Hamilton & Chase Tours
Private tours in Kanazawa, Japan

Private Kanazawa Tours

Kanazawa appears in 3 of our itineraries across Japan, ranging from 10–14 days. Every one is private, and every one can be reshaped around the time you want to spend here.

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From our itineraries

What a day in Kanazawa looks like.

Taken from the itineraries themselves — these are real days from trips we run, not a generic description of the city.

Day 7 · Japanese Alps & Mountains

Kanazawa: The City That Escaped the War

Kanazawa was Japan's second-largest city after Edo (Tokyo) in the Edo period and is the only major Japanese city that was neither bombed nor significantly damaged in the 20th century — the result is the most complete collection of Edo-period urban fabric in Japan. The Kenroku-en garden, one of the three great gardens of Japan, has been accumulating its trees, ponds, and stone lanterns for three centuries. The Higashi Chaya geisha district: three blocks of 19th-century machiya townhouses preserving the architecture of the entertainment district that served Kanazawa's merchant class. The Omicho market, operating on the same site since the 1700s, where the Kanazawa seafood — the snow crab, the buri yellowtail, the noto oysters — is the best in Japan after Hokkaido. Dinner at a restaurant in the Higashi Chaya district with the Kanazawa seafood as the focus.

  • Kenroku-en — one of the three great gardens of Japan
  • Higashi Chaya geisha district — intact Edo-period townhouses
  • Omicho market — Kanazawa's extraordinary seafood

Day 4 · Ancient Japan

Kanazawa: The Unbombed City

Kanazawa was Japan's second-largest city in the Edo period and the only major Japanese city not bombed in the 20th century — the result is the most complete collection of Edo-period urban fabric in existence. The drive or express train from Nikko to Kanazawa takes the mountain roads through the Nagano basin. Your afternoon in Kanazawa: Kenroku-en garden, one of the three great gardens of Japan, whose 300-year accumulation of trees, ponds, and stone lanterns represents the highest expression of the Japanese strolling garden tradition. The Higashi Chaya geisha district, three blocks of intact 19th-century machiya townhouses. The Omicho market with its extraordinary Japan Sea seafood. Dinner at a Kanazawa restaurant whose menu is the gold standard of the Japan Sea coast: snow crab, fatty yellowtail buri, and the cured Kanazawa kaga cuisine.

  • Kenroku-en — one of the three great gardens of Japan
  • Higashi Chaya geisha district — intact Edo-period townhouses
  • Omicho market — Japan Sea seafood at its finest

Day 6 · Epic Japan

Kanazawa: Edo Japan Intact

The Shinkansen and limited express train from Odawara to Kanazawa takes three hours via Nagoya. Kanazawa was Japan's second-largest city in the Edo period and is the most complete preservation of that era's urban fabric. Kenroku-en garden — one of the three great gardens of Japan — in the afternoon. The Higashi Chaya geisha district, the Omicho market, and the Kanazawa seafood dinner that the Japan Sea coast produces: snow crab, buri yellowtail, and the lacquerware tableware that the Kanazawa craft tradition has been making since the 16th century.

  • Kenroku-en garden — 300 years of accumulation
  • Higashi Chaya geisha district
  • Omicho market — Japan Sea seafood

Itineraries

3 tours visit Kanazawa.

Epic Japan — Private Package 14-day tour: The complete Japan circuit — Tokyo to Fukuoka, covering every region in fourteen days.
14 Days
From €6,490 per person

JAPAN

Epic Japan

Private · Semi-Private · Self-Guided

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JAPAN

Epic Japan

The complete Japan circuit — Tokyo to Fukuoka, covering every region in fourteen days.

Cities You'll See

Tokyo · Nikko · Hakone · Kanazawa

Highlights

  • Tokyo’s three cultural layers — ancient, modern, and digital
  • Kanazawa — the unbombed Edo city with Japan’s finest seafood
  • Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Miyajima’s floating shrine

14 Days / 13 Nights

From €6,490

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Ancient Japan — Private Package 11-day tour: Tokyo, Kanazawa, four days in Kyoto, Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial, Miyajima, and Osaka.
11 Days
From €5,290 per person

JAPAN

Ancient Japan

Private · Semi-Private · Self-Guided

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JAPAN

Ancient Japan

Tokyo, Kanazawa, four days in Kyoto, Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial, Miyajima, and Osaka.

Cities You'll See

Tokyo · Nikko · Kanazawa · Kyoto

Highlights

  • Hiroshima Peace Memorial — specialist guide, fifteen years on site
  • Miyajima — Itsukushima Shrine and the torii gate rising from the sea
  • Horyu-ji — Japan’s oldest temple and the oldest wooden structures in the world

11 Days / 10 Nights

From €5,290

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Japanese Alps & Mountains — Private Package 10-day tour: Kamikochi’s car-free alpine valley, Shirakawa-go’s thatched villages, and Kanazawa’s Edo city.
10 Days
From €4,790 per person

JAPAN

Japanese Alps & Mountains

Private · Semi-Private · Self-Guided

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JAPAN

Japanese Alps & Mountains

Kamikochi’s car-free alpine valley, Shirakawa-go’s thatched villages, and Kanazawa’s Edo city.

Cities You'll See

Tokyo · Nikko · Matsumoto · Kamikochi

Highlights

  • Kamikochi — car-free Japanese Alps valley, 1,500 metres, Hodaka peaks above
  • Shirakawa-go UNESCO thatched farmhouses in the mountain valley
  • Kanazawa — Japan’s most complete Edo-period city

10 Days / 9 Nights

From €4,790

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Elsewhere in Japan

Osaka Hakone Nara Nikko
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