Hiroshima Private Tour With A Local - Highlights & Hidden Gems

Harry was an excellent & very knowledgable guide

Harry catered for our group very well and took great care of us. We could not have seen all the sights we wanted to , without him and his local knowledge. We are greatful we were able to see the museum, park and castle in the short time we had. Thanks Harry!!

Yuka was an excellent tour guide. She contacted us two weeks in advanced and made sure that she customized the tour to us. Even though we had to change our pick up time and location, she was incredibly accommodating. We highly recommend her.

Guide Ami was amazing, flexible with ideas on things to do

This 3 hour tour focused on the Peace Park and museum. It was interesting but we could have easily done it on our own. Plenty of available taxis waiting if needed. Our guide was young and very knowledgeable

Ken was a great host with a wealth of very personal local knowledge. He developed a very personalized tour for us and knew the best spots to stop and soak in the local experience. Definitely recommend.

This was a great day! Yuka was an amazing guide who took us around sharing lots of local history. We also had the opportunity to try Okonomiyaki which Yuka had organised for us. Highly recommend this tour! Thank you Yuka for making our day special.

Yuka was fantastic! We had a wonderful tour with a true Hiroshima local tour guide who was personable, had perfect English, knew the history inside and out and took us to some special spots for a deep appreciation of Hiroshima and the history of the area. She made the tour engaging for our teens and was very knowledgeable.

Our local guide Rena was extremely accommodating in adjusting transportation needs to sites we visited. She was very knowledgeable and relayed interesting information about our various stops. Our lunch stop was a local okonomiyaki shop, which was delicious. We very much enjoyed Rena’s company and highly recommend her.

Kaori made the tour fantastic! So much knowledge and so helpful. We really enjoyed the tour and our time with Kaori!

Whirlwind 4hr tour of main sites of Hiroshima. Lots of quick walking and public transport: train, ferry and tram. Must have IC card and cash to pay for guide's transportation costs. Worthwhile tour but not for walking impaired.

We did a Hiroshima tour with Ami and she was wonderful! She took us through Peace Memorial Park, Peace Memorial Museum, Gokoku Shrine, and Hiroshima, Castle. She was very tactful and even taught us a lot - even how to make crane origami. Knowing we were foodies, she even gave us local lunch recommendations for us to go to after the tour.

Highly recommend this tour to anyone with an interest in history and learning about the Hiroshima bombing from a local. Ken was an amazing tour guide, interesting and interested in learning about what we wanted to learn during our tour. He was a good communicator and well organized. He also shared some local intelligence on eateries and bars in the area. It made our whole visit to Hiroshima worthwhile.

Review for “Discover Hiroshima in a Day” with Ami We had an absolutely fantastic day exploring Hiroshima with Ami as our guide! This tour was a perfect blend of history, culture, and personal touches, making it an unforgettable experience. Ami is an exceptional host—knowledgeable, patient, and incredibly attentive to our interests. She tailored the day perfectly, ensuring we saw the highlights of Hiroshima while diving deep into the stories and details that mattered to us. Her planning was flawless, and her warm, engaging personality made every moment enjoyable. The tour was conducted in excellent English, which made everything accessible and easy to follow. I highly recommend this tour with Ami to anyone visiting Hiroshima—you’ll leave with a deeper appreciation for the city and memories to cherish!

Ken was highly knowledgeable about Hiroshima as he was a local. This made the experience personalised. It was very informative (and emotional). Ken also showed us to a little restaurant we would never have found without him, to try traditional Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki. It was a great experience! Highly recommend!

Masa was very knowledgeable and catered our tour perfectly for our family. Not always easy to capture teenage boys attention but she did! We all agreed our time with Masa was a highlight of our trip.

My family and I had the 2-hour walking tour with Ken that focused on the bomb dome and bomb memorial/museum. Ken was very prompt in reaching out over WhatsApp to understand our desires for the tour and schedule the meeting time, place, etc. Ken was also very friendly and met us at the Hiroshima train station to help navigate us to the Bomb Dome and local area. He showed us the location of the hypocenter, a cemetery adjacent to the hypocenter, and walked us from the bomb dome over to the museum. Once in the museum, however, there was little interaction, and we were self-guided for the most part. It was helpful to have Ken purchase trolley and museum tickets for us and then reimburse him. Overall, this tour was not a great value for me. It was helpful to have a guide navigate us from the train station to the bomb dome using the trolley, however, I would have preferred that we meet at the museum or bomb dome and not take 20-30 minutes of our 2-hour tour on a trolley ride where there was no interaction. There were interesting pieces of information, but overall we learned little information beyond what could be learned by browsing through the museum on our own. I think a better itinerary would be 2 hours of touring around Hiroshima and the bomb dome area, and then ending the tour at the museum, with the museum being pretty much self-guided anyway.

It was great experience and really learned a lot. My guide, Ken, was friendly, knowledgeable and accommodating. I appreciated his insight and personal stories and eating like a local. He made sure I took lots of pictures to capture the moment. I had fun and would recommend.

Absolutely 5 stars! Ken was an exceptional guide for our walking tour through Hiroshima. He was incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the city’s history, but what really stood out was his patience and kindness with our children—he made sure they felt included and engaged the entire time. He tailored the pace to suit our family and answered all our questions with warmth and insight. To top it off, he brought us to a local restaurant that served one of the most delicious meals we had on our trip. A memorable and meaningful experience—we couldn’t recommend Ken more highly!

