Editor's picks
A local's shortlist — the places worth your time first, each with a tip.
Nagoya Castle & the Honmaru Palace
Landmark · Naka-ku, north of the centre
The golden shachihoko roof ornaments are the city's emblem, and the palace beside the keep was rebuilt over a decade using historic joinery.
Local tip: The concrete keep has been closed to visitors since 2018 over seismic concerns and the wooden reconstruction has been stalled ever since. The Honmaru Palace next to it is the thing worth your ticket — finished in 2018 from wartime drawings and photographs, and genuinely extraordinary.
Ōsu
Neighborhood · Naka-ku, south of Sakae
Covered arcades around a temple — second-hand electronics, vintage clothing, Brazilian and Vietnamese food, and no polish whatsoever.
Local tip: This is where Nagoya is least like the surveys say it is. The Brazilian and Filipino food here exists because Aichi has the largest Brazilian community in Japan, not because it is a theme. Go on a Sunday when the flea market is out.
Sakae & Hisaya-ōdōri
Nightlife · Naka-ku, the centre
The main shopping and drinking district, split by one of the hundred-metre boulevards laid out across the burnt-out city after 1945.
Local tip: Those hundred-metre roads were built as firebreaks and are the reason Nagoya feels spacious and slightly empty. The Hisaya-ōdōri park strip was reworked in 2020 and is now where the city actually gathers in the evening, rather than the department stores.
Atsuta Jingū
Culture · Atsuta-ku, south
One of the most important shrines in Japan, home of the Kusanagi sword, in a hectare of ancient camphor forest.
Local tip: Older and more significant than the castle, and far less visited by anyone who is not local. The Miya Kishimen stand inside the grounds serves the flat regional noodle in a setting no restaurant can match — it is not a tourist trap, it is where people go after paying respects.
Higashiyama Zoo & Botanical Gardens
Nature · Chikusa-ku, east on the Higashiyama line
One of Japan's largest zoos, wrapped in a botanical garden and hill park at the end of the subway line.
Local tip: The Higashiyama Sky Tower gives the best view of the Nōbi plain and almost nobody goes up it. The surrounding Motoyama and Yagoto neighbourhoods are the nicest part of residential Nagoya and worth walking on the same trip.
Arimatsu
Hidden gemCulture · Midori-ku, 25 minutes on the Meitetsu line
A preserved Edo-period post town on the old Tōkaidō road, and the home of Arimatsu-Narumi shibori tie-dyeing since 1608.
Local tip: Selected as a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in 2016 — the only one in the country designated as a textile town — and recognised as Japan Heritage in 2019, yet still barely known even to people who live in Nagoya. Merchant houses with plaster fire walls, working shibori workshops that will teach you in an afternoon, and a June festival with three-storey float puppets. Twenty-five minutes from Meitetsu Nagoya.
Explore 117 places across Nagoya
Museums, landmarks, monuments, heritage sites and parks — mapped, with photos. The most notable spots first.
Museums & galleries
(40)
MuseumTokugawa Art Museum
Art museum in Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan
MuseumNagoya City Art Museum
Art museum in Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan
Museum
MuseumMenard Art Museum
Art museum in Komaki City, Aichi, Japan
MuseumShowa Museum of Art
Museum in Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan
Museum
Museum
MuseumNoritake Garden
Garden in Noritake-shimmachi 3-chōme, Nagoya, Japan
Museum
MuseumNagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Art museum in Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan (1999-2018)
MuseumJapan Spinning Top Museum
Toy museum in Nagoya, Japan
MuseumAichi Prefectural Museum of Art
Art museum in Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan
MuseumNagoya City Sewerage Science Museum
Museum in Nagoya.
MuseumThe Showa Era Lifestyle Museum
Japanese museum in Kitanagoya City, Aichi Prefecture
MuseumKiyosu City Haruhi Art Museum
Museum in Kiyosu, Japan
MuseumI-fain
Museum in Japan
MuseumSkyward Asahi
Museum in Nagoya.
MuseumMaspro Art Museum
Art museum in Nishin city, Aichi, Japan (1975-)
MuseumYamazaki Mazak Museum of Art
Art museum in Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan
MuseumFurukawa Art Museum
Museum in Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan
MuseumMeito Art Museum
Museum in Nagakute City, Aichi, Japan
MuseumHori Art Museum
Museum in Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan
MuseumPEACE AICHI
Museum in Nagoya.
MuseumRakushi Art Museum
Museum in Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan
MuseumInazawa City Oguiss Memorial Art Museum
Art museum in Inazawa City, Aichi, Japan
MuseumMuseum of Ethnology Art, Chubu University
Museum in Nagoya.
MuseumYokoyama Art Museum
Museum in Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan
MuseumKanie-cho Folk Historical Material Museum
Museum in Nagoya.
MuseumKiyosu City Nishibiwajima Tonya Memorial Museum
Museum in Kiyosu, Aichi, Japan
MuseumAichi Sento Museum
Museum in Nagoya.
