Exquisite Local Cuisine and Breathtaking Scenery: 16 Must-Visit Attractions in Niigata

You can enjoy Niigata in many ways throughout the year, but winter is the best season to experience it.
In winter you can enjoy winter sports, popular events like hot air balloon festivals, and scenery that you can only see in this season. There are many winter-only ways to have fun.
Niigata also has many hot springs, so touring famous hot spring spots in the cold season is highly recommended.

It takes just 1 hour from Tokyo by shinkansen.
There is Niigata Airport, so access from Osaka is also good. It takes Approx 1 hour by plane.
There are many international flights as well, so it is easy to reach from overseas.

One of the largest aquariums on the Sea of Japan coast.
The powerful dolphin show is held four times a day at Dolphin Stadium (five times on Sundays and holidays).
The star attraction is the “Sea of Japan Large Tank.”
In the marine tunnel, you can watch fish that live in the Sea of Japan as if you were taking a stroll along the seabed.

The leading shrine in the Echigo region, with a history of over 2,400 years.
It is said to have begun when the deity Kaguyama-no-mikoto, great-grandson of Amaterasu Omikami, was buried on Mount Yahiko after opening up the ancient land of Koshinokuni, and a shrine was built here in his honor.

A famous hot spring resort that represents Niigata, located in Shibata City on the eastern side of the Echigo Plain. It opened in 1915.
It regularly ranks among the “Top 100 Hot Springs in Japan.”
The mildly alkaline sulfur spring has an emerald green color, sometimes turning milky white, and is known as a “beauty bath” for its excellent skin-beautifying effects.

Taraibune, or tub boats, are one of Sado’s most iconic sights.
They were invented during the Meiji era along the rocky Ogi Coast to gather turban shells, abalone, wakame seaweed, and more.
Made of cedar and bamboo, the boats are more stable than they look. Even with a female boatwoman and three adults on board, they rarely tip over.

Kuriyama Beika is a Niigata-based rice cracker company known for hit products like “Baka Uke” and “Hoshi Tabeyo.” Niigata is a major rice producer, and companies here account for roughly 60% of Japan’s annual rice snack production.
Niigata Senbei Kingdom is a rice cracker theme park attached to the company’s head factory grounds, where you can enjoy hands-on activities.

One of Japan’s largest ski resorts, famous for its dry, high-quality powder snow.
The wide variety of courses, which once hosted World Cup races, offers fun for everyone from beginners to experts.
The 4 km downhill run is especially impressive.

A museum that preserves and opens to the public the former residence and gardens of the Ito family, who prospered as one of Echigo’s largest landowners in the Meiji era.
Within the vast 8,800-tsubo grounds are many valuable buildings registered as tangible cultural properties, including the main house built over eight years, a great hall roughly the size of 100 tatami mats, and a gate-storehouse that serves as both gate and storehouse.

A ski resort with excellent access, Approx 74 minutes from Tokyo Station on the Joetsu Shinkansen, with the slopes directly connected to Gala-Yuzawa Station.
It stays open until early May, so you can enjoy skiing and snowboarding right through Golden Week.

A mine that opened in 1601 and produced gold and silver ore for 388 years.
The total length of the gold veins, which spread like an ant nest, reaches Approx 400 km. In the end, the mine produced 78 tons of gold and 2,330 tons of silver, firmly establishing itself as Japan’s largest gold and silver mine in both name and reality. It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in July 2024.

A waterfall on the Sekigawa River, which flows along the border between Niigata and Nagano prefectures, and one of the “Top 100 Waterfalls in Japan.”
The powerful roar of water dropping 55 m has earned it the nickname “Earthquake Falls.”
In ancient Japan, the word for earthquake was “nai,” and it’s said that “nai no taki” eventually evolved into the name “Naena Falls.”

A beautiful bridge spanning the Shinano River, Japan’s longest river.
It is 306.9 m long and 22.0 m wide, and even withstood the Niigata earthquake of 1964, remaining a symbol of strength for Niigata’s citizens.
The bridge is known for its series of evenly spaced, graceful arches. The sturdy stone structure is finished with granite and other stone, giving it an especially dignified presence.

