The city of Kanazawa sits on the coast of the Sea of Japan and is the administrative capital of Ishikawa Prefecture. It’s way off the typical tourist track, and foreigners don’t come round here too often.

That made our visit all the more charming. At the hotel, they were really happy to have guests from Germany and the rare chance to practise their English. At Omicho Market, we had a lovely chat with a Japanese guy who came up to us and curiously asked about our home country. Generally, Japan shows a completely different side away from its big cities, which you absolutely have to experience.

Even just arriving at Kanazawa central station is pretty impressive. A huge glass dome roof welcomes visitors, who then walk into the city through the Tsuzumi-mon, a massive modern wooden torii gate.

In this article, we’ll show you a few general impressions of the city. We’ve already shown the main tourist spots in the 2017 travel diary.

You can get to Kanazawa from Tōkyō on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. From Kyōto, the Thunderbird Limited Express takes you into the city, passing the statue of Kaga Onsen along the way. Both routes are included in the Rail Pass.

We only planned one day to see the city on our trip. Looking back, we really wish we’d stayed a bit longer, so we would’ve had time for the 21st Century Museum and a guided tour of the Ninja Dera.