3-Day Itinerary to Toyama: Off the Tourist Trail in Japan

This is our itinerary about how you can spend 3 wonderful days in Toyama.

Toyama is one of Japan’s lesser-known big cities that’s located right in between the Hida mountains and the Japanese Sea. It’s not a very touristic city, so it’s a great place to get off the tourist trail in Japan.

We absolutely loved our time here, and that’s why we’ve decided to write this itinerary about Toyama, so that hopefully you can get some inspiration for an upcoming visit.

So in this travel guide, we’ll go through why Toyama is worth visiting, how to get there, where to stay, and how to spend your 3 days discovering this interesting place in Japan.

Toyama and its surrounding areas have many great things to offer, and we can’t wait to show you!

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Before you visit Toyama in Japan

Why Toyama is worth visiting

Toyama (富山) is the capital city of the Toyama Prefecture in Japan.

It’s a coastal city that’s only a stone’s throw away from the Hida mountain range. Toyama is situated about 300 km north of Kyoto and 400 km northwest of Tokyo, which makes it a great stop if you want to explore this particular side of Japan’s main island.

Toyama’s location is exactly what we think makes it worth a visit. It’s perfectly located right between the coast and the mountains, yet not many tourists go here – so you really feel like you got off the tourist trail in Japan.

So you should visit Toyama if you want to stay in a big city, yet be close to nature, and experience something that not many other travelers in Japan get to see. We absolutely loved our time here and wouldn’t mind going back again some day.

How to get to Toyama

There are several ways to get to and from Toyama. You can both take the bus or the train.

We took the highway bus from Kyoto to Toyama, and then the Shinkansen from Toyama to Tokyo. So you can easily choose your own preferred way of getting here.

You can also use your Japan Rail Pass to take the train to Toyama, so make sure to make use of that if you have it.

Where to stay in Toyama

During our time in Toyama, we stayed in an apartment for 3 nights. Unfortunately, it looks like it doesn’t exist anymore, so instead of recommending that, we’ve done some research on our go-to accommodation platform Booking.com.

We found 3 different places with different budgets and travel styles. So here are the 3 places we would consider staying at during our next trip to Toyama.

Hotels in Toyama

• Iruka Hostel: Want something cheap? Then check out this central hostel with great reviews that’s located in the city center. It’s a classic hostel where you stay in a dorm with other people, but at least you get to snuggle with the furry friends that live here – there are cute cats living in this hostel.
• Toyoko Inn: Traveling on a budget as a couple? Check out this hotel in the city center with breakfast included in the price. It actually cost around the same as the hostel above, here you just get to have your own private room, which is great if you’re traveling as a couple.
• DoubleTree by Hilton Toyama: Want something luxurious? Check out this modern Hilton hotel in the city center that has a gym, onsen, and sauna that’s free of use. Definitely for those who wants more out of their accommodation than just a good night’s sleep.

Toyama 3-day itinerary in Japan

Now let’s dive straight right into our 3-day itinerary in Toyama.

Hopefully this itinerary can work as a travel guide for your own trip to Toyama, or at least give you some inspiration of what there is to do in this part of Japan.

DAY 1 Toyama itinerary: Toyama Castle Park & River cruise

The first thing on our Toyama itinerary was to go for a stroll around the city center, so we suggest you to do the same.

We (as per usual) didn’t do enough research before our trip to Toyama. So we looked at our map over the city and spotted a castle park.

We had just stumbled upon the cute little Toyama Castle Park, which is one of the most popular things to see and do in the city.

Toyama Castle was built by a local lord and dates back to the 16th century. Like most castles around the world, it has been attacked, destroyed, rebuilt and burnt down. It has also survived a few earthquakes over the years. So there are plenty of history to learn from this place.