From Yahiko Station, you can walk to the trailhead for Mount Yahiko. It takes Approx 1 hour 30 minutes to climb from the Omotesando trailhead to the summit.
The well-maintained trail is easy to walk and suitable for beginners and families with children. You can also reach the summit easily by using the Yahiko Ropeway or the Yahiko Skyline scenic drive.
A nice plan is to hike up and then take the ropeway down.

On a hilly area of around 3 hectares, a beautiful scene unfolds where 100-year-old beech trees grow thick across the slopes, earning the nickname “Bijinbayashi,” or “beautiful women’s forest.”
At the end of the Taisho era (1912–1926), this area was clear-cut for charcoal and turned into a bare mountain. But the following spring, beech saplings sprouted all at once and grew into the forest you see today.

These terraced rice fields in the Matsunoyama and Matsudai area of Tokamachi City were selected as one of the “Top 100 Rural Landscapes in Japan.”
Around 200 rice paddies line the slopes of the mountains, forming a stunning view that perfectly symbolizes Niigata, the heart of Japan’s rice country. Many people may recognize it from the opening sequence of the NHK historical drama “Tenchijin.”

A man-made lake in Suibara, Agano City, famous as a wintering spot for swans.
The first flocks arrive from Siberia in early October to spend the winter. They stay at Hyoko until late March, and at the peak in late November, more than 5,000 swans can be seen here.

Kiyotsu Gorge is counted as one of Japan’s three great gorges, and its dramatic scenery can be enjoyed from the renewed Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel.
In the Echigo-Tsumari region of Tokamachi and Tsunan, this tunnel has become a unique space where natural beauty and contemporary art blend together as part of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, the world’s largest international art festival held in the area.
The view from the “Panorama Station,” which changes with each season, is especially unmissable.

When sightseeing in Niigata, try using transport that lets you enjoy the scenery on the way.
On the ferries linking mainland Niigata and Sado Island, you can travel at a relaxed pace while watching the sea from cabins that rival city hotels.
Observation cars and local lines offer panoramic views of Niigata’s rivers, greenery, and vast natural landscapes from the train windows.

The birthplace of Niigata City’s beloved local dish, tare katsudon (pork cutlet rice bowl with sauce).
In most of Japan, katsudon usually means a cutlet simmered with egg, or one dipped in a thick sauce.
In Niigata, however, “tare katsudon” is made by dipping pork cutlets in a sweet-and-salty soy-based sauce and placing them on rice. In Niigata City, this style is what people typically mean when they say “katsudon.”

A restaurant where you can enjoy sushi and sashimi made with fresh local fish you can only taste in Niigata, along with regional dishes.
The most popular item is the “Kiwami” set, a premium selection of 10 pieces of sushi featuring seasonal Niigata fish, plus fatty tuna, sea urchin, salmon roe, and the high-end deep-sea perch called nodoguro from the Sea of Japan.

A popular hegi soba restaurant in a great location, just a 4-minute walk from Niigata Station.
Hegi soba is a local Niigata dish, with bite-sized portions of cold soba neatly arranged in a square wooden tray called a hegi.
Seaweed is used as a binder in the noodles so they don’t fall apart when cut. This gives the soba a fresher, more elastic texture and a smoother feel going down compared to regular soba.

Niigata Prefecture has more sake breweries than anywhere else in Japan, and at Ponshukan you can taste and buy sake from every brewery in the prefecture.
Ponshukan has three locations in Niigata, and the Niigata Station Store is conveniently located inside JR Niigata Station.

Founded in 1767.
Among the many breweries in Niigata, which has the most in all of Japan, this one is the closest to Niigata Station, the gateway to the region. The brewery sticks to traditional methods and produces only junmai-style sake with no added alcohol. This takes more effort than the typical method but brings out the pure flavor of the rice. They also focus on ingredients, using sake rice grown in Niigata Prefecture and natural water from Mount Suganadake, one of Niigata’s famous water sources.

A food-and-sake complex run by Hakkaisan Brewery, known for the famous Niigata sake “Hakkaisan.”
At the foot of the lush Mount Hakkai, 13 facilities are gathered together, including sake breweries, restaurants, and shops.

