Kyoto, without the crowds京都の静かな代わり

Kanazawa kept three official teahouse districts: Higashi (the largest, five working chaya), Kazuemachi (a quiet strip on the Asano River, 5 minutes on foot from Higashi) and Nishi. About 40 geiko (the Kanazawa word for geisha) work across them. Gion has closed its private lanes; Higashi's streets are public and the rules are about manners. The Shima teahouse (¥500) is the one fully preserved chaya open to anyone. Kanazawa Geigi no Mai, an hour of dance, is ¥1,500. Higashi Chaya guide.

Zuiryū-ji (瑞龍寺, Takaoka, 1645) has three National Treasures, the Butsuden (Buddha hall), Sanmon (gate) and Hattō (lecture hall), in a plain, geometric Sōtō Zen layout: ¥500, 9:00–16:30, 10 minutes' walk from Takaoka Station. Eiheiji (永平寺) is the head temple of Sōtō Zen, founded in 1244 and still run by its monks: ¥700, 8:30–16:30, drop-in zazen at 10:00, 13:30 and 15:30 (about 50 minutes, no booking). It is 30 minutes from Fukui by Eiheiji Liner (¥1,000 from 1 October 2026). Takaoka, Eiheiji.

Obama (小浜, about 28,000 people) has so many temples it calls itself Nara by the sea (海のある奈良). Myōtsū-ji (明通寺) has a main hall and three-storey pagoda that are both National Treasures from the Kamakura period (¥500, 9:00–17:00). Hire an e-bike at Higashi-Obama Station (¥500 for up to 2 hours) for the eight-temple circuit. It is also where the Mackerel Road to Kyoto starts, and the fish market opens at 07:00. Avoid Wednesdays, when the museum and the fish market close. Obama guide.

Salted mackerel went from Obama to Kyoto through here on the Mackerel Road (Saba-kaidō), about 72 km in a day and a night on foot. Kumagawa-juku (熊川宿) is the best-preserved stop: about 1 km of merchant houses along a stone water channel, an Important Preservation District since 1996, with a museum for ¥200 and a spring ten minutes away. You can reach it from Kyoto without touching the Shinkansen. Stay the night and the street empties. Kumagawa-juku guide.

Kenrokuen (兼六園) is 11.4 hectares, one of Japan's three great gardens: ¥320, 7:00–18:00 until 15 October and 8:00–17:00 from 16 October. It is the busiest place on this page at midday, so use the free early-morning entry. For a quiet castle town, Echizen-Ōno (越前大野) is a grid laid out in 1576 below a castle on a hill, with spring water in the streets, a morning market (07:00–11:00, to 31 December) and a cloud-sea castle view from October to April. Kenrokuen, Echizen-Ōno.

Saihō-ji (Kokedera) in Kyoto needs a reservation made ahead and costs about ¥4,000. Heisen-ji Hakusan Shrine (平泉寺白山神社) in Katsuyama is a shrine in a cedar forest, once a large mountain religious centre of Hakusan worship, and its grounds are carpeted in moss, which is why it is called the moss shrine. See the Heisen-ji guide for weekday buses. The grounds are free and open sunrise to sunset every day, though heavy snow from December to March can stop access. The Gen'seiin garden (旧玄成院庭園) is ¥50. Take the Echizen Railway from Fukui to Katsuyama (54 minutes, ¥820), then the Heisen-ji bus (13 minutes). It looks best after rain. It is a forest shrine, not a designed garden, and the moss is the point.

No Hokuriku place matches Fushimi Inari, the mountain of vermilion torii. The nearest is the single great torii of Kehi Jingū in Tsuruga, 10.9 m high, one of Japan's three great wooden torii, a short walk from the station during the Tsuruga change. Go to Fushimi Inari at dawn or after dark; by mid-morning the lower gates are full. Everything else on this page can stand in for a Kyoto sight, and this one cannot.

Day 1: Thunderbird and Shinkansen to Fukui (about 1h 20m), Eiheiji in the afternoon, sleep in Fukui. Day 2: 25 minutes on to Kanazawa, Higashi Chaya at dusk. Day 3: Kenrokuen at 7:00, then back to Kyoto in 1h 43m. The Kyoto to Kanazawa fare is ¥7,720 each way.

Day 1: Kosei Line to Ōmi-Imazu and the bus to Kumagawa-juku, then on to Obama for the night. Day 2: Myōtsū-ji and the fish market, JR Obama Line to Tsuruga (1h 4m–1h 9m, ¥990), Shinkansen to Kanazawa (about 50 minutes, ¥5,480 if bought alone). Day 3: Kanazawa. Day 4: back to Kyoto. You cross the Tsuruga change in 8 minutes.

Kanazawa works in a day: 3h 40m of train in total leaves time for Higashi Chaya and Kenrokuen. One night is better, and lets you use Kenrokuen's free early-morning entry.