Niigata Itinerary: Two Days in Northern Japan

Each time we go back to Japan we try to visit somewhere we haven't been to before. This year, we headed north of Tokyo to Niigata for an offbeat city break. I think this Niigata itinerary is the perfect way to spend two days in the city, but first...

What is Niigata?

Our main reason for going to Niigata this February was to attend the Tōkamachi Snow Festival, but it was also the perfect opportunity to explore one of Japan's less famous cities. As Tōkamachi is only about 90 minutes from Niigata City by train, it made the perfect base for our trip. 

Niigata is not as breathtakingly beautiful as Kyoto or as wonderfully mind-boggling as Tokyo, but therein lies its charm, because it's also not overcrowded or overly touristy. My Japan Lonely Planet describes Niigata as "a transit hub," but I would argue that this city has plenty to offer in its own right, including a unique shopping district, historic villa, excellent restaurants and a rich sake culture. 

We stayed in Niigata for three nights with one whole day spent at the snow festival. Two days felt like enough time to experience the city but you could, of course, extend your trip to see Niigata at a more leisurely pace or to explore more of the region.

We stayed at Hotel Nikko, a mid-range hotel on the south side of the Shinano river. Although I was tempted by the luxury corner rooms which have both a river and a sea view, I opted for a riverside room for the fairly reasonable price of  51,000 yen (17,000 yen a night). The riverside views were more than adequate and we were treated to a dramatic sunset on our first night. When the sky was clear enough, we could just make out Sado island on the horizon and we loved looking down on boats as they made their way along the river and out to sea. 

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links for JR Pass. I only include affiliate links for products and services that I use and believe in. I have travelled using a JR Pass several times and always recommend it to friends and family. If you make a purchase through these links, I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

day 1

To make the most of your first day in Niigata, you'll want to get an early shinkansen from Tokyo. The 07:04 from Tokyo Station (07:10 from Ueno) gets you to Niigata at 09:02. It's a 20-minute walk or a 5-minute taxi ride from Niigata Station to Hotel Nikko. 

We stuck to the south side of the Shinano river on our first day, which is the newer part of the city. 

Nuttari terrace street

A 20-minute walk from Hotel Nikko, this Shōwa era street which was recently revived and revamped, is a good place for a late morning cafe break and some souvenir shopping.

This row of unassuming tenement buildings was home to many businesses and a bustling market up until at least the late 1950s. Over the years though, as the suburbs expanded, the shops started to close down until only a few remained. A few small businesses moved into the area in 2010 and by 2015 all the buildings were occupied and the street was renamed Nuttari Terrace Street.

The single-story buildings now cater to a younger demographic with trendy cafes, eclectic shops and even a coworking space. Despite what could be seen as a bit of a hipster take over, Nuttari Terrace Street retains its old-world feel and there are everyday shops, such as a greengrocer and a deli, amongst the cool hangouts. 

Tsumugu coffee and.

As the name suggests, this stylish cafe focuses on coffee, but there are a few other drinks on the menu as well. If you can, grab a seat at the prime people-watching spot in the window. 

Nemon

Most of the jewellery in Nemon is handmade by the friendly owner. Her simple designs combine gold with pearls or gemstones and are playful and feminine without being overly cutesy. I was enticed into the shop by the gold chain rings in the window, but I ended up buying a dainty black and gold bracelet instead. 

isana

We were ready for something sweet by the time we reached Isana and luckily they had purin (crème caramel) on the menu so this gluten-free traveller didn't have to miss out. Some of the furniture in the cafe is made by ISANA and there is a small shop next door that sells textiles and wooden items including coasters and keyrings. 

I liked that ISANA was slightly cluttered and that there was so much to look at; from a hand-drawn menu to pictures on the walls and leaflets piled up on tables. I like a trendy cafe as much as the next millennial, but I'm even more fond of cafes that feel like you're sitting in someone's living room. As a bit of a baking enthusiast, I've often daydreamed about owning a cafe, and if I ever do, I think it will be like ISANA. 