Along National Route 402, which runs beside the Sea of Japan, 11 large fish shops line up to form Fish Market Street. Fresh catches from the Sea of Japan and seafood from all over the country are brought here.
Thanks to the freshness and sheer variety, the street is always bustling with customers who drive in from the Tokyo metropolitan area and downtown Niigata to buy fish.

A lively market where you’ll find everything delicious from Niigata. Fresh seafood from the Sea of Japan, vegetables straight from the farm, seasonal fruit, quality meats, local rice, and sake all come together here.
There are also plenty of restaurants, so it’s a great place to sit down and enjoy Niigata’s food on the spot. You’ll find sushi and seafood rice bowl spots using fresh fish, as well as Italian restaurants and stylish cafés.

Roadside Station Niigata Furusato Mura is one of the largest roadside stations in the prefecture, where you can enjoy local specialties, pick up souvenirs, and get the latest travel information about Niigata.
The Bazaar Hall alone offers around 10,000 different Niigata souvenirs.
Alongside famous products like rice, fish, and sake, you’ll find world-renowned metalware, traditional crafts, local sweets, and original items, all coming together in a festive atmosphere like a constant regional fair.

An onsen ryokan standing on a hilltop at an elevation of 380 m on Shibatoge.
From the spacious open-air bath “Unkai no Yu,” you can take in sweeping views of rice terraces that are so typical of Niigata, along with the Hakkaisan, Makiosan, and Naeba mountain ranges that form the Uonuma Range.

One of Niigata’s finest traditional inns, where Emperor Meiji is said to have stopped to rest.
The inn is located in Iwamuro Onsen, a historic hot spring that opened in 1713.
It flourished as a hot spring town along the Hokkokukaido highway and is also known as a place visited by the monk and poet Ryokan. Yahiko Shrine is nearby as well.

Tsukioka Onsen is known for its charming streets and highly moisturizing waters that have earned it the nickname “the hot spring that makes you even more beautiful.” Among the many inns here, Shiratama no Yu Kahou is especially popular. It’s a large ryokan with 109 rooms on a small hill.
Its own emerald-green spring, Shiratama no Yu, is a sulfur hot spring with one of the highest mineral contents in Japan and powerful skin-beautifying effects. The grounds feature a circuit-style open-air bath area connected by wooden decks, with rock baths, cypress baths, and more, plus spacious indoor baths and a large sauna. You can also enjoy the excellent waters in private rental spa rooms.

One of Japan’s three greatest fireworks festivals and a classic highlight of summer in Niigata.
Massive fireworks that can’t even fit in your field of vision are launched one after another, including the famous “30-inch shell” that blooms into a 650 m-wide flower in the night sky and the extravagant “Niagara Super Large Star Mine.” The impact is incredible.
The fireworks are held every year on fixed dates, August 2 and 3.

Contemporary artworks are displayed year-round in the lush satoyama countryside of the Echigo-Tsumari region in Niigata.
During the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, held once every three years, new works join the permanent pieces, and a variety of performances and workshops take place.
Even outside the festival period, there are around 200 permanent works on display, created by a diverse array of artists from Japan and overseas. Because this is a heavy-snow area, “snow shelters” are used to protect works in winter, so fewer are on display, but some sites can be enjoyed all year round.

Along with Murakami Taisai in Murakami City and Kashiwazaki Enma Market in Kashiwazaki City, the Kambara Festival is one of Niigata’s three great high streets, major traditional fairs known as “Niigata Sandai Takamachi.” Held every year from June 30 to July 2 at Kambara Shrine and the surrounding area, it draws around 340,000 visitors.
The biggest draw is the sheer scale of the stalls. More than 400 street vendors line the shrine approach and the main road in front, stretching for a total of about 1 km. In addition to local treats like “Poppo-yaki,” a Niigata specialty made by baking a dough of flour and brown sugar, you’ll find nostalgic attractions such as haunted houses and shooting galleries along the shrine path. The stalls stay open until around 11 p.m., and the flow of people never really stops.