3 Days in Kanazawa + Shirakawago ⛩ A Photo Diary

Chris and I just got back from an amazing vacation in Kanazawa and I thought I would share our 3-day itinerary with you in case you want to visit yourself in the future! 

I'm not quite sure how well known Kanazawa is overseas, but to summarise it very quickly, it feels a lot like Kyoto but a little less touristy. A river runs through the city with gorgeous machiya houses lining the streets. Sushi is the local dish as it is located very close to the ocean, so there are plenty of great seafood restaurants to choose from. 

DAY ONE: 

We checked into our machiya (old traditional house) where we would be staying for both nights. Staying at a machiya is such a cool experience, really recommend it if you're staying in Kanazawa or Kyoto. We were greeted by the cute Japanese lady who owns the home and she answered all our questions about the neighbourhood and what we should do during our stay. She even prepared some matcha and traditional sweets for us 🍵💕 We had the whole place to ourselves, complete with a kitchen and a traditional goemon bath. 

We stopped by a highly rated sushi restaurant for dinner. Great prices, friendly staff and super tasty! Probably some of the best sushi I've had in Japan actually. 

KOURIN SUSHI: http://kourin1.com/ 

At night we took a stroll along the river, I felt like I was in Kyoto it was really strange. They look very similar! 

DAY TWO:

Market day! Kanazawa has a famous street market, which we visited during the original Journey Across Japan series on Chris' channel. (You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It338b61dU8) 

We spent the morning wandering around the market and eating everything in sight. 

Kanazawa is famous for gold leaf, so I had to try the gold covered ice cream🍦✨ (Was pleasantly surprised to see there was a shop selling a soy version!) 

Also loved the fresh orange juice 🍊

The shop that sells traditional sweets is also a favourite of mine. 

Chris recommends the grilled eel on a stick!

After the market Chris wanted MORE eel so we found a popular eel restaurant for lunch. 

I'm not really a fan so I got the tamago-don (egg rice bowl) 🍳

We went shopping for souvenirs after at a local mall and waited for the weather to chill out a bit before heading to our next destination. (It was about 35 degrees🔥)

Next stop: Higashi Chaya District (Old Town) 

The most picturesque area of Kanazawa - A small neighbourhood with old teahouses, quaint alleys, and countless restaurants and shops.

When the heat got to be a bit much we took a break inside a tea shop and had some matcha and sweets 🍵

For dinner we thought we'd try out a local izakaya. The photos on Google did NOT do it justice. All the food we ate here was 10/10. Unfortunately we were too busy enjoying it and didn't take any photos, you'll have to take my word for it 😅 We had a seat right in front of the chef (who was super friendly) and it was really neat watching him skillfully prepare all the dishes!

FUWARI: https://fu-wa-ri.jp/ 

DAY THREE: 

We checked out of our machiya at 9:00am and rented a car at Kanazawa Station to drive to Shirakawago, which is only around 1.5 hours away. Shirakawago is mainly famous for its beautiful snowy scenery in the winter, but I have to say I think it looks even better in the summer 👀 (It was 5 million degrees though so keep that in mind when planning a trip😅) 

We stopped into a restaurant for a teishoku lunch. I loved the flame grilled miso tofu! 

And that was our little 3 day vacation! Hope this comes in handy for your next Japan trip, it's certainly a gorgeous area of Japan and well worth the trip out there!