- Time: 4 hours
- Fee: ¥40,000 (about US$266)
- Expenses: about ¥1,500 per person
- Time: 6 hours
- Fee: ¥60,000 (about US$399)
- Expenses: about ¥3,000 per person
Kanazawa is the perfect add-on to the standard Tokyo-Kyoto trip. It’s a small city that is filled with superb sights, including one of Japan’s most famous gardens, preserved geisha districts and some of the best sushi in the land. Our 4- and 6-hour tours are designed to show you the best of this beautiful city in a short time.
Kanazawa 4-Hour Tour
Your guide will meet you at Kanazawa Station or your hotel/ryokan and take you to old geisha districts, stopping at a gold leaf shop to learn about how gold leaf is made. Then you will walk through Kanazawa Castle ruins to reach Kenroku-en Garden, one of Japan’s top three gardens. After touring the sites, your guide will escort you back to Kanazawa Station or give you advice about things to see on your own later in the day. If the tour is in the morning, your guide will help you to your lunch venue.
Kanazawa 6-Hour Tour
Kanazawa Kenroku-en (photo by David Sanz)
Our 6-hour Kanazawa tour is similar to our 4-hour tour (above) but after visiting Kenroku-en, you will make a short stop for lunch in the area. Then you’ll travel along secret paths to the stunning D.T. Suzuki Museum where you will learn about the man who introduced Zen Buddhism to the West. The garden at this museum is the perfect embodiment of Zen Philosophy. If you start your day at 9am, you will still have some time to visit other museums or Omicho Market on your own.
As with all our tours, these tours are totally private — you’ll enjoy the incredible sights of Kanazawa in the company of your family and friends and no one else. This is the intelligent way to enjoy one of Japan’s richest historical cities.
The 4-hour tour costs ¥40,000 (about US$266) and the 6-hour tour costs ¥60,000 (about US$399). In addition, we ask that you cover your own expenses on the route (entry fees, snacks, meals, transport etc). We also ask that you cover the guide’s transport and meals (the guide only eats on the 6-hour tour). You do not have to cover the guide’s entry to the sights, because licensed guides do not pay admission fees. The expenses on the 4-hour tour average around ¥1,500 per person. The expenses on the 6-hour tour average around ¥3,000 per person.
Please note that if you are 65 years of age or older, entry to Kenroku-en Garden is free and entry to the D.T. Suzuki Museum is discounted. Please bring ID to prove your age to take advantage of this.
For information on fees, please see the Fees page. To book a tour, contact us.
Photos by David Sanz and Tomoaki Inaba.
