Japan · Kanagawa · Yokohama
Naka-ku, Yokohama — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Naka-ku is Yokohama's historic waterfront ward, home to Chinatown, Yamashita Park and the Minato Mirai skyline.
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Where to stay in Naka-ku
Where the beds are, and what that means for the visit.
Naka-ku spreads its beds across very different pockets of Yokohama. Tower hotels rise beside the Cosmo Clock 21 ferris wheel in Minato Mirai, while quieter rooms sit up on the Yamate bluff among the old foreign residences and the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Down at sea level, Chinatown and the promenade of Yamashita Park put restaurants and the Yokohama Marine Tower within a short walk of every doorstep.
Pick your quarter first. Then choose the pillow.
Find hotels in Naka-ku
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Minato Mirai waterfront
The reclaimed harbour district where Yokohama Cosmo World, the Yokohama Museum of Art and the CupNoodles Museum Yokohama cluster around the Cosmo Clock 21 ferris wheel and the redbrick warehouses.Find hotels in Minato Mirai waterfrontdiners who want Chinatown suppers and a seafront stroll past the Yokohama Marine TowerYamashita Park and Chinatown
The bayfront strip where the promenade of Yamashita Park, the gates of Chinatown and the Yokohama Marine Tower stand a few minutes apart at the water's edge.Find hotels in Yamashita Park and Chinatownguests who prefer the hillside villas and the Sacred Heart Cathedral above the portYamate bluff
The wooded ridge of the old foreign settlement where the Sacred Heart Cathedral, garden houses and the Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature look down over Naka-ku's harbour.Find hotels in Yamate bluffHotel links are affiliate links: booking through them may earn us a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects how places are ranked. How this works
Things to do in and around Yokohama
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
3- Yokohama Anpanman Children's Museum
- Yokohama Museum of Art
- Yokohama Curry Museum
Churches & Religious Sites
3- Sacred Heart Cathedral Heritage
- Yokohama Christ Church Heritage
- The Church of Christ in Japan
Parks & Gardens
3- Gundam Factory Yokohama
- Yokohama Cosmo World
- Orbi Yokohama
worth knowingacross 3 categories in and around Yokohama
About Naka-ku
What are the main landmarks in Naka-ku?
The ward stacks its sights along the shore. Out on the Minato Mirai water the Cosmo Clock 21 wheel turns beside Yokohama Cosmo World, the Yokohama Museum of Art and the CupNoodles Museum Yokohama, while the Gundam Factory Yokohama once towered over the piers nearby. Closer to the old port, Yamashita Park runs beneath the Yokohama Marine Tower, and the Yokohama Archives of History and the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History hold the record of the treaty years.
Up on the bluff stand the Sacred Heart Cathedral and Yokohama Christ Church. The harbour keeps the rest.
What is the history of Naka-ku?
Naka-ku is where Japan met the world by sea. When Yokohama's port opened to foreign trade in 1859, the treaty settlement, its warehouses and its consulates took root on exactly this stretch of shore, and Chinese merchants who followed the trade built the Chinatown that still fills its streets. Foreign settlers climbed the Yamate bluff and raised churches there, among them the Sacred Heart Cathedral and Yokohama Christ Church.
The Yokohama Archives of History keep those first treaty papers. Trade made the ward.
Where is Naka-ku?
Naka-ku fronts the harbour at the centre of Yokohama, its flat reclaimed shore around Minato Mirai and Yamashita Park rising south to the wooded Yamate bluff and the Nogeyama hill.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Naka-ku?
Minato Mirai waterfront: travellers who want the harbour towers and the Cosmo Clock 21 wheel outside the window. Yamashita Park and Chinatown: diners who want Chinatown suppers and a seafront stroll past the Yokohama Marine Tower. Yamate bluff: guests who prefer the hillside villas and the Sacred Heart Cathedral above the port.
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More areas in Yokohama
Updated October 2026