Oct–NovThree-thousand-metre mountains standing over a bay that drops past 1,000 m, a castle town with its gardens and teahouses intact, and fish landed hours before dinner. About two hours from Tokyo by Shinkansen.
Hokuriku is called the quiet side of Japan because few foreign visitors reach it: in 2024 Ishikawa, Toyama and Fukui together recorded about 2.5 million foreign guest nights, against about 17 million in Kyoto Prefecture. It has fewer headline temples than Kyoto, but it has the Northern Alps, the Sea of Japan and, to me, better food at every level, from the izakaya to Michelin-starred counters. Kanazawa's Kenrokuen and Higashi Chaya still get busy in peak weeks.
Hokuriku (北陸) is the strip of Japan on the Sea of Japan coast between Niigata and Kyoto: Toyama, Ishikawa and Fukui, joined since 2024 by the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tokyo to Tsuruga. Most first trips to Japan run the other way, along the Pacific side from Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka, and never cross the mountains.
I travelled in Japan every year for 15 years before I moved to Hokuriku. It started with Niigata and Toyama: the snow, the Northern Alps standing over the sea, the seafood, the sake and a culture that still runs on its own calendar. After a few trips I was landing in Tokyo and on the Shinkansen north without spending an hour in the capital.
What makes Hokuriku is how much fits into one day. On a clear winter morning, from the Amaharashi coast in Himi, you can watch the 3,000 m Tateyama range rise straight out of the sea; that evening, Himi's winter yellowtail is on the counter. In April you can walk between snow walls on the Alpine Route in the morning and be back on the coast for firefly squid at dinner, the same squid whose pre-dawn nets glow electric blue in Toyama Bay. The quiet is a side effect. This page makes the case, with the numbers, and the things I would warn a friend about.
Kyoto Prefecture recorded nearly seven times as many foreign guest nights in 2024 as Ishikawa, Toyama and Fukui combined, and Tokyo more than twenty times as many. Guest nights count nights in hotels and inns, so day-trippers are not included; they are the fairest like-for-like measure of how many travellers stay.
| Prefecture | Foreign guest nights, 2024 | Change on 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | 56,803,870 | +30% |
| Kyoto Prefecture | 16,938,020 | +40% |
| Ishikawa (Kanazawa) | 2,199,860 | +114% |
| Toyama | 250,370 | +6% |
| Fukui | 92,190 | +42% |
These are the 2024 annual confirmed figures. Ishikawa more than doubled in 2024, the year the Shinkansen reached Fukui and Tsuruga. The count excluded several Noto municipalities after the January 2024 earthquake. Toyama, with the Alpine Route, the Kurobe Gorge and Japan's top sushi spending city, hosted about one foreign guest night for every 68 in Kyoto.
Kyoto wins on temples, and I wouldn't argue. For mountains, sea and food, Hokuriku wins easily. You don't have to choose: the Hokuriku Arch Pass (¥35,000, 7 days) covers Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka via Hokuriku on one ticket.
| For | Kyoto | Hokuriku |
|---|---|---|
| Temples and shrines | More headline temples than anywhere else in Japan | Fewer famous names: Zuiryū-ji in Takaoka (National Treasure), Eiheiji in Fukui. More shrines per prefecture than Kyoto in Toyama and Ishikawa |
| Gardens and old streets | Many, and crowded in peak hours | Kenrokuen, three chaya districts and the Nagamachi samurai lanes, all walkable |
| Geisha districts | Gion closed several private lanes to tourists in April 2024 | Higashi Chaya, with Shima and Kaikaro open to visitors; calm before 10:00 and after 16:00 |
| Mountains | Wooded hills round the city | The Northern Alps: the Alpine Route to 2,450 m, the Kurobe Gorge, Myōkō and Hakuba |
| Sea and fish | Inland; fish comes from elsewhere | Toyama Bay, 500+ species; snow crab, winter yellowtail, firefly squid |
| Weather | Hot summers, drier winters | One of Japan's wettest and cloudiest winters; snow from December to March |
For a region of its size, Hokuriku has an unusual density of fine dining. The MICHELIN Guide Hokuriku 2021 Special Edition gave Toyama Prefecture 20 starred restaurants (4 with two stars, 16 with one), double the previous edition, and Kanazawa's Ryōri Komatsu 料理小松 was the first three-star restaurant in Hokuriku.
One short street in Iwase 東岩瀬, Toyama City's old Kitamae-ship port, holds four restaurants from that guide. Oryōri Fujii 御料理ふじ居 (two stars), Cave Yunoki (one star), sushi GEJO (Michelin Plate) and Piatto Suzuki Cinque (Bib Gourmand) are a few doors apart, with Masuda Shuzō, the Masuizumi 満寿泉 brewery, on the same street. It is on the tram line from Toyama Station; see Toyama city.
Two of the region's best meals come with a room. Chef Eiji Taniguchi moved L'évo into the mountains at Toga in 2020 and cooks avant-garde regional cuisine from his own farm, foraged plants, game and Toyama Bay fish (see Toyama hotels). On the Fukui coast, Auberge Homachi in old Mikuni port is in the MICHELIN Guide hotel selection, with Tōjinbō 10 minutes away. I would plan a night round either.
Toyama Bay is called a natural fish tank (天然の生け簀, tennen no ikesu). The seafloor drops past 1,000 m within a few kilometres of shore, and 500+ species live in it, so deep-water fish such as nodoguro, shiroebi glass shrimp and firefly squid are landed minutes from the city's counters. Toyama City spent more on sushi per household than any other Japanese city in 2024 (¥23,185). See Toyama sushi.
