Osaka Private Half-day Tour With A Local – Secrets & Highlights

This was one of our favorite tours, but not for the reason you would think. Since we had already seen the Castle, which Loys said was the key part of Osaka, he took us to an amazing department store's food hall. Harrods in London has NOTHING on this store..Takashimaya. He pointed out all the different sections...fruit, pastry, Korean, Chinese, Seafood, Meat, etc etc. Everything was GORGEOUS and looked delicious. He said, "next time in Japan, get an Air BnB and buy all your food here". I could have eaten at every area. There was just TOO much to see. After that, we strolled the shopping area and Dotonburi. It was a fun day

Maria was AMAZING! She was knowledgable about all things Osaka. She made the tour so interesting without overwhelming us with information. What really blew us away was how much she personalized the trip. When we mentioned we were thinking about taking a train to Kansai that evening, she went above and beyond: she took us to the train station, helped us buy tickets, and even showed us the elevator we'd need to use to get to the platform. What service! She adjusted the itinerary so we'd end in a specific area we'd requested. What a wonderful person to learn from and experience Osaka with. 5 stars for Maria!

Kai was the best guide for our family! She has lived in Osaka for 40+ years, was very knowledgeable and so much fun to spend the afternoon with. She took tons of great photos of our family as well. Highly recommend this tour!

4 hour private tour that fit our style and pace just right. Max was the best guide and was flexible with anything we were looking to do. The survey before helped shape the tour ahead of time, so it was completely tailored to us. With such a limited time in Osaka, this was a great efficient way to get to most out of our time.

Just a fantastic experience with Maria. It was more like a trusted local friend taking you around the city whilst she gets to know you and she then adjusted the itinerary further to show me parts of the city she thought would be of interest.. And she was right. I would recommend this tour and Maria to anyone coming to the city

Maria was a wonderful tour guide showing us many sites and sounds of Osaka and catering to some of our specific requests. A great introduction to Osaka on our first day, we ate a few bites at some wonderful places and also were introduced t9 a knife shop in which my husband was able to purchase a Japanese kitchen knife. Thank you!

Must see places in short time…adapted to your interest and speed…quick and exploring… well guided…convient timing

Maria was a great guide! Very funny and knowledgeable about all the sites! She spoke perfect English and Japanese! So impressed!

Had a wonderful tour of Dotonbori district with Maria as our guide. She was informative, friendly and customized our tour according to our wishes. Lots of sights, sounds, and tastes in this vibrant district. Thank you for an incredible even with this private tour!!

We recently completed a half-day walking tour of Osaka with our guide, Shingo, and it truly exceeded our expectations. The tour was jam-packed from start to finish, allowing us to see an incredible variety of sights, including a stunning castle, beautiful temples, and shrines, as well as two vibrant city markets. Shingo was a wealth of knowledge, sharing fascinating insights about each location we visited. He had a remarkable way of engaging with everyone in our group, which included our kids, making the tour enjoyable for all ages. His sense of humor added an extra layer of fun to the experience, turning what could have been a simple sightseeing tour into a memorable adventure. This tour was an excellent way to get a real feel for Osaka, its culture, and its history. Shingo’s enthusiasm for the city was contagious, and we left feeling like we had not only seen the sights but also gained a deeper understanding of the local way of life. If you're looking for a fantastic way to explore Osaka, I highly recommend this walking tour with Shingo. It’s perfect for families and anyone wanting to experience the city in a fun and engaging manner!

Great experience of local Osaka! Having someone to navigate the trains and to go to more local venues was a nice relief away from tourists and a great way to enjoy local food!

From the start this tour was amazing. Shingo was very communicative from the start, asking what we wanted to see and go. He planned it according to what we wanted. He was flexible with the itinerary, made suggestions and kept lines of communication open from the moment I booked the tour. Being from Osaka he’s very knowledgeable in the history of Osaka and Japan in general. He’s the kind of guide that you’d love to have through out your stay in Japan. We had such a fun time with him, we asked him to join us for dinner to celebrate my husband’s birthday. We would definitely book him again the next time we return to Japan.

