Guide · Tours compared

Food tours in Kanazawa compared: market walks, nights, private hosts

Food tours in Kanazawa come in three shapes: a morning at Omicho Market, an evening of izakaya and sake, or a private host who plans around you. Here is what each one includes.

Check availabilityfrom $45 · cancel at no cost

Editorial team, kanazawafoodtour.comUpdated October 25, 2026Reading time about 6 minutes12 sources

This guide's tour Kanazawa food walk, Omicho to Higashi Chaya 4.7 (92 reviews) 2.5 hoursOmicho Market, then Higashi ChayaPhotos taken by your guide from$45per person Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 24 hrs before

The short version

01Our pick: Our walk: Omicho, then Higashi Chaya, 2.5 hours.
02Food included?: Not on our walk: you pay for what you eat.
03Low budget: The izakaya tour and a sushi evening start from $26.
04Tasting walk: Market tastings and wagashi, 95 reviews, rated 4.88.
05Fully private: A 3-hour walk planned from a questionnaire.

How the Kanazawa food walks differ

Every food tour in Kanazawa sells the same city, but the listings are built very differently. Some are daytime walks that start at Omicho Market and end in a teahouse district; others are evenings that hop between an izakaya, an oden counter and a bar. A private walk is planned entirely around you. Read the inclusions first: the price means different things on each.

Start with the food bill. On the walk this site recommends, food and drink costs are not included: the guide steers you to stalls, a sushi counter and a sake tasting, and you pay as you go. An evening dinner tour, by contrast, includes a full-course set dinner with a choice of 6 menus and one drink. A night foodie tour says to bring cash for extra snacks or drinks.

Group size and language vary as much. Our walk lists a live guide in English, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Korean, French and Chinese, with a private group option. The izakaya and dinner tours cap groups at 10 participants and guide in English, with Japanese too on the dinner tour. All of them offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

A food day in Kanazawa

Market by day, izakaya by night

Start

Meet at M'ZA

Our walk starts outside the Starbucks there.
Next hour

Omicho Market

Sushi, croquettes and skewers, paid as you go.
Then

Higashi Chaya

45 minutes with gold-leaf ice cream and sake.
18:00

Geisha district walk

Where the evening dinner tour starts.
19:00

Full-course dinner

A choice of 6 menus and one drink.

Our pick: from Omicho Market to Higashi Chaya

The walk at the heart of this site meets outside the Starbucks at Kanazawa M'ZA, spends 1 hour inside Omicho Market and then 45 minutes in the Higashi Chaya District, with short walks in between. It lasts 2.5 hours and starts from $45, with 92 reviews and a 4.73 rating.

Its listing names what you will be pointed toward: sushi at a local sushi restaurant with nodoguro, sweet amaebi, baigai and seasonal white fish, then croquettes, Noto beef skewers, grilled eel and sashimi in the market, gold-leaf ice cream in the teahouse district and a sake tasting of Ishikawa brands, with non-alcoholic options. With the food paid separately, you control the spend: graze lightly or order the full sushi set.

The extras are practical. The guide takes photos and videos during the walk, gives food and souvenir tips, adapts the route to your interests and helps with restaurant reservations afterwards. Reviewers mention guides who answered every question and pointed out seafood, produce and shops to try, and a guest who booked alone found herself with a private tour.

Time with your guide

How long each food tour lasts, in hours

hrs

Durations as each GetYourGuide listing states them.

Side by side

Kanazawa food tours at a glance

Tour	Length	When	Food	Price
Our food walk	2.5 hrs	Daytime	Pay as you go	from $45
Tasting walk	2 hrs	Daytime	Tastings & wagashi	from $47
Omicho tour	2 hrs	Daytime	Market samples	from $49
Private walk	3 hrs	Flexible	Six specialties	from $196
Night foodie tour	3.5 hrs	Evening	Kappo, oden, sake	from $140
Izakaya tour	2.5 hrs	Evening	Izakaya & bar	from $26
Dinner tour	2.5 hrs	Evening	Set dinner, 1 drink	from $106

Details from the listings themselves; every price is a starting point rather than a quote.

