Kanazawa After Dark: The Ultimate Food Tour You Can't Miss
Kanazawa is a town that once flourished as a castle town, and you can still enjoy its historical atmosphere today. It's also a place where many traditional crafts have been passed down, and you can not only see the actual items in museums but also purchase them or experience them through workshops.
Kanazawa is famous not only as a city where Japan's traditions remain deeply rooted, but also as a gourmet city where you can enjoy exquisite Japanese cuisine year-round. The attractive point of tours is that you can enjoy these experiences together with local guides and discover shops and places that only locals know about.
A company called "MagicalTrip" provides such tours to various tourists every day. This time, we'll explain the charm, recommended points, and reasons for popularity of the particularly recommended Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour.
What is MagicalTrip's "Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour"?
This tour is a 3.5-hour night tour where you can fully enjoy Kanazawa. While listening to explanations from local guides, you'll explore Kanazawa's charm from various aspects, particularly from the perspectives of food and history.
In this Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour, you'll visit three restaurants while enjoying Japan's traditional food culture and five drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options available). This tour provides not only dinner but also dessert. Additionally, when moving from restaurant to restaurant, you'll walk through historic streets where Samurai once lived.
What is MagicalTrip?
Magical Trip is a very hot and trending tour company that offers 10 types of tours including food & drink, cycling, and others, conducting a total of 70 tours across 9 cities nationwide (planning to expand to 13 cities soon).
The reason Magical Trip enjoys such popularity lies in their motto "Making every trip unforgettable," providing numerous attractive tours. They offer tours where you can experience Japan as locals know it, not found in guidebooks. Participant satisfaction is extremely high, and on TripAdvisor, a major travel site, 6,931 out of 7,339 reviews (94.4%) gave the highest rating of 5 stars (as of May 2025).
Why is MagicalTrip's "Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour" Popular? 3 Reasons Explained
The Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour is a popular tour with extremely high participant satisfaction. Here, we'll explain the reasons for this tour's popularity, analyzed by the author who actually participated in this tour.
Enjoy Kanazawa's Exquisite Cuisine at Locally Beloved Restaurants
The most attractive point of this tour is that you can enjoy meals at restaurants carefully selected by local guides who are knowledgeable about Kanazawa's dining establishments. Rather than tourist-oriented shops that mainly target visitors, you can taste "authentic Japanese cuisine" beloved by locals.
Another reason I recommend this Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour is that you can enjoy exquisite dishes that can only be tasted in Kanazawa. Kanazawa is famous for its seafood, which has high catch volumes and is well-marbled with firm flesh. This tour also features dishes that make the most of the excellent quality of Kanazawa's marine delicacies.
Additionally, many other Kanazawa flavors such as matcha, Japanese sweets, and sake are incorporated into this tour.
Guide's Face, Name, and Self-Introduction Videos are Published, Making it Safe to Apply
"Peace of mind" is also one of the charms of this tour. The guide's face, name, hobbies, languages spoken, private photos, and self-introduction videos are all published. This makes it easier to feel familiar with the guide before participating in the tour and helps you form an image of the tour, so you can apply with confidence.
It's also possible to choose a guide first and then select the tour that guide is handling. We recommend choosing someone who seems easy to talk to based on the published information and participating in the tour. For details, please check the following website.
https://www.magical-trip.com/#:~:text=Travel%20Deeper%20with%20Local%20Guides
Rich evaluations and reviews with a track record of satisfying many tourists
On Magical Trip's website, you can also check reviews from participants. From the very large number of reviews and their high ratings, you can understand how much this company's tours are loved by many people. Here, I will quote and introduce reviews from the Tokyo Bar Hopping Night Tour in Shinjuku.
① Such a kind, intelligent, knowledgeable guide that answered all our questions and talked about the landmarks we visited.
According to this review, a knowledgeable guide provided detailed explanations about the places they visited. Magical Trip's guides are all local people with abundant knowledge, so you can gain insights that you could never get traveling on your own.
