Murataya

Twenty-four rooms in Kanazawa's Katamachi district, Murataya occupies a quiet side street one block from the entertainment quarter and roughly ten minutes on foot from Kenroku-en, one of Japan's three canonical landscape gardens. A compact, no-frills two-star property, it suits independent travellers using Kanazawa as a base for the Higashi Chaya geisha district and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art.

Rooms are non-smoking throughout; family-configured layouts are available for groups. Free Wi-Fi reaches all floors, and the Katamachi address keeps guests within easy walking distance of the city's best izakaya and the covered Omicho market, Kanazawa's historic seafood hall.

Check-in opens at 15:00; check-out closes at 10:00. The JR Kanazawa station, the departure point for Hakusan shrine day trips, is reachable in around fifteen minutes by city bus from the Katamachi stop.