Most of the businesses on Nuttari Terrace Street have irregular opening hours so I recommend visiting on a Friday, Saturday, or the first Sunday of the month when most of the shops are open. 

lunch at el mirasol

If you fancy a change from Japanese food, this small Mexican restaurant does an excellent lunch set. You can choose a burrito or a taco set (the corn tortillas make this gluten-free friendly!) and there are three options for each depending on how hungry you are. The cheapest option, at 890 yen, gets you two tacos, rice, tortilla chips, a small salad, two salsas and a drink. As if that excellent deal wasn't enough, the staff are also incredibly welcoming and helpful. 

Lunch is served until 15:00 with last orders at 14:30. There is an English menu. 

imayo tsukasa sake brewery

Seeing as Niigata is famous for its sake, a brewery visit is a must. Imayo Tsukasa offers free brewery tours on the hour until 16:00 every day and there is no need to book for groups of less than seven. The short tour is in Japanese but there are leaflets in several languages, including English, that explain the brewing process and the history of the brewery. 

Let's be honest, most of us take brewery tours for the tasting that follows and Imayo Tsukasa's is particularly generous. For 1000 yen, you can sample each of the sakes (I think there were about 15!) and you also get to keep your tasting cup. There are all kinds of sake to try: pasteurised, unpasteurised, umeshu (plum liqueur), seasonal varieties and premium sakes that sell for up to 5,000 yen a bottle. There is a tasting card in front of each sake that tells you the alcohol content, how it should be served, how sweet/dry it is and, crucially, the polishing ratio.

The polishing ratio refers to how much of the grains of rice remain after milling. So if you buy a bottle of sake that has a polishing ratio of 70%, that means that 70% of the grain is left after milling and only 30% has been polished. These ratios are used to place sake into three classifications: Junmai (polishing ratio of 100%-60%), Junmai Ginjo (60%-50%) and Junmai Daiginjo (50%-1%). Junmai Daiginjo sake is considered to be the most premium, but I have to admit that I can't taste the difference!

After drinking our fill of sake in the tasting area, we spent a long time perusing the sake bottles and merchandise in the beautiful shop. Each sake bottle label was like a work of art and each display was so perfect that I was almost scared to touch anything. Besides sake, there are lots of unique souvenirs on sale here: sake cups, stickers, snacks, and even beauty products made from koji (a kind of mould that turns starch into sugar in the sake making process). 

Hot Tip - Unfortunately it was closed by the time we finished shopping, but there is also a traditional tatami room next to the brewery where you can go to relax or to eat something you bought from the shop.

ponshukan

The sake adventure continues in this "sake museum" in Niigata train station. For 500 yen you get five coins which you can use to try different types of Niigata sake from the vending machines that line the entire back wall of the museum. There are English instructions with photos at the counter (a good thing as the man working there spoke incredibly fast Japanese) and there are also some English translations on the machines themselves. 

Once you've got your coins, all that remains is to choose from over 100 types of sake. We ignored the "don't judge a book by its cover" rule and chose based on the labels we liked the look of. Surprisingly, this worked well and we didn't regret any of our selections. You can also enhance your sake experience by warming it up or trying it alongside different types of miso paste or salt. 

The tasting area is tucked away at the back of the Ponshukan shop which I highly recommend spending some time in, not least because it has a very well-stocked sake section, but also for the abundance of local products for sale. One of the things I love most about Japan is this attention that is given to local products and regional specialities. 

Directions: Ponshukan is inside the station building on the south side, close to a 7-11 and the entrance to a hotel. Look out for the ポ on the shop entrance. You can find Ponshukan shops at two other train stations in Niigata Prefecture: Echigo-Yuzawa and Nagaoka. 

dinner at torichū honten (鳥忠 本店)

This izakaya specialises in chicken so the yakitori is particularly good here. There was no English menu but if you don't read Japanese, you could order yakitori omakase which should get you a variety of yakitori such as negima (chicken and green onion), kawa  (chicken skin) and tsukune (chicken meatball).  