I still work in Tokyo regularly, and the food is why I head straight back. To me, Tokyo food is a 5 out of 10 next to a 10 at almost any random place in Toyama, and I mean all of it: the yakitori counter, the izakaya, the sushi bar and the two-star kaiseki. Visitors who loved "the food in Japan" usually mean the food in Tokyo; after a few nights in Toyama the bar moves. The hotels are less glamorous than Tokyo's, and cheaper; the food more than makes up for it.
Each season has its fish. Firefly squid from March to May, shiroebi from April, snow crab from 6 November in Ishikawa and Fukui, and Himi kan-buri winter yellowtail from November to February. See the Hokuriku food guide, month by month. Kanazawa's Omicho Market, Fukui's Echizen crab and the mackerel of Wakasa fill in the rest. See Toyama food and Kanazawa food.
Hokuriku is also quietly devout. Niigata has more Shinto shrines than any other prefecture (4,727), and Toyama (2,277) and Ishikawa (1,890) each have more than Kyoto Prefecture (1,757), in the 2016 count. Most are small local shrines, free to visit.
If you have ten nights or more, my recommended trip is Slow Hokuriku: two weeks from Tokyo to Kyoto, with whole days in Toyama, Kanazawa, Awara, Fukui and Wakasa and no rushing back to the big cities.
Hokuriku is quiet partly because it is less set up for visitors than Kyoto or Tokyo. None of these is a reason not to come; all of them are reasons to plan a little further ahead.
The Arch Pass covers the Hokuriku Shinkansen and the Thunderbird to Kyoto and Osaka. Whether it beats buying tickets depends on the route.
Tokyo to Osaka via Kanazawa on one pass, Shinkansen reserved seats included. Is it worth it?
See on Klook ↗Worked fares for every pass that touches Hokuriku, including the ones that cost less than the Arch Pass.
Compare the passes →One hotel and a day trip a day: Toyama sits between the Alps, Kanazawa and the sea. These three are within five minutes of the station. The Toyama base plan.
5 min on foot from Toyama Station on the tram line, with a breakfast buffet of 50+ dishes. A sensible base for day trips to Takaoka, Himi, Unazuki and the Alps.
1 min across the road from the south exit and two from Dentetsu-Toyama, where the Chitetsu line to Tateyama starts. The pick for early trains.
Opened in 2022 and run by JR West Hotels, with a public bath and sauna for after a mountain day, and a breakfast built round Toyama Bay sushi.
Hokuriku is called the quiet side of Japan because it gets a small share of Japan's foreign visitors: in 2024 Ishikawa, Toyama and Fukui together recorded about 2.5 million foreign guest nights, against about 17 million in Kyoto Prefecture and 57 million in Tokyo. It faces the Sea of Japan, away from the Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka corridor most first trips follow. Kanazawa's best-known sights still fill up in peak weeks.
Hokuriku is a less crowded alternative to Kyoto for gardens, old streets and temples, and it adds what Kyoto lacks: the Northern Alps, the Sea of Japan and fresher fish. Kyoto has more headline temples; Hokuriku has Kenrokuen, Higashi Chaya, the Alpine Route and the Kurobe Gorge, with Kanazawa 2h 24m from Tokyo by Shinkansen. The Hokuriku Arch Pass (¥35,000, 7 days) links Tokyo, Hokuriku and Kyoto on one ticket.
Kanazawa's geisha districts are less crowded than Kyoto's Gion because Kanazawa receives a fraction of Kyoto's visitors and spreads them over three chaya districts: Higashi, Nishi and Kazuemachi. Higashi Chaya is still busy from late morning to mid-afternoon in peak weeks; before 10:00 or after 16:00 it is calm. In Gion, residents closed several private lanes to tourists in April 2024 after years of crowding. See the Higashi Chaya guide.
Takayama is not in Hokuriku: it is in Gifu Prefecture, in the Hida mountains south of Toyama, but it is easiest to visit from Hokuriku. The JR Hida limited express takes about 1h 30m from Toyama, and the reserved bus from Kanazawa via Shirakawa-go takes 2h 15m (¥4,200). Takayama's old town is compact and popular, so arrive in the morning.
The Noto Peninsula is open but, as of September 2026, still recovering from the January 2024 earthquake. Part of Wakura Onsen has reopened, about 1h from Kanazawa by limited express, and Wajima's morning market runs in temporary form. Noto works as an overnight stay to support the area, not a sightseeing day trip; check each inn before booking.
You do not need Japanese to travel in Hokuriku: the Shinkansen, Kanazawa's main sights and the Alpine Route have English signs and announcements, and the tourist centre at Toyama Station has English support. Outside Kanazawa, expect more Japanese-only menus, phone-only restaurant bookings and small local buses. A translation app, and asking your hotel to book dinner, solves most of it.
Hokuriku is best known for Kanazawa's Kenrokuen garden and geisha districts, the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route and its snow walls, the Kurobe Gorge, the thatched villages of Gokayama, and seafood: snow crab, winter yellowtail, firefly squid and Toyama Bay sushi. It is also quietly devout: Toyama and Ishikawa each have more Shinto shrines than Kyoto Prefecture.
Tell us what you liked, or didn't, about Kyoto or Tokyo, and we will suggest the part of Hokuriku that suits you. We plan Hokuriku trips and guide small groups on weekends and national holidays.
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