Kanazawa – a city really far off the beaten tourist track in Japan. Why did I choose to come here? The city is known for numerous things: one of Japan’s most iconic gardens, traditional houses from the Edo-period, the samurai – and gold.

The city is larger than expected and I was running a bit low on sightseeing-energy after all those weeks. So I probably could have done and seen more, but I think I covered quite a bit. I first ventured out to Kenrokuen Garden and Kanazawa’s castle. Unfortunately, it seems that end of April was a bit late for the gardens as everything was just green. They were still pretty, but I imagine seeing the cherry blossoms here would be even nicer.

I also walked around the Nagamachi Samurai District (didn’t spot any samurai unfortunately haha) and the Higashi Chaya District where all kinds of gold products can be purchased – from desserts to jewellery to body lotions. I ended up trying some local sweets without gold and buying some face cream with gold leaves (that I actually really like). Overall, Kanazawa was a really nice, pleasant city to visit – it reminded me a bit of Hiroshima, not too touristy, but some interesting things to see and do.

Another reason I chose to detour to Kanazawa was the option to visit another traditional village – Shirakawago. It’s a small, traditional village up in the mountains that can be reached by tourist bus from Kanazawa. It really is set up for tourists, even though there are still some locals living there. In a way, it feels more like an open-air museum – but I still enjoyed walking around there and taking photos of the traditional houses which are just really beautiful in my opinion. A worthwhile day trip from Kanazawa!