Location: Nagoya
Top Things to do in Nagoya
The 10 Best Things to Do in Nagoya, Japan
Nagoya (名古屋) is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is Japan's third-largest incorporated city and the fourth-most-populous urban area. It is located on the Pacific coast on central Honshu. It is the capital of Aichi Prefecture and is one of Japan's major ports along with those of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama, Chiba, and Kitakyushu. It is also the center of Japan's third-largest metropolitan region, known as the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area. As of 2015, 2.28 million people lived in the city, part of Chūkyō Metropolitan Area's 9.10 million people.
Restaurants in Nagoya
1. Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1 reviews
Reviewed By Ilseum - Anaheim, California
We visited this place because we ran out of stuff to do and didn't really think anything about it before going in.
That changed quickly. We absolutely enjoyed everything about this visit. The attention to detail of the Toyota museum, the hands on sections, the great explanations, and the helpful guides. Everything was pot on.
At the end of the museum is a car science playground where you can try out everything yourself.
For roughly $4 per person, I didn't expect something this elaborate and fun. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone visiting Nagoya, even if you are not into cars.
2. Yamazaki River
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 155 reviews
Reviewed By LG_Kay - Singapore, Singapore
This is the best spot for cherry blossoms viewing in Nagoya. When I was there on first week of Apr, the flowers were in full bloom. Along both sides of the river, the cherry blossom trees were so beautiful to behold. One could walk leisurely along the pathways under the trees. There were many locals there, enjoying the view, strolling, biking, having picnics etc. Along this 1 km stretch, there were plenty of vantage points for photo-shoots and selfies.
The easiest way to get there is to take the subway to Mizuho Undojo Higashi Station (purple Meijo Line) and follow the sign to Mizuho Athletic Stadium. The walk is about 10 minutes and you should arrive at a public park, which is the starting point for the riverside walk.
I have visited other cherry blossoms spots in Nagoya such as Tsuruma Park, Nagoya castle. This riverside is definitely the best spot and worth the trip during cherry blossom season. In fact, I saw posters in the subway promoting this cherry blossom spot. Highly recommended.
3. Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1 reviews
For summer it closes at 8pm
Reviewed By pippap36 - south wales
We came here our first weekend of our trip whilst visiting family... and do had our 3 grandchildren with us... wonderful place with plenty to see and do.. the Beluga whales a particular favourite and dolphin show is amazing... also good fries!!
4. SCMAGLEV and Railway Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 876 reviews
Reviewed By ViajesyVino - Australia
This has everything for railway geeks like me. You can explore the interior and exterior of lots of different trains ranging from steam engines to the prototype Maglev Shinkansen. There are interactive displays and lots to see and do.
I was there on a Sunday, so the place was crawling with children. If that is not your taste, I recommend a weekday.
5. Higashiyama Zoo & Botanical Garden
Overall Ratings
4 based on 622 reviews
Reviewed By Lauren L - Bowling Green, Kentucky
This zoo's admission price isn't too bad and they have lots of fun exhibits. They even have a lake where you can take a paddle boat out with a friend!
Overall, it's a great place to visit on a day when the weather is nice. If it's rainy not many people tend to visit, so if you prefer less crowded attractions than this might be something nice to do on a dreary day.
My one recommendation is to get a konbini lunch before you come. The food options aren't the best so, especially if you're a pickier eater, it's probably best to bring your own lunch.
6. Atsuta Jingu Shrine
Overall Ratings
4 based on 1 reviews
Reviewed By Tokugawa_Ieyasu - Fujieda, Japan
Atsuta Jingu Shrine is one of the biggest Shrine in Japan.
The Shrine enshrine very important deities, and they possess one of the 3 sacred treasures, Kusanagi-no-tsurugi(Kusanagi sord).
The whole site is something spiritual and you'll feel something special when you go into inside.
You may find Miya Kishimen noodle shop where you can enjoy flat noodle with Japanese soup. Yummy!
As a souvenir, you can purchase Kiyome-mochi, kinda Japanese sweet with beans jam. With this sweet, you'll be purified.
7. Nagoya City Science Museum
Overall Ratings
4 based on 836 reviews
Reviewed By k l - Sydney, Australia
We had 2 hours to spend before catching the Shinkansen.