Three good picks

Day walk, tasting walk or a night out

Kanazawa Food Tour: Omicho Market & Geisha District

Pay as you go

Our food walk

Omicho to Higashi Chaya

Length: 2.5 hours
Food: Pay as you go
Price: from $45

See this tour

With wagashi

Taste of Kanazawa

Tastings and wagashi

Length: 2 hours
Rating: 4.88
Price: from $47

See this tour

Budget evening

Nighttime izakaya

Izakaya and a local bar

Length: 2.5 hours
Group: Up to 10
Price: from $26

See this tour

Decision helper

Which Kanazawa food tour suits you?

Match the tour to your appetite and your evening

I want the market and the old town I want tastings planned for me I only want Omicho I want an evening of local bars I want sake with my oden I want it just for us

Our food walk

1 hour at Omicho, then 45 minutes in Higashi Chaya.

Taste of Kanazawa

Market tastings, a wagashi tasting and tea in Higashi Chaya.

The Omicho Market tour

2 hours of samples and stories in the market.

The izakaya tour

An izakaya, then a local bar, for up to 10 guests.

The night foodie tour

Kappo, oden and a sake bar tasting of three to five kinds.

The private walk

A host plans 3 hours around your questionnaire answers.

Kanazawans eat more ice cream per capita, and there are also more restaurants per city resident, than anywhere else in Japan.

Kanazawa City Tourism Association (Visit Kanazawa)Source 1

Tasting walks and the Omicho Market tour

Taste of Kanazawa covers similar ground in 2 hours: it meets outside a donut shop at the market entrance, spends an hour tasting in Omicho, stops 15 minutes in the Kazuemachi Chaya District and ends with tea in Higashi Chaya. It adds a wagashi tasting and an explanation of how gold leaf is made, and has 95 reviews with a 4.88 rating, from $47.

It comes with warnings. The operator says the tour is not for anyone with a seafood allergy, and that it starts on time without waiting for late arrivals, so be there 10 minutes early. There is also a stairway on the 15-minute walk between Omicho and Higashi Chaya.

If the market is all you want, the Omicho Market tour stays there for 2 hours, from a meeting point in the plaza outside the market and back. It promises samples of seafood and fruit at named stalls, the market's history and both takeout and eat-in stops, from $49. With 10 reviews it has fewer than the others, but a 4.93 rating.

Map

Where Kanazawa eats: the market, the chaya lanes and the port

Central Kanazawa from the station to Omicho Market, the teahouse districts by the Asano River and the Katamachi bars, then the soy sauce town of Ono by the port.

Map of central Kanazawa with Kanazawa Station, the M'ZA meeting point, Omicho Market, the Asanogawa Ohashi police box, the Kazuemachi and Higashi Chaya districts, Korinbo and Katamachi — Central Kanazawa

Map of the Ono district by Kanazawa Port with Yamato Koji Park and the Naogen soy sauce brewery — Ono port

1
Kanazawa Station
About 2 hours 30 minutes from Tokyo Station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen; Omicho Market is a 15 to 20 minute walk or a short bus ride away.² ³
In Google Maps ↗
2
Starbucks at M'ZA
The food walk's meeting point: wait outside and the guide comes to greet you.
In Google Maps ↗
3
Omicho Market
More than 170 stores at 50 Kamiomicho, open 9:00-16:00 by the tourism association's count.⁴ ⁵
In Google Maps ↗
4
Asanogawa Ohashi police box
Where the guide of the evening izakaya walk waits for the group.
In Google Maps ↗
5
Kazuemachi Chaya District
A 15-minute stop on one tasting walk between the market and Higashi Chaya.
In Google Maps ↗
6
Higashi Chaya District
The food walk ends here; after 5:00 p.m. many cafes and shops close and gas lamps light the lanes.⁶
In Google Maps ↗
7
Korinbo
The evening foodie walk starts outside a store in the Korinbo Ramoda building.
In Google Maps ↗
8
Katamachi
The area is packed with bars and small restaurants.⁷
In Google Maps ↗
9
Yamato Koji Park
A fermentation park in Ono where visitors tour a koji cellar and taste miso and soy sauce.⁸
In Google Maps ↗
10
Naogen soy sauce
A soy sauce maker in Ono, where over 60 breweries worked at the peak.⁹
In Google Maps ↗

Open the map in Google Maps

Checklist

Before you book a food tour

Check

Is food in the price, or paid as you go?
Group size and guide languages
Allergies, gluten and age limits

Bring

Cash in yen for stalls and extras
Comfortable walking shoes
A few minutes to spare at the meeting point

Cost calculator

Price a food tour for your group

Enter your group size to compare the shared tours.

