We took a had a long weekend in Nagoya with kids, and although it was a very last minute trip – I was impressed with how much fun stuff for kids (and grown-ups travelling with kids) there was…so much so that I wanted to do a post and share what we got up to.
Accommodation recommendation
Although I haven’t been lucky enough to stay here I attended a virtual tour of Nikko Style Nagoya and was so impressed with the facilities and family friendly options.
The Nikko Style Nagoya hotel is 10-15 minutes walk from the station ( or approx 1000 yen in a taxi) and the whole hotel is so modern and filled with Nagoya specific artwork ingredients and special touches. This includes the materials in the rooms and the locally sourced ingredients in their restaurant and bar on the ground floor.
One particular touch I love is their in-house bike rental services – and this includes bikes for children.
The premises is non-smoking except for one “smoking room” on the lobby floor.
The breakfast menu has three options ( one of them being a Japanese breakfast option) and the restaurant does have high chairs for babies. In the evening, the on-site restaurant welcomes families. See the Nikko Style Nagoya restaurant/cafe menu here.
Room types extend to “Premier” and “Deluxe” Triple Rooms. (these rooms allow up to 3 adults and 2 children – provided those two children are young enough to share beds with adults.) As you can see from their site, the rooms are much bigger than standard Japanese business hotel rooms at very, very affordable prices.
This hotel is also just 3 minutes walk from the Yanagibashi seafood produce markets.
This hotel also offers walking tours of Nagoya.
Gluten Free Options in Nagoya
Shunrakuzen is the most incredible supermarket / convenience store. There are 4 branches in Nagoya so google your closest Shunrakuzen Supermarket if you’re looking for a good range of gluten free products – it’s worth the trip.
To go there from Nagoya Station by taxi it will take approximately 20 minutes and cost approximately 4,500 yen. Or, by public transport, take either the Higashiyama, Sakuradori or Chuo lines to Fushimi Station and then the Tsurumai Line to Irinaka Station (and then walk for 3 mins.)
Gluten free products include pasta, donuts, pancake mix, breadcrumbs for cooking and cookies and cakes. It also is a supermarket so you can also buy meat and fruit and veg etc, of course.
This store accepts most major credit cards.
All stores are open from 10am-8pm.
Our Nagoya Adventures
On the first day, I took the kiddies to this dinosaur themed park. The outer park has a Dino-themed playground but one section is like a moving, retro Jurassic Park-type deal.
The whole park is called Odaka Ryokuchi Greens Park.
To get there, we took a cab on the way as I was travelling without my kiddies at just wanted to get there and leave it up to a taxi driver to get me to the right spot. It took about 20 minutes and cost a little under 3000 yen ( wasn’t exactly free but I wanted to make the most of our Nagoya trip and not get lost with two kids – and a double stroller- in tow.)
I asked the taxi driver to take us to Number 21 on this map here is the link to Odaka Ryokuchi Greens Park
Number 21 refers to the Dinosaur Open Play Area (kyogryu hiroba). The driver was able to drive right to the playground entrance so it set us right up to start the day. It was another cool retro Japanese park. My kids were thrilled. We stopped for snacks (that I brought with us) and then played some more.
Due to many international offices and manufacturing plants being located in Nagoya – there were many more English speaking kiddies and parents in the park and my kids loved joining in on their games.
It was actually hard to convince them to move on after an hour so we could head to the Dino Adventure.
How cool are these Dino slides? The big one ROARS when you go down the slide too!
When we did tear ourselves away, we walked within the park for a tiny bit over 10 minutes to Dino Adventure. It was uphill so hard work pushing that stroller – but we made it!
This mini-theme park is totally kitsch – but in all the right ways.
I was worried that my kids would be scared because I’d read that the dinos move – but they were all over it!
I would have been creeped out there at night with those fake roaring dinosaurs -but my kids were comfy and I think its because there were lots of visible wires and pumps etc…
It was completely worth the 800 yen entry for adults and 600 yen for kids.
When I purchased the tickets, I asked if I should take the stroller and the staff said its quite hilly. So I parked the stroller outside the entrance and Im so glad I did as my kids literally ran between each dinosaur structure. It was really cute. They really thought they were little explorers.