We also ordered a baked dish of potatoes, sausages and cheese (ウインナーとポテトのチーズ焼き). I know, not exactly traditional Japanese fare, but it was just what we needed to warm us up on a cold February evening. 

Gluten-free travellers should order their yakitori with shio (salt) instead of tare (sauce). 

day 2

We woke up to rain on our second day so we were in no rush to leave the warmth of our hotel bed. That's my excuse for having a lie-in and not heading out until lunchtime anyway, but you could do things in a different order if you start earlier. 

Day 2 takes you across the Shinano river to the more historic part of Niigata. 

lunch at star indian restaurant

Don't you like Japanese food?? I hear you cry. Well, if I'm honest, for every Japanese dish I like, there are several more that I don't. I don't like seafood, miso, seaweed or dashi which rules out quite a lot of Japanese cuisine, and now that I'm gluten-free, I can't even indulge in the deep-fried delights that are katsudon, korokke and tempura. 

Before you judge me too harshly, I tried very hard to learn to like traditional Japanese flavours when I lived in Tokyo, but my palette stubbornly refused to cooperate. Given that we also tend to spend two or three months at a time in Japan, we do like to try international restaurants as well. 

The lunch set at Star was an excellent deal - 850 yen for a curry with a choice of naan or rice, and a salad. I love vegetarian Indian food so I chose daal for my curry and it was one of the best I've had in Japan. 

Lunch is served daily from 11:00 to 15:30 with last orders at 15:00. Most Indian restaurants in Japan let you choose your spice level and medium (中) is usually a safe bet. There is an English menu.

furumachi

Furumachi means old town and this area of Niigata was once known as one of the best Geisha districts in Japan. The main street, Furumachi-dōri, is now home to a mix of vintage shops, trendy eateries, boutiques, kissaten (Shōwa style coffee shops) and wagashi-ya (traditional Japanese sweet shops). If you carry on further east, you will find yourself in a maze of narrow streets lined with traditional restaurants, izakayas and, if I'm honest, some dodgy looking bars. 

Although today's Furumachi has a more modern feel, it is still possible to be entertained by a Geisha, or Geigi, as they are known in the local dialect. 

It's a short walk from Star to the western end of Furumachi-dōri and you can then follow the length of the street to explore this historic part of the city. Give yourself plenty of time as there are lots of shops to browse in, cafes to relax in and beautiful buildings to gawk at. This part of the city also lends itself well to rainy days as many of the shopping streets are covered. 

Here are a few places I particularly recommend in Furumachi:

QUON chocolate (久遠チョコレート)

This chocolate shop was a revelation. As much as I like the chocolate you find in convenience stores - apart from international brands - I haven't come across much "premium" chocolate in Japan. You know, the kind of chocolate that you don't mind spending more money than usual on, the kind of chocolate that requires your full attention and that makes you feel like you're Homer in the land of chocolate. 

The stand out chocolates in Quon were the Terrine bars which mostly come in tea and fruit varieties. Each bar uses a different kind of chocolate as the base with ingredients like nuts, dried fruit, sesame seeds, puffed rice or beans for added texture and flavour. The combinations are as varied as earl grey chocolate with dried apple pieces, hōjicha (roasted green tea) chocolate with black beans and dark chocolate with cranberry and marshmallow. The only downside to these delicious bars is that they're on the small side, but that's just my gluttonous western attitude talking.  

Quon sells an array of other chocolatey goodies and they have stores all over Japan. There are samples for most of the treats in Quon which makes shopping here both fun and dangerous - I wanted to buy almost everything I tried!