Our food walk2.5 hoursfrom $45 Taste of Kanazawa2 hoursfrom $47 Omicho tour2 hoursfrom $49 Izakaya tour2.5 hoursfrom $26

People 2

Total from$89

from, per person $45

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Totals: the cheapest GetYourGuide price of each listing, multiplied by your head count and converted with the ECB's euro reference rate for today; only checkout is binding.

Video

Ten Kanazawa foods tasted in one day

The player loads on your tap, not before.

Evening tours: izakaya, oden and a sake bar

After dark the choice widens. The Nighttime Izakaya Tour meets at the Asanogawa Ohashi police box and visits 1 izakaya and 1 traditional local bar over 2.5 hours, the first a modern yakitori restaurant in the east of the city. It has 104 reviews, a 4.56 rating and starts from $26, but multiple groups may be combined.

The Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour runs 3.5 hours through Katamachi: a kappo restaurant with local sake, an oden restaurant, then a sake bar with a tasting of three to five kinds, matcha and sweets. It is for guests over 20, cannot do gluten-free, and asks for diet requests a day ahead, from $140.

The other evenings are simpler. A night tour walks the geisha district at 18:00 and sits down at 19:00 for a full-course dinner with one drink, from $106. A sushi evening takes you to a neighborhood sushi restaurant for 100 minutes, with the guide helping you order, from $26.

A private tour in Kanazawa, planned around you

A private tour in Kanazawa changes the rhythm more than the route. The Private Food Tasting Walking Tour sends a questionnaire after booking and matches you with a host who plans a 3-hour walk around your tastes. Its listing mentions six Kanazawa specialties, street food and sashimi at Omicho, Kanazawa-style pork curry or Hanton rice in Katamachi, an izakaya, Oyama Shrine and the Nishi Chaya district.

It is a walking tour without a private vehicle; public transport or taxis may link the stops, and pickup is listed as included. It starts from $196 for the private booking, with 28 reviews, a 4.63 rating and a value score of 4.3 in its breakdown. Ask before booking what the price covers for your group, since private listings are priced their own way.

There is another route to privacy. Our recommended walk lists a private group option, and its route is already personalised to your interests. For a couple or a family that mainly wants the market and the teahouse lanes, that may be all the privacy you need; the listing shows what the private option costs.

Doing it yourself, with a little help

You can also skip the guide. Omicho Market is a 15 to 20 minute walk from Kanazawa Station, its stores open from about 9:00, and you can graze and point your way through it with cash in hand.³ ⁵ The trade-off is choice: without someone to translate the signs, you tend to buy what looks familiar rather than what is in season.

For sit-down meals, the Kanazawa City Tourism Association sells the KANAZAWA BIMI gourmet ticket, which covers about 150 restaurants and around 250 dishes, chosen by budget, genre and area.¹⁰ There are five tickets, from cafe sweets and a quick drink to full course meals, and drinks and extra dishes are paid separately.¹¹ They are sold at the Kanazawa Station and Kanazawa Central tourist information centers and at seven hotels in the city.¹²

In the evening, Katamachi is the obvious area to wander: the tourism association describes it as packed with bars and small restaurants.⁷ Going alone suits you if you are happy to sit at a counter, read a picture menu and order by pointing. If that sounds stressful rather than fun, an evening tour is worth its price for the confidence alone.

What to check before you book

Start with food and drink. Decide whether you want a fixed meal or freedom to graze, then check the listing: our walk excludes food and drink costs, the dinner tour includes a set menu and one drink, and the foodie tour asks you to bring cash for extras. On a pay-as-you-go walk, carry yen for the stalls.

Then diets and ages. The tasting walk rules out seafood allergies, the foodie tour accepts only guests over 20 and cannot cater for gluten-free diets, and the dinner tour wants mobility limits, diets and children's ages in advance. If you do not eat raw fish, a market walk with free choice is easier than a fixed tasting.

Finally, timing. Our walk shows its start times on the availability check, the dinner tour meets at 18:00, and the tasting walk and foodie tour start on time without late arrivals. Every listing compared here lets you hold a place now, settle the bill later and get a full refund if you pull out at least a day before.

Hungry yet?