Visit Yokohama

Built on former shipyards, Minato Mirai 21 lines the waterfront with office towers, shopping centres, concert halls and museums. You can cover it on foot in two to three hours from Minatomirai or Sakuragicho station, taking in the Cosmo World Ferris wheel, the old dry docks and the harbour promenade. Since 2021 the Yokohama Air Cabin gondola has linked Sakuragicho to the red-brick warehouses in a few minutes above the water. Come back after dark: that is when the skyline truly makes sense.

Osanbashi international terminal, covered in undulating wooden boards and lawns, is both a cruise pier and a free viewpoint open day and night. From there a promenade of about 1 km runs along Yamashita Park, laid out after the 1923 earthquake with the city's rubble, to the Hikawa Maru, an ocean liner launched in 1930 that you can board. The Marine Tower, reopened in 2022, closes the view. Allow an hour and a half of strolling, ideally in late afternoon, then walk five minutes on to Chinatown.

Yokohama's Chinatown, the largest in Japan, grew up with the merchants who arrived when the port opened. Behind its monumental gates, several hundred restaurants and stalls serve steamed buns, dumplings and regional Chinese cooking; the Kanteibyo temple, dedicated to Guan Yu, is its colourful heart. Come on a weekday at lunchtime or in the evening, as weekends are packed. Right next door, Motomachi shopping street, once frequented by foreign residents, has quieter shops and leads up to the Yamate bluff.

The plateau above the port was home to foreign diplomats and traders in the late nineteenth century. What remains is a walk of about 2 km linking several restored Western residences, most of them free to enter, the Foreign General Cemetery and Harbor View Park, whose Japanese name means hill overlooking the port. Allow two to three hours, good shoes for the stairs up from Motomachi, and a break in a tearoom set in an old house. This is the most peaceful part of the city, almost empty on weekdays.

On the other side of Sakuragicho station, Noge is the opposite of Minato Mirai: tight alleys, izakaya with a handful of seats, skewer bars and small seafood restaurants. It comes alive from 5 pm and remains one of the most authentic places for an affordable dinner. Further on, Kannai and Bashamichi keep pre-war bank and customs buildings, including the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History. One evening is enough to move from Noge's bars to a last look at the illuminated bay from Kishamichi bridge.

South of Yamate, Sankeien Garden was opened in 1906 by Hara Tomitaro, a silk merchant who had historic buildings brought from Kyoto, Kamakura and elsewhere, including a three-storey pagoda. Allow two hours on site and about twenty minutes by bus from Yokohama or Sakuragicho station. The garden shines in late March and early April for the cherry blossoms, then in November for the maples. Pop-culture fans will find the Cup Noodles Museum in Minato Mirai, and in Shin-Yokohama a museum devoted entirely to ramen.

Staying in Yokohama is a serious alternative to the capital: Minato Mirai hotels often offer more space and bay views, the Tokyu Toyoko line reaches Shibuya in about thirty minutes, and the JR Tokaido line gets to Tokyo Station in roughly 25 minutes. Haneda airport is 20 to 30 minutes away on the Keikyu line. Kamakura and its great temples are about half an hour south by train, and Shin-Yokohama station serves the Shinkansen to continue your trip around Japan towards Kyoto. Two nights let you enjoy the evenings without rushing.