Osaka Kickstart: Hotspots & Hidden Gems Tours

Explore Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto with a local guide. Discover hidden gems, historical tales, and vibrant culture on a private or group tour.

Duration: 10 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Nara Park - Nara Park is renowned for its approximately 1,200 wild deer that roam freely. Within the park, visitors can explore the Todai-ji Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This temple originated from Kinshozan-ji Temple, established in 728 (the 5th year of the Jinki era) to honor the late crown prince, Imperial Prince Motoi, son of Emperor…
What's Included
  • On-board WiFi
  • In-vehicle air conditioning
What's Not Included
  • Lunch
  • All Fees and Taxes
Additional Information

Join a curated adventure through Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara, as featured on Channel 5’s “Jane McDonald in Japan.” This tour offers a unique, authentic, and unfiltered glimpse into Osaka. Expert guides will entertain with personal anecdotes, historical insights, and a good dose of humor. Choose between a private, tailored tour or an engaging group tour with…

Location
Nara Park
469 Zoshicho,
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.2
(50 Ratings)
5 stars
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Donsx2223vw
Jul 24, 2025
Amazing views and a comfortable ride. Thanks! - Shamas our driver. He was very patient, spent extra time with us and took us to a lot of places and we were able to cover a lot of ground in one day thanks to his flexibility.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Diana
Jul 16, 2025
Excellent tour and service from the cruise. - The tour of Nara, Kyoto and Osaka with Hamza was excellent, it was punctual, very friendly, flexible and pleasant. The places we visited were beautiful and amazing. The Van was very comfortable.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Compass84086
Jul 14, 2025
Great experience! - The tour was fantastic! Hamza was our private driver and we were able to visit amazing highlights in both Osaka and Kyoto on the same day. He was super flexible with the schedule and the itinerary. We visited the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine to admire the red torii gates and the Kinkakuji Temple (the Golden Pavillion) in Kyoto. Since we hadn't really explored Osaka too much, we changed Nara to visit the famous Osaka Castle and Dotombori, where we had a great time and a fantastic lunch. The service was amazing and we enjoyed every minute.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
O6170eubethp
Jul 14, 2025
Great tour and Guide! - Very nice way to see Kyoto and Nara. It's been really hot, so sitting in a cool, comfortable van was so nice. Our driver Hamza was so friendly, he made sure we were comfortable and dropped us off as close as possible to the attractions. He answered all our questions, and both his English and Japanese were very good, so we had no trouble communicating. Good communication the day before so we knew exactly when and where Hamza would pick us up. Not rushed at all, we spent all the time we needed at each location. Thank you, Hamza, and nice to meet you! Recommended!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
D6578tyamym
Jul 7, 2025
Hamza is Awesome - Hamza was our amazing guide! He was very helpful and very friendly! My family had a great time with tine enjoying ourselves on our long tour with Hamza! Definitely recommend if you want a comfortable, friendly tour guide!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
242vishnur
Jul 5, 2025
Great Experience - Sunny was a great guide and knew all the places to visit in Nara and Kyoto including those non-crowded spots with great views. We were family on 4 with 2 young kids and he did great to be patient and drive around, taking pictures for us and dropping us back to the hotel. Great experience and would recommend anyone looking in to the day trip from Osaka to Nara/Kyoto.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
657irtazah
Jul 3, 2025
KYOTO TOUR 📍 - We Really Had a Great Experience With Kazmi. We visited Kyoto And Kazmi Guided Us Really Well. He Explained Us The History Of Some Spots And Guided Us Everything In English. We Really Had A Fun. Hope To Visit Japan Again In Future.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Syedg994
Jul 3, 2025
We had a great experience with Moeez - We had a great day with Moeez … He knows every single spot in Kyoto and Nora he had very very beautiful way of talking and he knows every beautiful place in Kyoto and Nara. I recommend to go with Moeez Kazmi he’s such a good man.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Amy_s
Jul 2, 2025
Good cruise excursion day option - So I want to preface my review with a few details regarding my trip: 1. Traveling by cruise ship with port docking at Kobe 2. Traveled with small children and senior citizens 3. Had little time and needed to see a lot of things 4. Did NOT need a tour guide to tell us about things because the young children and senior citizens would not listen anyway With that said this tour definitely served its purpose. We were able to see wayyyyy more than most of the cruise ship riders because we got a private car. If I was an older couple needing an actual guide this might not be ideal for you since judging by the reviews it seems like how involved the driver is is really dependent on who you get. I feel like maybe if you get our Kobe driver, Usama, he isn’t as involved and really just serves as a driver which was fine by us. He did drive away and we would have to wait a few minutes for him to pick us back up at each site but each site doesn’t have easy parking so it’s understandable, just text before you are actually leaving so you aren’t left waiting. The only real issue would be that it seemed like he was stalling and driving verrrryyyy slowly between sites but because I pushed we were able to see all the sites we wanted to see. However on the ride back he quoted 2.5 hour drive but really would have been more like 1.5 because we do have maps and can see it for ourselves which I’m not sure he knew or wanted us to assume because he drove soooo slow between sites that it would take longer however on the ride back instead of driving the slower speed he was going very fast which definitely would have put it at 1.5 hours instead of his 2.5 quoted. So because we were going to get to the port so early we asked to stop at Chinatown which was really only a few minutes away from port but he also tried to tell us it’s a lot further than it actually was. So just make sure you have your own maps and know how long things should take and you should be fine. All in all this was the cheapest driver option and really served its purpose for the short cruise excursion day we had and I would book again.
Review provided by Viator
Kathleen_s
Jul 2, 2025
Awful Tour. - Avoid taking this tour. Our tour “guide” was nothing more than a driver and a really bad one at that. Here’s all the things that went wrong. 1. Ali our so called guide could not give me a time our group would be picked up the next day until 10pm. He eventually contacted me at 10:47pm 2. Ali was not in the lobby of our hotel at the appointed time, although he was nearby but still late. 3. His driving was perhaps the worst of all. The entire day he kept texting while driving!! He admitted that he worked nights but I think he works a side job in the day too. 4. He spoke to us only when we asked a question which wasn’t many. 5. I have taken 30 or more tours through Viator and this is the first time I have I have given a bad review.
Review provided by Viator
From $499 (Per Group)
up to 6 guests
1 - Traveler
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).