Great tour! Just my husband i with our amazing tour guide Yuka! We walked around Hiroshima, got to see everything we wanted. Very personalized to our interests. She even walks us back to the train station and helped us to get the right train back to Osaka. Highly recommend!

What an incredible day in Hiroshima with Nozomi Kushida ( Nozz)! Nozz’s communication from the start was great. There were several spots I wanted to see in Hiroshima and Nozz also booked a great spot for lunch where we had the most delicious okonomiyaki. Nozz took me to Shukkeien Garden, Hiroshima Castle, and of course, Peace Memorial Park and Museum. We saw each spot and Nozz explained the history and importance of each spot The history of Hiroshima is right before your eyes in many spots and is obviously thought-provoking and emotional. Nozz explained with sensitivity at our time in the museum about the various exhibits. It was very emotional and I’m very glad that we stopped and saw this unforgettable museum After our visit, Nozz had planned a visit to Miyajima so that we could see the stunning torii gates. The boat ride was relaxing and Nozz’s easy going manner made for great conversation then and throughout the day. I am so glad we could stop at Miyajima and end the day at such a beautiful site. I am so glad I was able to have Nozz as my guide. His English is absolutely amazing and I learned so much from him. I so appreciate that he accommodated my itinerary and also added a couple of extras that I enjoyed. He also booked spots and activities in advance which saved us time. I have a new friend in Japan! If you are looking for a guide to take you around Hiroshima or Miyajima, you must ask for Nozz. You will be happy you did!

Ken was an absolutely wonderful host who carefully planned an itinerary according to our needs, adjusted to minor hiccups along the way, and took all the heartache out of ticket purchases etc.. We had a great day, learned plenty, and got some beautiful photos of the lovely city of Hiroshima and neighbouring Miyajima. Thank you sincerely, Ken!

Ken was a great guide in Hiroshima for an 8 hour tour of our family of 5 from Chicago with college/high school kids. He met us at the train station and had us move quickly to beat the crowds to the top of the mountain at Miyajima. He was a student in Long Beach California in his early 20s, worked at Disney and then got Disney Tokyo started in the early 80s. His Hiroshima parents were soldiers in WW2 - aged 20 and 14 - in 1945. The combination of those two things made his style very appealing to us. He improvised our day and took us to a garden and took great photos and videos of us in ideal spots. Ken is funny and kind and a free spirit with a fast-moving approach. He knows a lot of tricks about moving quickly and has a lot of knowledge - that you need to ask about - so it feels personal and not like a canned experience. He told us how to eat/ history of Hiroshima's okonomiyaki (pancake you eat with a spatula) and we went to a local, nontouristy place for one on recommendation of our hotel concierge and it was a peak experience of our trip.

I went to Miyajima on a Monday. I wish we had more time but nonetheless, Yuka was able to show me a lot of places and I learned a lot from her. It was definitely better having her with me. It made the trip more memorable by having Yuka around. Thanks again! :)

We had an amazing tour with Ken. He was very knowledgeable about all the areas we visited and spoke very good English. I would highly recommend this tour.

We spent half a day with Masa as our personal guide to Miyajima Island. As it was our first time to Hiroshima and Miyajima, we found it incredibly helpful and informative to have Masa explain the history of the places we visited. Miyajima Island was simply beautiful with its temples and Itsukushima Shrine. We also took lots of pictures of the friendly deer there. The Floating Torii Gate was not to be missed. I guess when choosing a guide, the question I ask is could I have done this tour by myself. Yes I could….but I would not have learnt about the heart and soul of the place. Masa’s detailed explanation really made the day one of our “highlights” of our 2 week trip to Japan. Thank you Masa! Highly recommend.

When visiting Japan, get yourself an ‘IC card’ from main stations. It’s a tap and go change card for all public transport systems. Nozomi San was a polite and courteous guide with excellent English that adapted to our pace (34 degrees and high humidity) Explained the history of the city with a perspective of locals. The bomb museum is amazing but be warned it can get over crowded at peak times with cruise ship groups. If you’re claustrophobic bear this in mind as the route through the exhibition gets congested. We visited the island of Itsukushima using the JR train which station stops adjacent to the ferry pier. 10 min crossing to see the floating Tor gate. The tide was out so people could walk out to it! Be proactive and ask in advance what you want to see. Nozi was very helpful before we met (WhatsApp) so he had our itinerary sorted. Billericay Dickie.

John was a great guide for Hiroshima. A true student of history & culture. He customized the tour to what we wanted to see & explore. He's aware of some hidden gems like a small museum in an elementary school. I would highly recommend John as a tour guide.

Tom was a fantastic guide. We did a two hour tour and the tour was exactly what we wanted to see. It was a great day.

We love Our visit to Miyajima Island and the Memorial Park. Very interesting. Our tour guide Masayo was very knowledgeable of history of Japan and explainable in details.

Our guide for the day was Maryam. She was easy to work with and we were able to finalize the itinerary over WhatsApp. She took us to the Hiroshima Atomic Dome, Peach Garden and Museum. Later we took a train to Miyajima station and finally a ferry ride to Miyajima. Maryam spoke good English and shared important facts about each place.

The night before our tour, our guide canceled. Maryam did not look at her college schedule and realized she had classes during our tour. She dipped out last minute. City Unscripted was unable to replace Maryam. We turned to other tour operators that were booked out for a week. A week later I am still waiting for our $277 to be credited. City Unscripted is in London, and is disconnected from Japan in time and local knowledge.

Our host John is incredibly knowledgable and because of him we enjoyed a tremendous day in Hiroshima. We learnt about history, culture and literature. John is highly educated and flexible, this was time well spent!