How to Spend a Day in Kanazawa & Kenroku-en

A full day, hour by hour

9:00 — Kenroku-en Garden

• Bus 6/7 from Kanazawa Station ¥210, 20 min
• Top-3 Japanese garden, 11.4 ha — exemplifies the "6 attributes": spaciousness, seclusion, age, refinement, water, panorama
• ¥320, open 07:00–18:00
• The 2-leg Kotoji lantern — its icon

11:00 — Kanazawa Castle

• Across the Ishikawa-mon bridge from Kenroku-en
• Maeda-clan castle (1583–1869), pure Edo
• ¥320

12:30 — Omicho Market lunch

• "Kanazawa's kitchen" — 280 stalls, 300 years old
• Sushi Mekiki no Ginji omakase ¥3,000
• Or Iki Iki Tei kaisendon ¥2,500 (uni + ikura + crab)

14:30 — Higashi Chaya geisha district

• Tram to Hashiba-cho, 5-min walk
• One of 3 historic geisha districts (alongside Kyoto's Gion + Pontocho)
• Matcha at Higashiyama Mizuho ¥1,000 set
• Kaikaro Geisha House ¥750 entry

16:00 — 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art

• Across from Kenroku-en
• Main ticket ¥1,200; the famous "Swimming Pool" by Leandro Erlich
• Open until 18:00

17:30 — Katamachi dinner

• Central nightlife district
• Izakaya + Kanazawa-style seafood sashimi

19:00 — Hotel / Nagoya

• JR Shinkansen Tsurugi Kanazawa → Nagoya 2.5 hr, ¥7,700

Quick facts

• Kanazawa gold leaf specialty — gold-leaf coffee ¥1,500, gold-leaf ice ¥850
• Early-April sakura + mid-November koyo — Kenroku-en has nightly illuminations
• Total cost: ¥1,500 transit + ¥3,500 food + ¥2,000 entries = ¥7,000

Suggested combo

2D1N in Kanazawa + day-trip Shirakawa-go (75-min bus).