A method for manufacturing an elastic wave device includes successively stacking conductive films on a piezoelectric substrate on which a pattern of a first resist has been formed, removing the first resist from the piezoelectric substrate on which the conductive films have been stacked; applying a second resist to the piezoelectric substrate from which the first resist has been removed and subjecting the second resist to exposure and development, thus forming a protective layer that protects a first region with the second resist, and etching the second conductive material in a state in which the first region is protected by the protective layer.