There is a little gift shop at the end of the course with some plastic dinosaurs and some snacks but I strongly recommend bringing food as I didn’t see anywhere in the whole park with something more substantial than chocolates, crisps and some ice-cream (my kids do love a vending machine ice-cream though.). Here is the website for Dino Adventure in Nagoya. They seem to close on random days throughout the month so be sure to check before you go.
And just next to Dino Adventure is another gigantic playground. My kids were so obsessed with the castle and the giant roller slide was very, very cool.
After this playground we were all pretty tired and decided to make our way back.
We walked for 10 minutes to Sakyoyama Station. It took around 40 minutes to get back to Nagoya and we changed trains twice ( to map your journey back, I recommend using Jorudan because you’ll need different trains for different times of day. )
(My daughter loved the purple “Princess Sofia” train carriages.)
Then the next day I had my hubby with me and we all headed for Legoland with our kids by train.
We thought Legoland was further out of town, but it only took us about 20 minutes on an express train (Note ; when you leave from Nagoya Station, you don’t take the JR line, there is another line just next to it – within Nagoya Station- called the Aonami line. Thats the one you’ll need.)
See here to read my entire post on visiting Legoland with kids in Nagoya.
And on the last day, we visited Nagoya Castle – which is, pretty much, the MUST=DO sightseeing spot in Nagoya.
Within the castle grounds were buskers and some food stalls.
We were able to travel to almost the top of the castle by elevator with the stroller and then walked the last two flights.
Warning though ; the castle gets very busy.
WHERE TO EAT IN NAGOYA WITH KIDS?
I also wanted to talk about the yummy breakfast spot we tried while in Nagoya. It was walking distance away from the castle, and also just a few minutes from our accommodation.
The Cups has several different branches all over Nagoya so you might want to find which one is closest to your accommodation.
It was very modern and there was a great selection of food.
Gluten free option in Nagoya!
It’s random but a good old reliable option for those who are strictly gluten free. Dominos Pizza does not have gluten free pizzas BUT they do have a wheat free pizza rice bowl. There is a Dominos Pizza in Nagoya – the easiest option to access from the station area is probably Domino’s Pizza Sakae 5-chome Store (5 mins in a cab from The Cups Sakae Branch). See the rice bowl on the Dominos Japan menu here.
Family-Friendly Taco & Craft Beer Restaurant
Sayulita Tacos & Craft Beer is just 11 mins walk or 4 mins (approx 500 yen) in a cab from the Sakae area .
Many people call this place the best and most authentic burritos and tacos in Japan. They also serve nachos and quesadillas. This restaurant doesn’t take reservations and seats 16 people so you may have a short wait on a weekend. They do accept most major credit cards. Most meals are around or under 1000 yen. The entire venue is non-smoking. Children are welcome here.
SAYULITA TACOS & CRAFT BEER
3-1 MOZENCHO, NAKA-KU, NAGOYA
OPEN THURS-MON & NATIONAL HOLIDAYS MIDDAY-6:30PM (LAST ORDERS AT 6:30PM)
CLOSED ON TUES & WED
And if you wanted a breakfast closer to Nagoya station, I recommend Sarabeths.
It is a lovely western breakfast/brunch.
This is right inside Nagoya station.
I’m from Melbourne, Australia, and, to me, this kind of breakfast is very very old school. It was yummy and good quality but a bit like having breakfast out in the 80s.
The menu is on their website if you’d like to check ahead. My egg white and cheese omelette was delicious.
They do have high chairs for babies.
They also allow you to bring your own baby food into their restaurant.
*The photos above are from the Sarabeths Shinagawa store. However the menu is almost identical. Please see the website for details.
SARABETHS,NAGOYA
名古屋市中村区名駅1-1-3 タカシマヤゲートタワーモール1階
GROUND FLOOR, TAKASHIMAYA GATE TOWER MALL,
OPEN 9AM-10PM
For a good fried chicken spot, I recommend trying Furaibo (there are 3 locations in Nagoya. They are famous for their chicken wings. They are cooked Tebasaki style – unique to Nagoya.
And for another random option in the station with kids?
How about a haircut, in a car, holding a bus, watching a show about trains?! Yes??!!!
