Chubu, Japan · City
An industrial city home to the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology and a distinctive local cuisine (miso katsu, tebasaki).
Train — Chubu Centrair International Airport, a hub on the Tokaido Shinkansen
A local eel dish served three different ways in the same bowl.
The history of Japan's textile and automobile industries, with live demonstrations.
A theme park dedicated to Studio Ghibli in Nagakute, Aichi, easily accessible from Nagoya; requires tickets booked in advance for a specific date and time, often through a lottery system.
The oldest surviving wooden keep in Japan, and next to it an open-air museum of Meiji-era buildings moved here whole, including the lobby of Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel.
Breaded pork cutlet under a thick red miso sauce: the flagship dish of Nagoya cooking, eaten here in a different way from the rest of the country.
Chicken wings fried twice, glazed and heavily peppered; the compulsory partner to beer in the taverns of Sakae.
In Nagoya, ordering a coffee in the morning includes a free breakfast: egg, toast and sometimes salad. The local version is toast with sweet red bean paste.
The inherited treasure of the Owari branch of the Tokugawa, including the 12th-century illustrated Genji scrolls, which because of their fragility are shown only a few days a year.
The largest nightlife district in central Japan, with the TV tower and the Oasis 21 spaceship lit up behind it.
One of the most important Shinto shrines in Japan, surrounded by centuries-old forest.
On June 5, five towers of 365 lanterns each are raised at the gates of the region's most revered shrine, with fireworks at the end.
Visit to the two-century-old cedar vats, loaded with stones stacked by hand, where the red miso that defines all of Aichi's cooking matures for years.
One of Japan's most visited zoos, with a 1937 greenhouse designated an Important Cultural Property and an urban forest around it.
Flat wheat noodles, eaten even standing up on the station platforms, and rice balls stuffed with tempura prawn.
At Inuyama you run the river in a flat-bottomed boat and, in summer, watch nighttime fishing with trained cormorants, a technique more than 1,000 years old.
From here Nobunaga set out for the battle that launched him to power. Japan's three unifiers, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu, were all born in this area, and the city has put together a trail of their sites.
Four thousand maples planted by a 17th-century monk fill a ravine with red, lit up at night in November; it is the region's great autumn destination.
A LEGO theme park with more than 40 attractions geared toward families with young children, next to the port of Nagoya.
Very firm udon simmered in a clay pot with red miso broth and served boiling; it throws you the first time and hooks you the second.
An hour away: one of Japan's largest roller coaster parks, the country's biggest winter light festival and a spa with real hot spring water, all on the same site.
An iconic castle famous for the golden dolphin ornaments on its roof.
In October Japan's three unifiers parade through the city accompanied by floats carrying Edo-period wooden automata.
This venue, formerly the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, hosts the Nagoya honbasho in July, one of the six official grand sumo tournaments — only available during those dates.
The old porcelain factory turned into a park, with brick kilns preserved and a workshop for painting your own plate.
A 14th-century temple moved here by Ieyasu, with one of Japan's most important libraries of ancient manuscripts beneath the building itself.
One of the largest aquariums in Japan, home to orcas, belugas, and a recreation of the Antarctic Ocean.
Inside a steel globe suspended between two buildings is the world's largest planetarium dome, 35 metres across.
JR Central's railway museum by the port, featuring historic bullet trains and the maglev train that holds the world speed record.
Extremely spicy ramen invented in Nagoya by a Taiwanese cook and nonexistent in Taiwan; eaten in the small hours.
Beyond its shopping role, Osu concentrates second-hand manga and figure shops, old electronics and vintage clothing at prices well below Tokyo.
A feudal lord's strolling garden with a waterfall and iris beds, right next to the Tokugawa museum.
Free exhibition of robots and new models in Toyota City, and a museum with 140 original cars dating from 1890. Note: in-person factory tours remain suspended since the pandemic and only a virtual tour is available.
The city's fish market, which supplies the restaurants rather than the tourist, ten minutes from the station.
Real aircraft and the aeronautical history of a region that built a large share of Japan's 20th-century planes, at Komaki airport.
One of Japan's largest contemporary art events, which every three years takes over museums and venues spread across the city.
A miniature Shikoku: 88 temples spread across the Chita peninsula, reachable by train from Nagoya and with almost no foreigners.
The covered home stadium of this historic Central League club; attending a game lets you experience the 'oendan' up close — the coordinated cheering squads of Japanese baseball.
A former post town on the Tokaido route known for shibori, a traditional tie-dyeing technique, with well-preserved merchant houses.
Nagoya has genuine hot spring water within the urban area, with open-air baths, which is unusual for an industrial city of this size.
Mountain temple with a five-storey pagoda inside the city itself, with zazen sessions open to the public.
Postmodern building by Kisho Kurokawa with an unusual collection: School of Paris and 20th-century Mexican art.
The city's football club plays in the J-League, and in March the world's largest women-only marathon is run here.
In August, 200,000 dancers take over the city in Japan's largest yosakoi dance festival.
A nonsectarian Buddhist temple in the Kakuozan neighbourhood that houses an authentic relic of the Buddha donated by Thailand.
Lively shopping streets next to Osu Kannon Temple, blending retro and modern stores.
The city's largest Japanese garden, with a tea house and a stream representing the course of the Kiso river, next to Atsuta Shrine.
Beneath the station spreads one of Japan's largest underground shopping complexes, also useful on days of rain or extreme heat.
The world cosplay championship is held in Nagoya every August, with a parade through the centre and teams from dozens of countries.
Tell us how many days you have and what you are interested in, and the planner builds a realistic itinerary with real train times.
Open the planner