We would love to share more about the castle, but unfortunately we were too late to enter. S to make sure you don’t make the same mistake as us, we’ll share the opening hours and ticket prices of Toyama Castle below:

Opening hours Toyama Castle 2023	Ticket prices Toyama Castle 2023
9 AM – 5 PM (Last admission 4:30 PM)	¥210

So what can you expect to see in Toyama Castle? (if you don’t make it inside, that is)

There is a little Japanese garden with some flowers and a pond next to the castle. It’s a small but pleasant park that anyone would enjoy. We definitely took our time to walk around the Japanese Garden now that we were too late to go inside the castle. And it was worth it! So whether you’re visiting the inside or the outside, the castle is definitely worth a visit.

Apart from doing a tour around the castle, you can also pay for a samurai costume experience, horse riding experience, or horse feeding experience.

After visiting Toyama Castle, you can go see the city from the Matsukawa River Cruise. It’s open from late March to the end of November and costs between ¥1600-2000 depending on what time of the year you do the cruise.

And then end the day at Isshin Ramen – get the miso ramen!

DAY 2 Toyama itinerary: Go relax on Iwasehama Beach

Toyama is a coastal city, so you are never far away from the ocean. In fact, the beach is only 10 kilometers away from Toyama city center, and it’s one of the best places to spend a day out of the big city.

It’s easy to get to the beach from the city center. There is a tram leaving from Toyama Station towards Iwasehama Station 4 times an hour, and costs ¥210 each way.

Next to Iwasehama Station, you’ll find a FamilyMart, so why not grab some snacks and drinks before heading off to the beach? That’s what we did, and we had such a lovely picnic.

To be honest, we have seen our fair share of beaches around the world and Iwasehama beach is no match to a tropical beach in Thailand. However, there is something very unique about this beach that we’ve never experienced at any other beach around the world before – A mountain range!

You can see the Hida mountain range from the beachside. So even in the winter, a trip to Iwasehama beach is worth it just to get these beautiful views! Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy the day we visited, so you can’t really see the mountain tops on our picture.

Luckily for us, we visited Japan in mid-September, so we were still able to go for a swim in the Japanese sea without freezing to death. Although it did take some time to convince Glenn to get in… As per usual.

Like I said, Iwasehama beach isn’t exactly a tropical paradise, but when else would you get the chance to swim in the Japanese Sea? So even though it wasn’t the perfect beach weather, we still found ourselves splashing around the Sea of Japan for just a few unforgettable moments.

DAY 3 Toyama itinerary: Hike to the top of Mount Tate

We saved the best for last! There is no doubt that the best thing to do while staying in Toyama is to hike to the top of Mount Tate.

To this day, this hike is still one of our favorite trails in the world. You have the ocean on one side of you, and the endless mountains on the other side. On top of that, you have the chance to see thermal hot springs or even go into an onsen.

If you have more days to explore, then you can even find the tallest waterfall in Japan in this area. Or if you come during the winter, you can see Japan’s biggest snow wall. We seriously cannot recommend this place enough for any traveler looking for nature adventures in Japan!

How much did our Toyama itinerary cost

In this part of the blog post, we’ll show you how much our Toyama itinerary cost us. Hopefully, it can work as a guideline for you when planning your trip.

However, we visited Toyama back in 2019, so notice that the price will have increased if you were to visit today in 2023.

The apartment we stayed at cost us ¥6200 per night. Make sure to book your accommodation ahead of time if you want to save some money on your stay.

We spent an average of ¥3845 per day on food and drinks for 2 people, which is actually pretty good! For this budget, we went out for ramen 2 out of 3 nights, ate lunch at FamilyMart, and went shopping a bit in the supermarkets for breakfast and such.

Our biggest expense in Toyama was definitely hiking Mount Tate, which cost us ¥13420 for 2 people. This price has even increased more since then. But honestly, the experience was completely worth the money!

So this itinerary set us back a total of 43555 JPY for one couple traveling Toyama in 3 days. This amounts to about 130 USD per day for 2 people, which we think is pretty good compared to all the things we did during our time in Toyama.

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We hope you liked this travel guide and itinerary about what to do with 3 days in Toyama! Please don’t hesitate to comment with any questions about this lovely city.

Thanks for reading and happy travels!

Are you preparing a trip to Japan? Check out this guide: First time in Japan

Other amazing places in Japan:

• Mount Tate
• Fushimi Inari
• Nara Deer Park