14 best things to do Kamakura: attractions, restaurants, cafés and shops

This café-restaurant is located close to Kamakura Station, along Onari street, serving comfort food from around the world. The owner describes his food as fast, cheap and nutritious; simple yet perfect meals usually cooked by mothers for their families. The menu changes daily, but the line-up of recipes includes Egyptian koshary, Kenyan nyama choma, Greek kotopoulo lemonato and other international dishes which you usually won’t find anywhere else. The restaurant itself is furnished with pieces from the west coast of the US, of which some are even on sale.

Located along Yuigahama street, Woof Curry serves – as the name implies – a variety of curry dishes, including beef and vegetable curries, a special mushroom version and a number of European-style curries. If you’re a fan of both meat and veggies, then opt for the shop’s special curry. You can choose between beef, pork and chicken, and the meal even comes with a boiled egg.

The meals here are only mildly spicy, so don’t worry – they won’t have you gasping for water after every bite. Occasionally, there are live music events on the second floor, so take a seat in the rocking chair at the window and enjoy your visit. 

There are many different bakeries in Kamakura, however, La forêt et la table is known for its Tea Blanc, a small bread with white chocolate, black tea paste and leaves kneaded into the dough – a must-try treat for tea lovers. For the shop’s full line-up of breads and pastries, make sure to visit around 11am, as many items are sold out by the afternoon.

You can choose among 25 different types, including the signature baguettes, seasonal breads, sandwiches and more. Repeat visitors who already know the menu can also make a reservation and order in advance.

This restaurant on Kamakura’s main avenue Wakamiya Oji – the approach to the area’s largest shrine Tsurugaoka Hachimangu – is a great place to enjoy traditional Japanese cuisine in a calm setting.

The venue is run by chef-owner Daizo Hashida, a former chef of the Japanese embassy in Spain, and his wife Kazue, who’s a qualified sake sommelier. Hashida’s hometown Imabari in Ehime prefecture borders the Seto Inland Sea, so you can look forward to a large number of meals using ingredients from this area.

Opt for the omakase course (chef’s selection; ¥11,000 during both lunch and dinner time) that includes an appetiser, sashimi, tai-meshi (rice with minced sea bream), a dessert and more, all using seasonal ingredients. There are just 12 seats, so you’ll need to make a reservation in advance.

Most temples and shrines in Kamakura close between 4pm and 5pm, meaning trains towards Tokyo are usually crowded until 6pm as most visitors head home. Our tip: extend your trip with an evening visit to a local bar and wait until rush hour is over. Wine bar Tres is one of the best places to spend a few hours, run by a husband and wife duo who both are certified sommeliers.

Besides white, red and rosé wine, you’ll also find orange wine, which gets its distinctive colour by fermenting white wine grapes with the peel still on. Your glass of wine will go well with some cheese from a local dairy in Chiba, or homemade boiled gyoza filled with lotus root.

Among all those trending cafés serving fluffy pancakes and bean-to-bar chocolate, Gen, founded in 1987, is a cosy traditional café along Kamakura’s main avenue Wakamiya Oji.

Upon entering the store, you’ll spot about 180 teacups and saucers that are neatly lined up behind the wooden counter. The collection even includes beautiful pieces of Japanese Arita and Bizen ware. Definitely opt for a counter seat so you can choose your favourite teacup and saucer to use during your stay.

Pair your cup of in-house roasted coffee, tea or cocoa with a piece of cheesecake or other sweet treats. In summer, the shop also serves a special fresh-squeezed peach juice that comes with frozen pieces of peach.

Close to Yuigahama Station, you will find this small shop specialising in taiyaki, a fish-shaped pancake traditionally filled with bean jam. The snacks, which are made to order in a traditional icchoyaki mould over an open fire, boast a thin yet crispy skin and come with bean jam, sesame, matcha or roasted chestnut fillings.

You can also choose from a large variety of breads, including Russian pirozhki and focaccia, plus homemade yakisoba noodles. In summer, opt for Namihei’s Shirokuma, a kakigori shaved ice dessert in the shape of a polar bear with a syrup made from yoghurt and cream cheese.

This crêpe shop is popular among visitors of all ages for its reasonably priced sweet treats, starting from ¥350. We recommend the lemon sugar crêpe, which uses fresh-squeezed lemon juice, or the more grown-up one made with rum and sugar.

If you’re looking for a savoury option, then go for the crêpe filled with ham and lettuce. The store also has a little eat-in space, so take a break and pair your French pancake with a steaming hot coffee or tea. 

This ume shop, as the name suggests, deals in all things plum. The shop has a takeaway menu with alcoholic and non-alcoholic ume beverages, including ume syrup mixed with iced tea and soda water. You can even purchase the Choya Limited Aged Umeshu directly from the shop, but you'll have to be quick – only five bottles are available per day.

Choya also hosts frequent workshops where you can learn more about the ume plum and create your own umeshu from scratch. If you'd prefer to make it yourself at home, Choya ume kits are available for purchase and include all the necessary ingredients for making ume syrup or umeshu liqueur. Classes can be booked here.

At stationery store Tuzuru, you can find a broad selection of pens, letter paper, postcards, stamps and more, all hand-picked by shop owner Ryoji Shibata. Especially noteworthy is the large selection of unique fountain pens – something Shibata fell in love with at the age of 16 as they gave his notebooks a more personal look.

After purchasing your preferred pen and letter set, take it to the next room, where you can compose a letter to a loved one and even send it off from the store’s handmade postbox.

Located close to Kamakura’s Great Buddha, Haseto offers a variety of pottery classes, including hand moulding and using an electric potter’s wheel.

For an authentic Kamakura souvenir, opt for the workshop in which you learn to craft little Buddha statues. It’s perfect for beginners, as you only need to add small parts and facial expressions to a pre-made Buddha-shaped piece of clay. We recommend making a reservation online before dropping by. The experience takes about 60 to 90 minutes.