Nagoya City Science Museum is both interactive and informative for adults & young children with many displays to look and ‘play’ with - although mainly in Japanese it doesn’t detract from the displays. Be sure if you want to visit some of the main exhibits eg. Deep freezing lab to go straight there as there are timed tickets and if there are many children on excursion they will be there also!
Stop by the museum shop to say Konishiwa to the speaking robot.
We did not visit the Planetarium (15min & only in Japanese, additional 400 yen).
At 400 yen to visit the museum this is a bargain. Free for Junior school (under 15).
We went at 9.30am so not busy but school excursions arrived by 10.30am. 20min walk from Sakae area - Fushimi station closer if you don’t want to walk.
8. Hommarugoten
Overall Ratings
4 based on 176 reviews
Reviewed By bidwisely - Jakarta, Indonesia
Magnificent wooden structure, exquisite details, paintings on walls and sliding doors, quite enjoyable. Heavily tended by the palace officer since a lot of the display are fragile. Very old painting still beautiful to see, and we especially liked the golden tone of the paintings, I thought they also said it was painted really in gold, not sure, but looks like gold.
9. Nagoya Castle
Overall Ratings
4 based on 2 reviews
Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai is comprised of 6 bushos (army generals) and 4 jingasa soldiers. The 6 bushos are; Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, Ieyasu Tokugawa, Toshiie Maeda, Kiyomasa Kato, and Keiji Maeda. Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai members talk and act as the “real” historical figures. They are featured in various TV shows. They also entertain visitors at the Nagoya Castle.
Reviewed By alanyeo76 - Singapore
This is my second time in Nagoya and the last time was about ten years ago. But the last time we didn't know why we did not visit the castle only this time round, we realized that the castle undergone some restoration and only opened to the public in 2013.
They are trying to restore back to its original form now and one can see lots of construction going on within the compound.
This is the only castle that I have been to in Japan that has lifts within the main castle itself, which I find it rather "interesting".
I must say that have put in quite a bit of effort into rebuilding it and lots of exhibits within the castle itself. Good way to learn of it's history! Must see if you are here at Nagoya.
10. Tokugawa Art Museum
Overall Ratings
4 based on 370 reviews
Reviewed By geckopoo - Queensland, Australia
I was so looking forward to visiting this museum after doing research on things to do in Nagoya. As a history buff, the hype and information on the web was irresistible. With over 1000 historical items in their collection, including several suits of armour worn by Ieyasu Tokugawa himself, we thought wow this place is certainly worth checking out and scheduled a whole afternoon for it. How wrong we were.
At 1200¥ per person, I thought this place was overrated and overpriced. There's virtually nothing special about it. 5 huge rooms with about 10 to 20 items in each, very little English information on the labels (of course I can see it is a 'bowl' but what century is it from? Who owned it? I would not even call the labels basic, they were simply perfunctory). The English leaflets they foisted on us at the door (the ladies were definitely trying to help by rushing about getting them for us) were actually not that useful as they're exactly what we have read in the web already and only served as a general background to the theme of each room. As for the contents? Nada. Room 1 was supposed to be the armour and weapons of Tokugawa, well, only one full samurai suit of the 11th Tokugawa ruler in the 19th century, almost at the end of their reign, how useless and uninteresting is that? If you go on the web, they claim to have a number of Tokugawa Ieyasu's armour from the 17th century, so why didn't they put one out at least? That would have been an awesome and significant display. And only about 6 samurai swords (thankfully 4 were owned by Ieyasu himself so really really special). Room 2 was all about the Tea Ceremony, even then about 7 bowls and a full dining set, what the? These appear to be very very old too, from the 17th century, but meh, nothing in context for us. Who, what, why? We enjoyed Room 3 on the Noh theatre ,with 3 masks and 5 costumes and some musical instruments, at least we got to watch a short film of a Noh performance, quite interesting actually, although we much preferred the Kyogen plays, they're funny! The other rooms were basically of the same ilk, not much to look at and pretty generic labels. We even got lost and wandered into the library section which had a rather uninspiring display on Japanese script. Even the museum shop (often my favourite destination in museums) was hideously expensive I dared not pick up anything in case I dropped it and had to pay for it. Overall, we were pretty underwhelmed, especially as it also cost us to get a taxi to and from this place to the train station. Pity as all the staff there were really nice and friendly, albeit with basic English, it didn't make up for a truly disappointing visit.
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