From Kanazawa: Beaches, 400-year old Temples & Aliens

Beautiful beaches, old temples and shrines and a unique astronautical museum await you in the city of Hakui. Just north of Kanazawa on the Noto peninsula, this city is truly a slice of rural paradise.
This tour will start at Kanazawa Station at 8:30 A.M., where your guide will meet you in front of the Information Center near the Shinkansen Ticket Gates. You will have the opportunity to put your belongings in a coin locker at the station as well if you feel the need.

From Kanazawa Station we will then hop on an express train north to Hakui. There are views of the countryside, sea, mountains and cute little towns.

After arriving at Hakui Station, we will first head to Chirihama Beach. The beach is most famous as one of the only in Japan that you can both drive on and swim in. As we walk towards the beach there are interesting statues of Japanese onomatopoeia. There is also a shrine that is open to walk through and see the beautiful golden lamps and old paintings up close. Near the beach there is some art made from the garbage collected in the area, too. When we finally arrive at the beach you will see the large sand sculptures of famous Japanese characters and scenes that they change every year (May to the end of November). After getting a feel for the area you have free time to enjoy the beach in the morning. Swim, take in the rays or walk around the area. If you want ideas for things to do, ask your guide!

Next it’s time for lunch. You can eat at the Rest House, eat at any of the vendors in the area or bring your own bento from a convenience store. We will all meet up at 12:30 in front of the Rest House to start the next part of the trip.

Once lunch is finished and the group is back together, we will head towards Myojoji Temple. The ride there is quite scenic with excellent views of the Sea of Japan as we make our way to the temple. The Myojoji Temple that you can see now was built in the early 1600s and almost all of the buildings are registered as a National Heritage Sites. It was built in the time of the first Maeda Lord and has some unique features. Those features make some historians think that it was built as a citadel to protect trade routes instead of simply as a place of worship.

The final destination will see us go from the spiritual realm to the cosmic one. This museum houses various real space items, such as the back-up lander for the Apollo program. The museum has relationships with many other museums, such as the Smithsonian, so they can have such rare and unusual exhibits. It also shows the local history of UFO sightings. This city is famous for the unusually large number of claimed alien sightings over the centuries. This is definitely a museum that is unique, weird and very Japanese, in a modern sense.

To guarantee availability book as soon as possible. Early booking is worth consideration especially if you planning the trip during high season like public holidays or weekends.

This excursion you can cancel with no cost up to 24 hours before the start of the trip. If you cancel it after 24 hours or not show up on the excursion you will still be charged the full price of the activity. Being late on pick-up or departure will be considered as not showing up.