MuseumNagoya Touken World
Museum in Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan
MuseumTreasure Trove of Swords Kusanagi-kan
Shinto shrine in Jingū 1-chōme, Japan
MuseumDaiichi Museum for art
Museum in Nagoya City, Art, Japan
MuseumMorimura Museum of Yamato-e Art
Museum in Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan
MuseumOguchi Historical Folk Museum
Museum in Ōguchi, Aichi, Japan
MuseumIwasaki Castle Museum
History museum in Nisshin, Aichi, Japan
Komaki City Historical Museum
Museum.
Nagoya City Municipal Archives Museum
東区
Museum in 東区.
Fuji Antarctic Museum
Museum.
Art Museum
Museum.
Landmarks & architecture
(13)
Landmark
LandmarkCategory:Nakagawa Bridge (Nagoya)
Landmark in Nagoya.
LandmarkKōya Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkShonaigawa Bridge (Nagoya Railroad Nagoya Main Line)
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkShonaigawa Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkBiwajima-bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkHoshigaoka Square (Higashiyama Botanical Gardens)
Landmark in Nagoya.
LandmarkNanyo Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkFuruwatari Bridge
Bridge in Nagoya, Japan
LandmarkOtobashi Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkKōonji Jindō Bridge
Bridge in Kita-ku, Japan
LandmarkMitsukoshi Mae Hirobas
Landmark in Nagoya.
Iglesia Ni Cristo Locale of Nagoya
Castle.
Monuments & memorials
(4)World War II non-combatants cenotaph
Memorial.
Togan-ji (Nagoya-daibutsu)
Historic monument.
Meishiba monument
Memorial.
Monuments
Historic monument.
Places of worship
(8)
Religious
Religious
ReligiousCatholic Chikaramachi Church
Church building in Japan
ReligiousNagoya St.Matthew's Church
Church building in Japan
ReligiousKinjo Church
Church building in Japan
ReligiousNagoya St. Mark's Church
Church building in Japan
ReligiousNagoya Central Church
Religious in Nagoya.
Great Buddha of Shurakuen
Place of worship.
Heritage & archaeology
(8)
ArchaeologicalAsahi Site
Archaeological site in Kiyosu/Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
ArchaeologicalMinamiyama old kilns
Archaeological site in Japan
ArchaeologicalNekojima Site
Archaeological site in Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan
ArchaeologicalMiharashidai Site
Archaeological site in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
中社古墳 (Nakayashiro Ancient Burial Mound)
Archaeological site.
東谷第三号墳 (Togoku Third Burial Mound)
Archaeological site.
Shiratorizuka Tomb Mound
Archaeological site.
Owaribe Shrine Burial Mound
Archaeological site.
Parks & nature
(40)
ParkHigashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens
Municipal zoo and botanical garden in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya
Park
Park
Park
ParkTsuruma Park
Park in Shōwa-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
ParkAichiken Forest Park
Forest park in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Park
Park
ParkHisaya Ōdori Garden Flarie
Orchid garden in Nagoya, Japan
Park
ParkTennōgawa Park
Park in Tsushima, Aichi, Japan
ParkShirakawa Park
Park in Nagoya.
ParkGoshikien
Park in Japan
ParkNogyo Bunka-en
Park in Nagoya.
ParkFukiage Park
Park in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
ParkŌdaka Ryokuchi
Park in Nagoya
ParkObata Green Park
Park in Nagoya.
ParkKomaki Sports Park
Park in Japan
ParkIrigaike Park
Park in Nagoya.
ParkShirotori Park
Park in Nagoya.
ParkUmeno Park
Park in Japan
ParkFutagoyama Park (Kasugai)
Park
ParkUehama Park
Park in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
ParkKonarumi Park
Park in Nagoya.
ParkBunka no Oka Park
Park in Nagoya.
ParkAkazomeemon Poetry Monument Park
Park in Nagoya.
ParkHigashiyama Botanical Garden
Garden in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
ParkHigashiyama Park
Park in Nagoya.
ParkTogokusan Fruits Park
Park in Nagoya.
ParkShūrakuen Park
Park in Tokai, Aichi, Japan
ParkTendō Park (Kita-ku, Nagoya)
Park in Tendō-chō, Nagoya, Japan
ParkHagino Park (Nagoya)
Park in Ōno-chō, Nagoya, Japan
ParkUmegae Park
Park in Ichinomiya, Aichi
ParkYashirogaoka Park
Park in Nagoya.
ParkKohoku Park
Park in Minato-ku, Japan
ParkDonko Park
Park in Higashi Dongo-chō, Nagoya, Japan
ParkŌseko Park
Park in Atsuta-ku, Japan
ParkNishinoiri Park
Park in Nishiiri-chō, Nagoya, Japan
ParkGarden Pier Green Park
Park in Minato-machi, Japan
ParkNagonoyama Park
Park in Ōsu 2-chōme, Nagoya, Japan
More to explore
(4)見晴台 (Miharashi-dai)
Viewpoint.
Togokusan
Viewpoint.
Observation tower
Viewpoint.
Miniland
Visitor attraction.
Data from Wikidata (CC0) & OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Images via Wikimedia Commons — see each credit. Listings are community-maintained and may be incomplete or out of date — verify hours and access before visiting.
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