② Riona was so sweet and knowledgeable, she made the tour feel as if we were all friends.
According to this review, it seems they enjoyed spending time with the guide in a friendly atmosphere like friends. All of Magical Trip's tour guides are very friendly, allowing you to spend enjoyable time with smiles without tension.
③ At the end of the evening, they escorted us to grab a taxi and made sure the driver knew where to take us.
According to this review, it seems the guide arranged a taxi at the end of the tour. Magical Trip's tours provide support not just until the tour time ends, but beyond that to ensure comfortable and stress-free travel.
Four Attractions of the Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour
Guides who know Kanazawa inside and out carefully select and guide you to locally beloved restaurants
As introduced earlier, in this Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour, local guides who love the city of Kanazawa more than anyone and are very knowledgeable will introduce you to recommended restaurants for locals that aren't listed in guidebooks.
In this Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour, you first visit a "Kappo" style restaurant, which is one of Japan's traditional restaurant styles. This is where various flavored and cooked dishes are served one by one in sequence. Next, you enjoy "oden," a traditional Japanese hot pot dish simmered in broth, and finally matcha and wagashi (Japanese sweets). Everything is very delicious, and I was convinced that restaurants chosen by local people are definitely the right choice.
You can also enjoy Japan's unique food culture, such as sake and wagashi
As introduced so far, another attractive point of this Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour is that you can enjoy Japan's unique food culture.
Particularly regarding sake, you can compare 3-5 different types of sake with different flavors. They are served together with dishes that pair well with each sake, allowing you not only to experience the differences in sake flavors but also to touch upon the depth of sake and Japanese cuisine.
Furthermore, wagashi and matcha are also served as dessert. Since Kanazawa is also a city famous for Japanese cuisine, these are definitely things you want to enjoy when you come to Kanazawa. Both matcha and wagashi have gentle flavors, and eating them somehow calms the heart, making them perfect for concluding a busy day of travel.
You can enjoy not only food but also Kanazawa's traditional architecture and beautiful streetscapes
Another attractive point is that when moving from restaurant to restaurant during the Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour, you can enjoy the beautiful scenery of Kanazawa, a city where traditional buildings are preserved.
Particularly beautiful is the Samurai Residential Street that you pass through when moving from the first to the second restaurant. This area where samurai once lived still retains traces of that time. Also, by listening to the guide's explanations, you can feel remnants of past life from details like small rocks that you wouldn't notice if you went alone.
Why not reflect on the flow of history while feeling the pleasant night breeze?
Since the tour ends at a bar, you can continue bar hopping after the tour
Another attractive point of this Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour is that since it ends with local dissolution at a bar, you can continue enjoying tourism after the tour.
The last bar has a very good atmosphere and all menu items are excellent, so I stayed at the last bar. Since there are various atmospheric restaurants and bars nearby, I recommend asking the guide about recommended bars during the Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour and heading there after the tour ends.
With this Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour, you can thoroughly enjoy even the afterglow of the tour.
Two Tours by Other Companies to Enjoy Kanazawa
Source:Tripadvisor
Taste of Kanazawa (Food tasting in Omicho Market & Higashi Chaya)
This tour is a 2-hour tour where you can enjoy Kanazawa's food and history. While these daytime experiences offer wonderful culinary discoveries, visitors seeking evening adventures might also consider a Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour to fully explore the city's diverse dining scene.
First, regarding food, you'll enjoy Kanazawa's specialties including fresh seafood at Omicho Market. Furthermore, you'll have the opportunity to eat Wagashi (Japanese sweets) at a shop with over 100 years of history.
Regarding history, you can walk through traditional streetscapes in Kazuemachi Chayagai and Higashi Chaya District, visit a gold leaf factory, and observe the gold leaf-making process, which is one of Kanazawa's traditional crafts.
<Tour Details>
- Meeting point: Mister Donut Kanazawa Musashi Shop, Japan, 920-0907 Ishikawa, Kanazawa, Aokusamachi, 88 1F
- Tour area: Kanazawa
- Start time: 9:30 a.m.
