A New Classic 2-Day, 1-Night Itinerary for the Ancient City of Kanazawa: Historic Streets, Culture, and Great Food

This is a food-hall-style dining area with a yatai-like vibe where you can indulge in Omicho Market’s fresh ingredients, the kitchen of Kanazawa’s locals.
It consists of three shops: Kanazawa Oden Ippukuya, Hamayaki Sushi Shichifukumaru, and Hokuriku no Jizake Rokkaku.
The oden features carefully made dashi broth that draws out the best of each ingredient’s flavor.
Along with the winter-only kani-men (a seasonal crab specialty), kuruma-fu (wheat gluten), bai-gai (sea snail), daikon, and shrimp tempura are also popular.
For the hamayaki, the oysters and scallops grilled over charcoal right in front of the shop are especially recommended.
For sushi and seafood, favorites include nodoguro aburi sushi and shiroebi (white shrimp) karaage, both prepared by expert sushi chefs.
There are 50 kinds of local sake from the three Hokuriku prefectures, which you can enjoy alongside your food.
Inside, it is free seating in a yatai-style space, and once you secure a seat, it is a self-service system where you return your dishes after eating.
In the lively atmosphere unique to the market, you can enjoy your meal in whatever way suits you.

Head to Gallery & Cafe Kureha.
The first floor is a gallery that exhibits and sells Kaga Yuzen goods, as well as crafts by local creators, while the second floor is a cafe with a view over the Higashi Chaya District.
Operated by Eritora, a long-established kimono shop founded in 1776 (Anei 5), it also offers authentic Kaga Yuzen kimono rentals in addition to browsing the displays and items for sale.
After you’re dressed in the kimono of your choice, take your time strolling through the Higashi Chaya District.

Machi-ya Kanazawa KIKUNO-YA is one of the few places where you can experience both tea ceremony hospitality and geiko, in a setting shaped by the custom of “ichigensan okotowari” (no first-time visitors).
Before the geiko experience begins, you will be treated to authentic tea ceremony hospitality in an atmospheric tea room, with a formal tea-making performance by tea practitioner Yuta Takahashi.
During the geiko experience, you can watch the geiko perform taiko drumming and elegant dance.
Participants can also strike the taiko under the geiko’s guidance, and experience ozashiki-asobi.

Head to a seafood restaurant located in Omicho Market, one of Kanazawa’s most popular sightseeing spots.
Order the restaurant’s signature “Crab Course” centered on crab dishes, and enjoy crab to the fullest.
You can savor everything from crab sashimi, crab shabu-shabu, grilled crab, and tempura of Kaga vegetables to crab zosui (rice porridge).
They also offer a rich selection of a la carte dishes such as crab sashimi, grilled crab, and kobako crab.
There are two Crab Course options: “Kagayaki” for 17,380 yen (tax included) and “Kiwami” for 20,680 yen (tax included).
Other recommendations include the restaurant’s exclusive Kaisen Hitsumabushi and Nodoguro Hitsumabushi.
You can enjoy them three ways: as is, with uni soy sauce and condiments, and as dashi chazuke (rice with broth).
Using seasonal seafood carefully selected at the market each morning, the restaurant offers fresh, reasonably priced dishes such as sashimi and sushi.
With private rooms, sunken-floor seating, and counter seats, it is suited to business entertaining, dates, and family visits alike.
They also have a selection of local Ishikawa sake, and multilingual menus make it easy for tourists to feel at ease.

The place to heal your travel fatigue is Four Points Flex by Sheraton Kanazawa, located about 10 minutes by bus from Kanazawa Station.
It is part of Marriott International’s global portfolio, known for simple yet comfortable stays.
It is equipped with comfortable beds designed to support restful sleep.
Rooms also include a bathtub, mini fridge, electric kettle, work table, TV, and more.
Its smart spaces balance cleanliness with functionality.
The hotel also has laundry facilities, making it convenient for consecutive stays.
It also has the Japanese and Western dining restaurant Craic.
With easy access to Kenrokuen Garden and Kanazawa Castle, the first destinations on Day 2, it is a convenient base for sightseeing.

Kenrokuen Garden is a strolling-style garden, one of Japan’s Three Great Gardens, built by the Maeda family of Kaga over the course of about 180 years.
As you walk around ponds, artificial hills, and teahouses, you can enjoy seasonal scenery throughout the year.
Kanazawa Castle, adjacent to Kenrokuen Garden, was the fortified residence built by Toshiie Maeda.
Restored highlights include the Ishikawa-mon Gate, the Sanjukken Nagaya, and the Hishi Yagura, along with stone walls, moats, and gate bridges.
With different scenery by day and night, it is a place where you can experience history and nature at the same time.