A lot of the chocolate in Quon is gluten-free friendly but watch out for these ingredients in the Terrine bars - サブレ (biscuit), カステラ (a kind of sponge cake) and フィアンティーヌ (wafer).  

mizukian kanemaki-ya (美豆伎庵 金巻屋)

My original plan was to stock up on traditional sweets at this 149-year-old wagashi-ya, but I got distracted by the chocolate in Quon so I didn't buy anything here in the end. The shop looked beautiful though and their sweets are very well-reviewed. 

chamonix （シャモニー）

Look out for the sign and the stairs leading up to this kissaten in the arcade section of Furumachi-dōri. Walking into Chamonix is like stepping back in time - the waiters are smartly dressed, the lighting is low and customers barely speak above a whisper. If you're a coffee lover, you're in luck, as kissaten are known for making decent drip coffee. For those of us who prefer tea, there are usually a few black or herbal varieties to choose from; I had apple Assam tea in Chamonix. 

saitō villa

Saitō Villa was built by a prosperous merchant family in 1918 and its rooms and garden are now open to the public. I've been to lots of houses like this in Japan but I never get bored of them; there's something relaxing about padding softly from one tatami room to the next, imagining what the home was like in its heyday.

Sadly, due to the rain, the garden was closed when we visited, but the house was designed in a way that allows you to enjoy the garden from indoors as well. There are panoramic windows on both the ground floor and first floor which creates the impression that the house and garden are one.

After exploring the house, you can take a moment to relax with a cup of matcha in the main hall downstairs. The matcha set, which you order from reception, costs 500 yen and comes with wagashi (a traditional Japanese sweet). Most wagashi are safe for gluten-free travellers as they are often made with rice flour. 

 - 300 yen entrance fee. 

Closed on Mondays (or Tuesday if Monday is a national holiday) and the day after a national holiday (Tuesday if the holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday).  

minatoinari shrine

I really only headed to this pretty little shrine because I wanted to get a goshuin (temple stamp) for my book, but it turns out that I missed out on a unique feature in Minatoinari. Minatoinari's koma-inu (guardian dog) statues rotate and people make wishes here by turning the statues in different directions. It is said that women used to turn the statues towards the harbour in the hope that the weather would turn bad and their seafaring husbands would stay home. 

Even if, like me, you miss this unusual characteristic, this is a nice place for some peace and quiet and the shrine looked particularly atmospheric on a rainy afternoon. 

Goshuin are available to buy until 16:30 but the shrine is open 24 hours. 

dinner at nikuyama or yakiniku tacchan (if you're luckier than we were)

Dinner on our second night in Niigata was a bit of a stressful affair. I had a couple of yakiniku (grilled meat) places in mind, but we hadn't booked a table anywhere as it wasn't peak season.

We tried Nikuyama (肉山) first which had a mouthwatering menu that I was eager to try. The inconspicuous entrance looked more like an entrance to a speakeasy than a yakiniku joint and this did make me wonder if it might be the kind of place you need a reservation. Little did we know, Nikuyama is so popular that it was booked up for the next two months! 

I hoped we would have more luck with Yakiniku Tacchan, but unfortunately, they were also full and had almost sold out of meat. Standing in the entrance, hearing groups of friends laughing and chatting as the smoky scent of sizzling meat drifted towards us, made our rumbling stomachs louder and our expressions more dejected. 

In the end, we found a yakitori place close to the station which was fine, but not as good as the yakitori at TorichŪ Honten. The moral of the story? Make a reservation if tender and juicy grilled meat is your thing. 

Nikuyama takes reservations over the phone on the 20th of the month, but you need to plan in advance as they are often booked up for weeks. You should be able to get a table at Yakiniku Tacchan if you book a few days in advance. I recommend asking your accommodation for help booking either restaurant, or you could try contacting Nikuyama through their facebook page. 

I'm so glad we got to make this trip to Niigata before you-know-what took hold and borders began to close. Niigata has made it onto my list of favourite hidden gems in Japan and I would happily visit again, especially if I can get a reservation at Nikuyama! 

Would you add Niigata to your Japan itinerary? Let me know in the comments!  

pin it and steal my niigata itinerary!

Share it!