Toyama is the capital city of Toyama Prefecture. It can easily be reached from Kanazawa and is a city of many attractions as well as being a convenient access point for hiking and sightseeing along the Tateyama mountain range.
Blooming tulips at Toyama Castle
The Main Attractions
Toyama Castle was first built in 1543, but the present building is a concrete reconstruction built in 1954. Inside you will find a museum of local history, and the surrounding park is also very pleasant. Admission to the castle costs 210 yen for adults, and high school students and younger are admitted free. A combined adult ticket for Toyama Castle and the Sato Memorial Art Museum costs 320 yen. The castle park is just a seven minute walk from the station.
The Sato Memorial Art Museum is also located in the castle park and displays the private arts and crafts collection of the local entrepreneur Sato Sukekuro as well as two historical tea houses. Admission to the museum costs 210 yen for adults, and high school students and younger are admitted free.
Toyama Glass Art Museum is a 9 minute walk from Toyama Castle. Housed in the glittering Toyama Kirari building, the museum was designed by Kengo Kuma and is worth a visit for its architecture alone. Inside the museum you will find a permanent exhibition of contemporary glass artwork, and on the 6th floor a “Glass Art Garden” by the celebrated blown glass artist, Dale Chihuly. Toyama City Public Library is housed in the same building. The admission fee is 200 yen.
Toyama Glass Art Museum
The Former Mori Residence in Iwase is a traditional wooden townhouse and nationally designated Important Cultural Property built around 1878. It is closed until seismic reinforcement work is complete, with reopening planned for fiscal 2027 or later. If you visit Iwase, focus instead on the historic streets and the nearby Former Baba Family Residence, which is open 9:00-17:00, last entry 16:30, and costs 100 yen for adults; high school students and younger are admitted free. The Iwase area is reached by the Toyama Chihou Railway Toyama Port Line, getting off at Higashi-Iwase or Iwasehama.
The Former Uchiyama Residence is a wonderful house and garden dating from 1868 that previously belonged to a wealthy farming family. Inside you can find three traditional tea rooms, and many works of art and family heirlooms. The plum blossoms in the garden are very beautiful from late February to late March. Admission is 200 yen for adults and free for students and children. This building is a 10 minute taxi ride from Toyama Station.
Boat cruises on the Matsukawa River are especially popular in the spring when the boats sail through a tunnel of cherry blossom, but fares and operation dates vary by season. For 2026, the regular history cruise costs 2,000 yen for adults and 1,000 yen for children, while the spring cruise during the cherry-blossom bloom costs 3,000 yen for adults and 1,500 yen for children. The 2026 cruise season is expected to finish around 30-Aug-2026 because riverbank restoration work is scheduled to resume.
Mount Tateyama and the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route are easy to get to from Toyama City. Mount Tateyama is the highest mountain in the range at 3,015 meters and is known as one of the “three holy mountains” of Japan along with Mount Fuji, and Mount Hakusan in Ishikawa Prefecture. The mountain can be reached from Tateyama and hiked in one day.
The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is a 37.2 km mountain sightseeing route across the Northern Japan Alps, operating in 2026 from 15-Apr to 30-Nov. It uses a sequence of transport modes such as train, cable cars, highland bus, tunnel electric bus, and ropeway, and can be enjoyed for its jaw-dropping scenery. In mid-April the route opens with enormous walls of snow on either side that buses carry sightseers through.
To get to Tateyama Station take the Toyama Chihou Railway from Dentetsu-Toyama Station. The ordinary train fare to Tateyama Station is 1,420 yen, and the ride takes about 1 hour. Limited express services require an extra 600 yen surcharge; the early 5:10 rapid limited express to Tateyama requires a 1,000 yen surcharge.
Hiking Mount Tateyama in the autumn
How to Get There
From Kanazawa you can get to Toyama by Shinkansen, ordinary train, or car. The quickest route is by Hokuriku Shinkansen, while the ordinary train route on the IR Ishikawa Railway and Ainokaze Toyama Railway is the lower-cost rail option. There is no direct Kanazawa-Toyama highway bus service for this trip, so rail is the practical public-transport choice if you are not driving.
The Hokuriku Shinkansen Kanazawa to Toyama
By Train
Toyama is connected to Kanazawa Station by ordinary train lines and by the Hokuriku Shinkansen line. Traveling by ordinary trains on the IR Ishikawa Railway Line and the Ainokaze Toyama Railway Line you can get to Toyama in about 1 hour for a fare of 1,290 yen. Traveling by Shinkansen you can get to Toyama in around 20 minutes; use a date-specific JR fare search before departure, because fares vary by train, seat type, and ticketing method.
A local IR Ishikawa Railway through train bound for Toyama
Ainokaze Toyama Railway also operates local through train services to Toyama
By Car
Toyama can be reached by car from Kanazawa via the Hokuriku Expressway. The journey takes about 40 minutes to 1 hour depending on the interchange and traffic. Check the NEXCO toll search for the exact toll from your chosen Kanazawa and Toyama interchanges. Of course this does not include the cost of renting a car. For more information on local driving check our article on Car Rental in Kanazawa.
Article by Michael Lambe. Photos by m.Taira, sigmax, ginR and Michael Lambe. All rights reserved. Last updated 05-Jun-2026.
