Kenroku-en garden and Kanazawa old quarters

Kenroku-en is ranked with Kairaku-en in Mito and Koraku-en in Okayama as one of Japan's three great gardens, and it was shaped over generations by the Maeda lords of Kanazawa. Its name refers to six qualities a perfect garden should balance, from spaciousness to seclusion. The two-legged Kotoji lantern by the pond is the city's emblem, and the streams run on water channelled from a river upstream by gravity alone, feeding a fountain that still works without pumps.

The 3-hour option walks the garden with admission included, then crosses to Kanazawa Castle Park next door with its white-walled gates and long stone ramparts. The 5-hour version adds Higashi Chaya, a geisha district of wooden teahouses where the city's gold-leaf craft is on display. For a fuller day, the 10-hour combo continues to Shirakawa-go, and a 12-hour route reaches Kanazawa from Osaka or Kyoto and returns the same evening by coach.

Each season changes the garden completely. Plum and cherry blossom fill spring, irises line the streams in early summer, and maples redden in autumn. From November, gardeners rig yukitsuri, rope cones that keep snow from snapping the pine branches, which is the image most people associate with Kenroku-en. Paths are gentle gravel. Kanazawa escaped wartime bombing, so the streets around the garden still feel old, and gold-leaf sweets are an easy thing to bring home.