This is a large-scale library in Kanazawa City that opened on May 21, 2011.
Its defining feature is the round windows designed by the architectural unit Coelacanth K&H.
This beautiful building, conceived as a “cake box,” has also been selected as one of the world’s Top 25 Most Beautiful Public Libraries.
About 6,000 round windows draw in light, brightening the interior.
It has a rich collection of materials related to the local themes of “the sea” and “manufacturing.”
The gallery and community exchange hall also host photo exhibitions and craft exhibitions on an ongoing basis.

Charcoal-Grilled Hamburg Tatehan is a specialty restaurant that grinds 100% domestic beef in-house daily and grills each order over charcoal.
By grilling over charcoal, it seals in the meat’s flavor and juices, and its fragrant hamburg steaks are popular.
To pair well with the hamburg, they use a blend of Ishikawa-grown rice, and keep it freshly cooked at all times using three 10 kg hagama (traditional rice-cooking pots).
You can get unlimited refills of white rice.
It is a welcome service for those who want to adjust the amount of rice to match their hamburg.
The interior is a calm space with the warmth of wood, where you can enjoy a relaxed meal at any time of day.
The view of the garden visible from inside the restaurant is also a highlight.
Enjoying the blend of the exterior, the shop, and the garden from the entrance is also part of the experience.
Its dinner service is also highly regarded, making it a place that satisfies both body and mind no matter when you visit.
Because it is popular, reservations via the official website are recommended.

This museum, opened in 2004, has the concept of being an “open museum.”
Its exhibitions overturn the conventional notion of what an art museum is, and it is among Japan’s most popular.
You can enjoy experiential contemporary art that makes use of light and water, and the museum is filled with features designed to help you engage with the works.
Designed by SANAA, the building is a circular structure open to the city, and its abundant glass connects different spaces, creating a mysterious sense of continuity you can experience firsthand.
It has a communication zone and an exhibition zone, and part of the permanent collection can be experienced for free.

To conclude your trip, head to Daimyojaya, located about 5 minutes on foot from Kanazawa Station.
Founded in 1962, it is a long-established kappo (fine Japanese dining) restaurant where you can enjoy Kaga kaiseki (traditional multi-course cuisine) using seafood from the Sea of Japan and Kaga vegetables at reasonable prices.
It is trusted by local luxury ryokan, and media coverage by gourmet programs is nonstop.
It is known as one of the city’s leading Kaga cuisine restaurants.
A specialty is crab cuisine featuring live crab with a blue tag delivered directly from Kanazawa Port.
They have courses that let you enjoy crab year-round, and it is also appealing that you can taste the rare golden crab.
The restaurant’s signature is the limited-time, reservation-required “Kani-zukushi Kaiseki,” which lets you enjoy crab to your heart’s content.
The limited-time, reservation-required “Beni-zuwaigani Crab Course” delivered directly from Kanazawa Port is also popular.
Beyond crab, you can also enjoy seasonal seafood such as firefly squid in spring, pike conger in summer, yellowtail in winter, and nodoguro (blackthroat seaperch).

Kaga Onsen Village consists of four distinct hot spring areas: Katayamazu Onsen, Yamashiro Onsen, Yamanaka Onsen, and Awazu Onsen. Located about 20 minutes by bullet train from Kanazawa, the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture, this region is steeped in the refined traditional culture of the Kaga Domain, which is evident throughout the area. From Kutani-yaki pottery workshops where you can try painting and pottery wheel experiences, to power spots, historic castle towns, and fishing ports, there's much more to explore beyond the hot springs.

The Chirihama Nagisa Driveway is a rare beach roadway where you can actually drive on the sand-one of the few in the world.
Located about 40 minutes to an hour by car from Kanazawa City, it stretches roughly 8 km along the shoreline. Cars, motorcycles, and even bicycles are allowed on the beach.

Thanks to the fine, tightly packed sand, the surface is firm enough to drive right beside the waves, offering an experience that feels straight out of a movie scene.
A drive at sunset is especially memorable, with the glowing sun sinking into the Sea of Japan creating a truly breathtaking view.

This hands-on, multi-purpose complex stands on the birthplace of Komatsu, a world-leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment.
Visitors are welcomed by a gigantic dump truck standing 7.3 meters tall-one of the largest in the world-and an ultra-large hydraulic excavator, with cockpit experiences available on select days.
At the Waku-waku Komatsu Future Pavilion, you can try operating a mini excavator or enjoy simulator games that recreate the power of large hydraulic machines.
The Waku-waku Komatsu History Museum showcases Komatsu’s technological and product evolution since its founding, featuring exhibitions, a theater, and an introduction to the company philosophy known as The Komatsu Way.
It’s a place where you can explore the inner workings and cutting-edge innovations of machines that are rarely accessible to the public-through engaging, hands-on experiences.