Excellent guide, knowledgeable, first class experience, great restaurants and bar, super communication and very in touch with our needs

Great way to discover Osaka, Our guide Khalid was fantastic, for our first day in Japan he guided us through the metro tickets and IC card system, gave great advice on getting around and where and what to eat as well as provided a great tour of Osaka, felt much like a friend more than a guide

Friendly and relaxed tour. Didn’t feel rushed. Our tour guide was able to answer a lot of questions our Japanese guides had trouble understanding.

Takaya was wonderful. He e-mailed before tour to give me some background on him and ask if we had anything specific to see or do. He made our day in Osaka quite memorable with walking around the shopping area, local shrine and delicious lunch. We learn interesting and knowledgeable history, culture, language, customs and traditional of his homeland. Highly recommend him!!!

Maria was an outstanding guide. She made our day in Osaka very special. We would never have been able to do what we did on our own. Maria guided us in using the subway to get around and we included lots of interesting places. We had a delicious lunch in a quiet little place and we’re introduced to okonomiyaki. A fabulous end to our holiday in Japan.

So happy we did it got to see bits of Osaka and get a bit of history as well as some tasty food . Our guide Taiga was so friendly and full of knowledge . Thankyou

WE dont have great mobility but managed to see the sites we wanted and had a lot of information. would recommend.

Aljic spent extra time with us and made sure to show us all Osaka’s major sites. He took us to a restaurant where my granddaughter caught the fish we ate for lunch.

Osaka Castle was beautiful, as were the gardens. We enjoyed our day; the walking pace was good for us.

All my expectations were met or exceeded. I visited may many interesting sites across the city including a special request I had. Haruhi my guide was awesome. She was very friendly, cheerful with a wealth of knowledge of her city. My experience with here made the tour special.

We are so happy with our guide Taka, it was a lovely experience and I do recommend this option to every serious tourist in the city.

We are well season travelers who are generally very comfortable in a new foreign city. This was our first trip to Japan and we thought it would be good to hire a local guide in each city to get us pointed in the right direction. This was our first experience with CityUnscripted and our host Akira. I am beyond pleased with the value of the tour and the experience we had. Akira met us at our hotel and asked a few questions to narrow in to exactly what we wanted to do and how to customize the trip for us. We were starving after flying for almost 15 hours to get to Osaka. Akira took us to the local shopping district and ordered the local favorite foods. These are foods that I absolutely would not have ordered on my own. However, I had faith in Akira and he absolutely delivered. Every dish he introduced us to was absolutely delicious. Our half day experience with Akira was short but it gave us everything we needed to jump start our trip. We were able to navigate the local area, shop, and order excellent food. While these sound like rather simple tasks, they can be quite intimidating in Japan If you don’t speak the language or know the local customs. We asked hundreds of questions to Akira about our itinerary and Japan in general. Akira was able to give us incredible advice that allowed us to ensure we had our trip planned to maximize our experience. In summary, our experience with Akira and CityUnscripted was superb and I can’t recommend them enough. Osaka is an incredible city (Kyoto too), but I strongly recommend getting a local guide to ensure you are making the most of your time.

Our guide for 4hrs was Brice. A french guy who's been living in Osaka for 8 years and knows a lot about it. Whether the various hidden places or the restaurants . He cames with interesting facts and could answers all our questions and more. It was fun for my daughter and myself being french (but living thanks god in London for many years ) to have the view from a foreigner living there. We did the same in Tokyo for 6 hours and this time had a Japanese guide who was great as well providing the same package of discovery. I would really advise 'CityUnscriped' as a company togo for among so many on the market . They are tailor made on what YOU want to god and see. The price are reasonable and everything is adaptable . The cherry on the cake being that they are very nice and cool people.