Kanazawa · a city guide
Kanazawa, by the clock
Four places, and the choice between them is not about distance — they sit within minutes of each other. It is about what you are actually let into, what it costs, and which day of the week you turn up on. No single official page carries those four answers together.
Every figure above was read from an official page on 13 September 2026.
What you are choosing between
Every figure below was read from an official page on 13 September 2026. Where a page says nothing, these cards say so.
Kenrokuen兼六園
A landscape garden.
Opens7:00–18:00 (Mar–mid Oct), 8:00–17:00 otherwise. Free before that — from 4:00 in high summer.Costs¥320 adult. ¥500 buys it with the castle’s ticketed buildings.Closed, bookingDoes not close for holidays. Booking not mentioned.Read the guide
Kanazawa Castle金沢城
A park that is free, with one ticketed group of buildings.
OpensPark free at every hour; gates unlock 4:00–6:00 by season. Ticketed buildings 9:00–16:30.CostsPark free. Ticketed buildings ¥320 adult. ¥500 with Kenrokuen.Closed, bookingNo closing day published. No booking — you turn up.Read the guide
Omicho Market近江町市場
A working retail food market, with restaurants inside it.
OpensPublished 9:00–16:00, varies by shop. Four restaurants from 7:00; one floor to 23:00.CostsNo admission charge is published — you pay the shops.Closed, booking1–4 January. About 20% of shops closed on Wednesdays.Read the guide
Higashi Chaya Districtひがし茶屋街
A district you walk through, with three buildings that publish an admission.
OpensShima and the Ochaya Museum 9:30, Kaikaro and the shops 10:00. Closing 17:00–17:30.Costs¥500, ¥500 and ¥750 adult at the three buildings.Closed, bookingOchaya Museum closed Thursdays; Kaikaro no fixed day. Zashiki booked 3 days ahead.Read the guide
If you would rather not assemble the order yourself, what tours actually include sets out the three kinds sold here, and what each one leaves you to pay for separately.
And then the timing
Once you have picked, the published hours decide the order. This is the day the official pages describe.
- 4:00
The castle is unlocked, and free
Kanazawa Castle Park opens its entrances at 4:00 from April through August, 5:00 in March, September and October, and 6:00 through the winter. The park itself is free at every hour of every day.
Read the guide → - 4:00
The garden is open, and not yet charging
Kenrokuen admits visitors free before its paid hours. The free window runs from 4:00 to 6:45 in high summer, and starts at 5:00 or 6:00 in other seasons.
Read the guide → - 7:00
The garden starts charging — and breakfast starts
Kenrokuen admits visitors free before its paid hours, which begin at 7:00 from March to mid-October and 8:00 otherwise. The same hour, four restaurants inside Omicho Market are listed as open.
Read the guide → - 9:00
Everything that charges opens
The castle’s ticketed buildings unlock at nine. So does the market floor at Omicho — the produce and fish the official hours describe.
Read the guide → - 9:30
Two of the three teahouses open
In Higashi Chaya, Shima and the Ochaya Museum are listed from 9:30. Kaikaro and most of the district’s shops are listed from 10:00, so the first half hour belongs to two buildings out of three.
Read the guide → - 11:00
Most of the kitchens
The hour most Omicho restaurants agree on, and the hour the prefectural tourism federation names for restaurants generally. Published bowl prices at one restaurant run ¥2,100 to ¥5,300.
Read the guide → - 16:00
The paid buildings stop letting people in
Last entry at the castle’s ticketed buildings is 16:00 and they close at 16:30. The park stays open — until 18:00 from March to mid-October, 17:00 through the winter — and stays free.
Read the guide → - 17:00
The market’s shops finish
Everything at Omicho other than the restaurants is done by five, according to Kanazawa City. One floor of the market’s own building keeps serving until 23:00.
Read the guide →
The line that isn’t in English
The same organisation publishes both versions of these pages. Three times in Kanazawa, the condition attached to a visit sat on the Japanese one alone.
Wednesdays: a comparatively large number of shops take their regular day off — around 20% — so enquire with each shop.
New Year’s holidays.
The fee page lists exemptions, and the payment methods each gate accepts.
Only the over-65 exemption appears.
Free evening openings are listed for Saturdays and peak seasons.
The same field says Sundays. The two official versions disagree.
Before you go
- Check the day of the week. Around 20% of Omicho’s shops close on Wednesdays, and four of the twelve restaurants listed by the tourist association are among them. The Ochaya Museum in Higashi Chaya closes on Thursdays.
- Carry cash. Whether a shop at the market takes cards is up to the shop. No official page we checked says otherwise.
- Buy the ¥500 combined ticket at whichever of Kenrokuen or the castle you reach first, if you are doing both.
- No official page gives a walking time between Kenrokuen and Omicho Market. The castle sits between them, and its Kuromon gate is published as seven minutes from the market.
All hours and prices on this page checked 13 September 2026.