Kanazawa: 2-Hour Private Tour of Omicho Market with Tastings
Source:Tripadvisor
Omicho Market is a market with over 300 years of history, where fresh seafood, vegetables, and meat caught and grown locally gather. In this tour, you'll spend 2 hours enjoying Omicho Market from end to end. This daytime market exploration perfectly complements evening dining experiences, making it an ideal precursor to a Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour for those wanting to experience the city's culinary offerings around the clock.
This tour also visits Omicho Ichibakan, which is adjacent to Omicho Market. In this dining district with famous restaurants, you can not only taste Kanazawa's exquisite cuisine but also enjoy non-food specialties such as traditional crafts.
<Tour Details>
- Meeting point: Hokkokuginko Musashigatsuji Shiten, 88番地 Aokusamachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-0907, Japan
- Tour area: Kanazawa
- Start times: 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m.
Magical Trip Has Other Tours That Are Extremely Popular Among Tourists
Magical Trip offers 70 tours across 9 domestic cities and is beloved by many tourists throughout the country. Today, I'll introduce 3 tours that have received particularly high ratings, along with my personal favorite tours.
Kanazawa Half-day Historical Walking Tour
This tour takes you around Kanazawa's major tourist destinations in half a day. You'll visit Omicho Market, where Kanazawa's flavors have gathered for over 300 years; Kenrokuen, a vast Japanese garden with beautiful scenery; and the Higashi Chaya District, a place that preserves traditional streetscapes. The attractive point of this tour is that you can enjoy all the major aspects of Kanazawa: history, culture, and gourmet food.
For those who want to enjoy Kanazawa to the fullest, please definitely join this tour. Since there's a lot of walking involved, we recommend participating in comfortable, well-worn shoes.
If you're particularly interested in Kanazawa's culinary scene, you might also consider the Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour, which perfectly complements this historical walking experience by focusing on the city's incredible evening dining culture.
Tour Details:
- Meeting point: FamilyMart+Drug Komeya Kanazawa Musashi Store
- Tour area: Kanazawa
- Start time: 10:00
Tokyo Bar Hopping Night Tour in Shinjuku
This tour is a 3.5-hour walking tour that takes you to 3 izakayas in Shinjuku, the liveliest nighttime district in Tokyo. This tour ranked #1 on TripAdvisor, a major travel site, in 2024, making it a tour loved by a tremendous number of people.
The attractive point of this tour is that you can fully enjoy Japanese cuisine and alcohol. From over 30 types of food and drinks, you can choose what interests you and what's perfect for you while listening to the guide's recommendations.
If you're interested in Japanese popular cuisine, please definitely join this tour.
Tour Details:
- Meeting point: In front of Black pillar (Next to Uniqlo Shinjuku Nishiguchi shop)
- Tour area: Shinjuku
- Start time: 17:00, 17:30, 18:00, 18:30, 19:00
Finest Quality Sushi & Tempura Dining Experience in Ginza
In this tour, you'll enjoy sushi and tempura at Michelin-starred restaurants and Tabelog award-winning restaurants in Ginza, one of Japan's premier gourmet districts.
Both the sushi and tempura shops have received high praise and are popular establishments where you can taste exquisite dishes with delicate flavors that maximize the deliciousness of the ingredients. Additionally, the guide will explain Japanese dining etiquette and eating methods, so even those who don't know these can dine with peace of mind.
For those who want to eat the highest-ranked Japanese cuisine since they've come all the way to Japan, this tour is recommended. While this Ginza experience showcases Tokyo's finest dining, visitors to Kanazawa should also consider the Kanazawa Night Foodie Tour for an equally impressive culinary journey through that historic city's renowned food scene.
Tour Details:
- Meeting point: Lion Statue at Ginza Mitsukoshi near Exit A8 of Ginza Station
- Tour area: Ginza
- Start time: 15:30
