly kind to outsiders, so I strongly recommend enjoying a Kanazawa night at various shops after dinner.
※ Related posts
# Ichigohan Bunke – Kanazawa Seafood Is Really Something
# Il Mare – Wandered In, Stayed for the People
# Kawabata Sengyo-ten – Best Kanazawa Seafood? Turned Out to Be Shrimp
# Hige no Mise – Tucked in a Local Alley, a Gem of a Wine Bar
# Mori Mori Sushi – Is Conveyor Belt Sushi in Kanazawa Worth It?
# Petit² – Wine Bar Tucked Away in a Back Alley
# Hiroko – Snack Bar or Stand, Whatever It Is, It’s Fun
# Ozeki — Last Night in Kanazawa, Best Meal of the Trip
# Katamachi Boulevard – Street Scenes: Kanazawa’s Shopping and Nightlife District
# Back Alleys of Katamachi – Street Scenes: Night Alleys, Most Missed
7. Shopping in Kanazawa
I’m not much of a shopper when I travel. Even so, I do occasionally shop for a gift my niece asked for, or cheap clothes and light daily necessities.
And at the end of a trip, I also buy things like sweets to share with my family.
For light shopping like this, the area around Kanazawa Station is more convenient.
Two shopping spots: near Kanazawa Station and Korinbo
If you want to shop in Kanazawa, there are broadly two spots. One is Kanazawa Station and the other is Korinbo(香林坊).
Inside and in front of Kanazawa Station, there’s a cluster of various shopping malls. Especially toward the end of a trip, for buying local specialty sweets to take home and share with family, Kanazawa Hyakubangai(金沢百番街) inside Kanazawa Station is great. Famous shops are gathered together there, and some let you sample.
For light household goods and the like, the mall in front of the station called Kanazawa Forus(金沢フォーラス) is good. Lots of brands are gathered there — Journal Standard, Uniqlo, ABC-Mart, Tower Records, Muji, and so on.
If you need to do proper shopping, I think the department stores and malls in Korinbo would be better, though I didn’t get to look around them properly myself.
※ Related links
▶ Kanazawa Hyakubangai website
▶ Kanazawa Forus website
8. The Real Epilogue
The tips I’ve shared are surely just a tiny slice of Kanazawa. It’s a city with so many travelers, so there must be plenty of other information out there.
What’s clear is that Kanazawa is that appealing a place.
And I think “Kanazawa as it is now,” while it has a great many tourists, isn’t in a state of overtourism yet. But if things keep going this way, it might someday become a city that, like Kyoto, gives you the stress of overtourism rather than the joy of travel.
So I strongly recommend going before that happens.
Oh, and since I had a day left in my schedule, I took a day trip to Toyama. If you ask whether you really need to squeeze Toyama into a Kanazawa trip, I don’t think you have to.
As for Toyama, I’ll talk about it again after I take a trip with Toyama as the main character.
※ Related posts
# Getting to Toyama – Twenty Minutes from Kanazawa: Toyama, the Prefectural Capital
# TOYAMA KIRARI – Kengo Kuma’s Toyama Kirari — The Interior Won Me Over, Not the Facade
# Koshinokuni Museum of Literature – Museum of Literature and Its Striking Cantilever
# Starbucks Kansui Park — The Starbucks They Call the World’s Most Beautiful
# Toyama Sodachi — Yakiniku to Restore My Energy
# Toyama Streets — Street Scenes: Rainy Toyama, Half a Day on Foot
9. Appendix: List of Restaurants and Bars I Visited
※ Restaurant and café posts
# Tsubajin — Lunch at a 350-Year-Old Ryotei → Highly recommended!!!
# POP BY COFFEE – First Steps, Wandering Kanazawa → Recommended!!!
# Teuchi Soba-dokoro Nomura – Cold Soba Made from Mountain-Village Buckwheat → Recommended!!!
# Turban Curry – Darkest Curry in Japan
# Mori Mori Sushi – Is Conveyor Belt Sushi in Kanazawa Worth It?
※ Bar and izakaya posts
# Hiroko – Snack Bar or Stand, Whatever It Is, It’s Fun → Highly recommended!!!
# Hige no Mise – Tucked in a Local Alley, a Gem of a Wine Bar → Highly recommended!!!
# Il Mare – Wandered In, Stayed for the People → Highly recommended!!!
# Nihonshu Makoto – Whole Lot of Ishikawa’s Local Sake → Recommended!!!
# Ozeki — Last Night in Kanazawa, Best Meal of the Trip → Recommended!!!
# Petit² – Wine Bar Tucked Away in a Back Alley
# Kawabata Sengyo-ten – Best Kanazawa Seafood? Turned Out to Be Shrimp
# Ichigohan Bunke – Kanazawa Seafood Is Really Something
