Why Kanazawa Is Japan's Best City for 2026

Every year, the major travel publications release their lists of where to go next, and every year a handful of unexpected names rise to the top. For 2026, one of CNN's most striking picks was Kanazawa — a mid-sized city on Japan's western Honshu coast that most Western travellers couldn't place on a map. CNN's framing was blunt and irresistible: skip overcrowded Tokyo and Kyoto, and come here instead.

It's advice worth taking seriously. Kyoto, in particular, has become a victim of its own beauty — its most famous shrines now so crowded that the experience of quiet contemplation they were built for has become nearly impossible. Kanazawa offers something Kyoto has largely lost: the feeling of discovering an authentic, deeply traditional Japanese city without fighting through crowds to do it.

The City That Time (and the War) Forgot

Kanazawa's secret is partly an accident of history. During the Second World War, the city escaped the bombing that flattened so much of urban Japan. As a result, its Edo-period architecture, its geisha districts, its samurai quarter and its merchant houses survive in a state of preservation that Kyoto — much of which was rebuilt — cannot match. Walking through Kanazawa's Higashi Chaya district, with its latticed wooden teahouses and lantern-lit lanes, is to walk through a Japan that feels genuinely, unselfconsciously old.

Kenrokuen: One of Japan's Three Perfect Gardens

At the heart of any Kanazawa visit is Kenrokuen, considered one of the three most beautiful landscape gardens in all of Japan. The name means "garden of six attributes" — referring to the six qualities a perfect garden should possess: spaciousness, seclusion, artificiality, antiquity, water and panoramas. It achieves all six. Go at opening time, ideally in winter when the pine trees are wrapped in their distinctive rope cones (yukitsuri) to protect them from heavy snow, and you may have stretches of it almost to yourself — an experience now nearly impossible at Kyoto's equivalent sights.

The Gold Leaf Capital

Here's a fact that surprises most visitors: roughly 99% of Japan's gold leaf is produced in Kanazawa. The city's relationship with gold runs deep, and it shows up in delightfully unexpected ways. You can buy ice cream wrapped entirely in a sheet of edible gold leaf — a ritual that's become a Kanazawa rite of passage. You can visit workshops where artisans hammer gold into sheets a fraction of a micron thick. The gold even finds its way into the local lacquerware and pottery.

The Seafood Will Ruin You for Other Cities

Kanazawa sits on the Sea of Japan, and its Omicho Market — a covered market trading for over 260 years — sells some of the finest seafood in a country obsessed with it. In winter, the local snow crab (kani) becomes a citywide obsession. The market's second-floor restaurants will prepare whatever you buy downstairs, meaning you can eat sushi made from fish that was swimming hours earlier. Nodoguro (blackthroat seaperch), the prized local fish, is worth seeking out specifically.

Kanazawa is what Kyoto was before the world discovered it: a city where tradition isn't performed for tourists, it simply continues.

How to Get There and How Long to Stay

The Hokuriku Shinkansen connects Tokyo to Kanazawa in around two and a half hours — comfortably within reach for a Japan itinerary. From Kyoto, it's a 45-minute to 2-hour journey depending on the train. Two nights is the minimum; three lets you add the extraordinary day trip to Shirakawa-go, the UNESCO village of steep-roofed thatched farmhouses an hour away in the mountains.

Should You Really Skip Kyoto?

Not entirely — Kyoto remains extraordinary, and a first trip to Japan arguably has to include it. But CNN's underlying point is sound: in 2026, the smartest Japan itineraries balance the famous cities with the quieter ones. Spend two days in Kyoto for the headline sights, then escape to Kanazawa for the experience Kyoto can no longer reliably provide — traditional Japan, at a human pace, without the crowds.

Where to Stay and What to Budget

Kanazawa's accommodation ranges from traditional ryokan (Japanese inns with tatami rooms, futon beds and multi-course kaiseki dinners) to modern business hotels. The Higashi Chaya and Kazuemachi districts offer some atmospheric ryokan experiences, while hotels near JR Kanazawa Station provide the most convenient base. Budget around ¥10,000-25,000 per night depending on your choice, with ryokan at the higher end but including dinner and breakfast. The city is compact enough that location matters less than in Tokyo — most sights are within walking distance or a short bus ride from anywhere central.

For dining beyond the market, seek out Kanazawa's distinctive Kaga cuisine — a refined culinary tradition tied to the old domain's wealth, featuring seasonal ingredients, beautiful presentation and dishes like jibuni (a duck stew) and kabura-zushi (fermented turnip sushi). The city's tea houses in the geisha districts serve traditional wagashi sweets with matcha in settings unchanged for centuries. Between the food, the gardens, the craft workshops and the quiet streets, Kanazawa rewards every extra hour you give it.

A final practical note: Kanazawa's climate is distinctly different from Pacific-side Japan. The Sea of Japan coast receives heavy snowfall in winter (beautiful, but pack accordingly), while summers are warm and humid. The shoulder seasons — April/May and October/November — combine comfortable weather with seasonal culinary peaks: spring brings firefly squid from Toyama Bay, and autumn brings the start of the prized snow crab season. Whatever the season, Kanazawa will reward you with a Japan experience that feels intimate, authentic and refreshingly uncrowded.