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City Guide

Directions: Nagoya

24 March, 2025

Words & Photos 

Tara Bennett

There are only a few reasons why you would make a stop in Nagoya when visiting Japan. You either scored a booking at Ghibli Park, you are staying there to hike the Nakasendo Trail or, like us, are there for business. Nagoya reminds me of Ginza in Tokyo. It’s big, clean and has a lot of designer fashion stores. Nonetheless, if you just dig a little deeper, you start to find your footing, and by footing that means wine, coffee, food and a knickknack or two.

01
Nagoya city streets.

Stay

JR Gate Hotel 

Now this place isn’t exactly what you call “trendy” but it’s conveniently located on the top of Nagoya station. We usually stay here when we have an early start that require us to be on a 7am train.

Mitsui Garden Hotel Nagoya Premier

Recently featured in Casa Brutus’ Best Design Hotels is probably a good enough reason to book.

02
Early Bird Breakfast.

Day Sips/Coffee

Early Bird Breakfast 

We love a cafe that opens on Australia time. 

KISO Bakery 

Baked goods served in a well-designed space. 

Coffee & Grocery Mol

Good spot for a coffee and a bite to eat.

03
Vinvino.
04
Swallow.

Night Sips 

VinVino

We’ve been visiting this cute restaurant for years. It was a recommendation from a lovely Japanese lady in Tokyo who I had met at a bar. The owner is welcoming, the natural wines are super interesting, and the food is French inspired.

Paradise Nature

With a record/wine bar at the front and a cellar you can buy takeaway wine from at the back, this place gets a big yes from us!

Swallow

A trendy izakaya. Note, they only have a Japanese menu and it’s one that’s pretty impossible to translate, but if you get past that then it’s delicious.

BUBU 

Nagoya seems to love a French wine bar, and we are all for it. 

05
Paradise Nature.
06
Nakasendo Trail.

Do

Nakasendo trail 

A great thing to do for nature lovers, we did another guide to the trail when we ventured on it last year, which you can read here.

07
Analogue life.
08
Analogue life.

Shop 

Analogue Life

If you like Provider Store then you will like Analogue Life.

Nagoya Tsutaya

As always, we could spend hours in a Tsutaya bookshop.

Node

A special little design store

Kapital

Kapital is always worth a visit in Japan to pick up some weird and wonderful fashion.

Graphpaper NAGOYA

This particular Graphpaper store has lots of records and cool books downstairs and their clothing range upstairs.

09
Bookwall at Tsutaya.

Further reading

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