PORT OF JAPAN
The grand loop, Kanazawa

Home / Kanazawa / Your day / Route

For a 10-hour call · Kanazawa

The grand loop

Long calls — garden, gold leaf, geisha lanes and the pool. Timed from the gangway and back.

8 hr door to door7 stopsNeeds a 10-hour call
Open the route in Maps
Photo: Lorenzo Castellino / Pexels
Door to door
8 hr
From the gangway and back
Best for
A 10-hour call or longer
Long calls — garden, gold leaf, geisha lanes and the pool
Room to spare
None
Fits a 10-hour stop with nothing to add (off the ship 30 minutes after arrival, back at the gangway an hour before all-aboard). A longer call gives you the extra time; on this one, do not add a stop.
What it costs
¥3,700
For the taxi in (per car), ¥220 a Loop Bus ride, ¥310 bus 04 back. Kenroku-en ¥320 (free at 65+). Omicho lunch ¥1,500–3,000.
Booking
Nothing
Every stop here takes walk-ups

Timed from the gangway with the port's official timetables · updated · Takumi Yamada

Numbers follow the route below. Pins are the places themselves; walking lines are not drawn because the best way between two stops can change with the tram, the tide or the weather.

The route

How the day runs

Times are from the moment you step off, not from the scheduled arrival. Everything shifts if your ship is late; the order does not.

  1. +0:00
    Taxi straight to Kenroku-en (15–20 min, about ¥3,700)

    No weekday bus leaves the port 07:25–10:10; at weekends bus 04 runs from 09:30

    What you will see hereFull guide: Kenroku-en
  2. +1:40
    21st Century Museum

    Free zone from 9:00, exhibition zone 10:00–18:00. Going under the pool needs an exhibition ticket and a same-day time slot. The exhibition zone is closed on Mondays

    What you will see hereFull guide: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
    21st Century Museum, Kanazawa
    Photo: 金沢市 / CC BY 2.1 jp
  3. +2:50
    Bus/taxi to Higashi Chaya district

    1820s teahouse lanes

    What you will see hereFull guide: Higashi Chaya
    Higashi Chaya teahouse district, Kanazawa
    Photo: くろふね / CC BY-SA 4.0
  4. +3:20
    Gold-leaf soft serve at Hakuichi + ateliers

    A whole sheet of gold, obligatory

    What you will see hereFull guide: Higashi Chaya
    Gold-leaf soft serve, Kanazawa
    Photo: jam_232 / CC BY 2.0
  5. +4:30
    Omicho Market late lunch

    The bowls calm down after 13:30

    What you will see hereFull guide: Omicho Market
    Seafood bowl at Omicho, Kanazawa
    Photo: 経済特区 / CC BY-SA 4.0
  6. +5:40
    Nagamachi samurai lanes if legs allow

    Earthen walls, the Nomura garden

    What you will see hereFull guide: Nagamachi
    Earthen walls along a lane in the Nagamachi samurai district, Kanazawa
    Photo: Andrea Schaffer from Sydney, Australia / CC BY 2.0
  7. +6:30
    Bus 04 or taxi back to the port

    Bus from Kanazawa Station West, stop 6: weekdays 15:00, 15:25, then 17:15 and 18:10 (last); weekends and holidays, last bus 15:45. Taxi from the station about ¥2,600

    What you will see here
    Kanazawa Castle Park, Kanazawa
    Photo: Benh LIEU SONG from Torcy, France / CC BY-SA 2.0
Would rather have it arranged?Kanazawa Full Day Private Tour to Top Highlights with Local GuideCovers the same garden-to-samurai-lanes loop with a private guide · from US$259 · 5.0★ — why we list it
The margin is not optional. This route ends an hour before all-aboard on purpose. If you are running late, drop the last stop, not the hour.
What the day looks like

Kanazawa, along this route

Real photographs of the places above and the streets between them. Every one is credited.

Kaga yuzen silk dyeing in Kanazawa
Kaga yuzen silk dyeing in KanazawaPhoto: Japanexperterna.se / CC BY-SA 2.0
Boiled snow crab, male and female, Kanazawa
Boiled snow crab, male and femalePhoto: Nishimuraya Kinosaki Onsen / CC BY 2.0
Omicho Market, Kanazawa
Omicho MarketPhoto: Adrian / CC BY 2.0
Higashi Chaya, Kanazawa
Higashi ChayaPhoto: Yoshihide Urushihara / CC BY-SA 2.0
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
21st Century Museum of Contemporary ArtPhoto: 金沢市 / CC BY 2.1 jp
Kutani ware at Kaburaki, Kanazawa
Kutani ware at KaburakiPhoto: 掬茶 / CC BY-SA 4.0
Different hours, different day

The other routes in Kanazawa

The rainy-day KanazawaA wet day · ~5hWet weather — and Kanazawa is wet, by designThe port-side secretNeeds a 4-hour call · ~2hShort calls — the realistic answer this far from downtownThe garden coreNeeds a 7.5-hour call · ~5.5hKenroku-en and its neighbors — the reason you docked
Pick your own stops instead →Back to the Kanazawa guide
Everything in one pageThe complete Kanazawa guide: berth, into town, your hours, tours that fitOpen the complete guide →