The children’s hair salon, Zusso ‘s stylists are seriously talented. They somehow manage to style children’s hair like a trendy fashion model. Best to book ahead, take a picture of what you’d like, tell them what kind of thing your child is into so they can set up the dvd player accordingly (ie. trains, mickey mouse, princess…etc) and choose a salon vehicle!! (Just a heads up : this experience is adorable but be ready to pay 4000 yen for the pleasure. ) The salon is on the 8th floor of Takashimaya Department Store in the Station.
*These photos are of the Shinjuku branch but I have visited the Nagoya version as well and it is just as adorable.
ZUSSO KIDS, NAGOYA STORE
名古屋市中村区名駅1-1-4 ジェイアール名古屋タカシマヤ8F
8TH FLOOR, TAKASHIMAYA NAGOYA, 1-1-4 MEIEKI, NAKAMURA-KU, NAGOYA
OPEN EVERYDAY : 10AM-7PM
And speaking of eating out in Nagoya, we had a truly spectacular dinner at The Kawabun.
The staff speak perfect English but, warning, it is a bit fancy so you’ll feel out of place if you don’t dress up a little bit and you might want to arrive at the beginning of dinner hours so you can make an escape before all the customers on dates start piling in.
The restaurant is located inside an old and very majestic Japanese home. There is a beautiful pond and lots of bamboo planted around the grounds too.
We ordered an appetizer to share and a main course each.
The staff were happy to prepare a simple pasta dish for the kids and then we ordered them ice-cream.
I was a bit stressful as I kept handing out colouring pages and stickers to keep the kids quiet – but, selfishly, I’m glad we went. The food was amazing (the restaurant is mostly Italian food but in a Japanese setting.)
Extra tip: If you really really love Japanese egg sandwiches then I recommend taking the train to Fujigaoka Station and then a 3 minute cab ride to “365 Pan.” You can take a look here but their bread rolls contain these perfect tightly wrapped up egg omelettes. They are also famous for their “Hara Peko Sandwich” ( Harapeko means “rumbling tummy” ) which is the egg sandwich but also in the sandwich is ham & lettuce. And they are only 230 yen each.
They do accept credit cards. They welcome children and families. The entire restaurant is non-smoking.
Warning, their dine-in area is pretty small so might be easiest to take your egg sandwiches to a park. It’s not super pretty or anything but there is a small park with a slide and some climbing equipment and a swing set just 4 minutes walk away at Hakusan Daishi Park. There is also a public toilet here too with a change table. There is also enough space to play a ball game.
365 PAN
名古屋市守山区森孝東1-707 第2森下マンション 1C
1C DAINI MORISHITA MANSION BUILDING, 1-707
MORITAKAHIGASHI, MORIYAMA-KU, NAGOYA
OPEN: 11AM-6PM
CLOSED: WEDNESDAYS & SUNDAYS
One of our favourite lunch or dinner spots to eat lunch or dinner with kids in Nagoya is The Tower Tavern Bar & Grill – just a few mins from Nagoya Station.
They have an English menu and the staff speak English really well here. You can make reservations on their website in English but we have also never had a hard time just walking in here for lunch on weekdays (the restaurant seats 155 people.) You can see the Tower Tavern Bar & Grill full menu online here. This restaurant also has free wifi.
The Tower Tavern Bar & Grill accepts most major credit cards. They also have a vegetarian menu. At lunch time I would budget for 2000 yen per adult and more like 4000 yen at meal time.
Please note that this restaurant has a 440 yen per person service charge for customers visiting after 5pm on weekdays and after 3pm on weekends.
THE TOWER TAVERN BAR & GRILL
名古屋市中村区名駅1-1-4 ＪＲセントラルタワーズ タワーズプラザ12F
12TH FLOOR,TOWERS PLAZA WITHIN JR CENTRAL TOWERS, 1-1-4 MEIEKI, NAKAMURA-KU, NAGOYA
OPEN 11AM-10PM (UNTIL 11PM ON FRIDAYS)
We didn’t make it to all of the Nagoya spots on my list but I’ll add them just incase you want to give them a go anyway….
The SCMAGLEV and Railway Park (out near Legoland)
The Toyota Museum
The Nagoya Science Museum and the playground next door
Its always good to have more to do next time though, yes?
If you’re looking to explore other cities in Japan I also recommend checking out my blog posts Takayama with Kids & Kinosaki Onsen with Kids.
