Experience Kobe
Beyond the Guidebooks

Kobe is not a bustling city when compared to others in the area like Osaka and Kyoto. Having a host that explores Kobe with you is really special. Lovely to go to the herb gardens to see the city from the top, go onto the longest suspension bridge in the world, eat magnificent local sushi, see the earthquake memorial site and even play pachinko! A wonderful day out.

It was a delightful day. We started at the herb gardens. Once we sat down to share a drink and talk, it felt like a day out with a friend. By lunchtime, when we popped into a fantastic sushi place and drank local saki, it definitely felt like it. And our guide assisted with making a dinner booking at a Kobe beef restaurant. The day was just perfect, ending with him showing us how to play pachinko. Fun, insightful and all round a great experience.

Tiago was an excellent guide. very knowledgeable and an excellent communicator. Did a good job of showing historic and cultural sites.

So great! We never would have been knowledgeable enough or brave enough to find the deliciousness to which Taiga led us on our food tour. Didn’t even know akashiyaki was a thing. How small can a gyoza shop be? Now we know. Taiga was an awesome, knowledgeable, friendly host to spend a few hours with tasting the delights of Kobe.

Michelle was wonderful! I didn't know what to expect with the trip to Kobe as we didn't know much about it compared to the other cities. It was nice to walk with someone who lived in Kobe their entire life, along with time in the US which certainly helped us connect. Got a real feel of the life here. What a wonderful place. Nice living in the mountains and on the water at the same time. Truly beautiful.

Meeting Michelle in Kobe was like catching up with an old friend. She is enthusiastic, full of energy (and interesting fun facts), and catered perfectly to our group including our 9 year old grandson. We requested a guide with great spoken English skills and Michelle certainly delivered. We very much enjoyed walking the city, visiting temples and shrines, looking for the fun and hidden details, and learning about every day life in Kobe. Without Michelle we could not have seen all the things we did on an organised tour or ship shore excursion.

Michelle was wonderful and fun. We were lucky to have her as she was born and raised in Kobe. We were travelers not tourists. She took around Kobe where only the locals went which was great. Thank you Michelle!

Michelle took us around Kobe and showed us places where only the locals knew. She explained in details about Kobe, Japanese culture, history. It was like story telling time plus we could see and experienced Kobe. Thank you Michelle!

Fantastischer Ausflug mit unserem tollen Guide Ryan, der jeden Wunsch erfüllt hat und durch den auch die Tatsache, dass wir mit Rollstuhl unterwegs waren, kein Problem war. Ein perfektes Erlebnis, an das wir uns immer wieder gerne erinnern. A fantastic trip with our wonderful guide Ryan, who fulfilled our every wish and even made the fact that we were traveling in a wheelchair no problem. A perfect experience that we will always remember fondly.

We decided to upgrade and do the trip to Kyoto by bullet train. Firstly because of time saved in travelling and secondly because I always wanted to try it. Ryan met us at our cruise terminal and we went by taxi to the train station. We went to buy tickets and navigated to our platform. I was relieved Ryan was there to guide us through everything. We took a metro and a regular train before taking the bullet train. We didn’t have reserved seats….sometimes easier than searching for your seat, though we did have to stand sometimes. Ryan took us through some back streets in Kyoto to avoid the crowds and explained the culture. We visited Shrines and Gardens and did a bit of souvenir shopping…he was very patient :). Our time was short as we had to be back on our cruise ship but Ryan had it worked out. We took a taxi to the station and then back in the bullet train and taxi to the port. A short but full day with no anxiety thanks to Ryan.

Our guide Ryan was brilliant. A totally bespoke tour, totally based around our personal preferences. He was easy to talk to, gave us insight into not just the city but a little about his life in the city and the whole day just felt like a really fun day out. Ryan was very personable and you felt like you'd known him for ages. Thank you - it made our day really memorable in Osaka.

We had a later than expected start but Ryan made it work. He was very easy going and answered all our questions and more.

Enjoyed everything!

We had an absolutely fantastic day exploring the city of Kobe with our guide, Hiromi. From start to finish, she made the experience incredibly informative, engaging, and enjoyable. Her deep knowledge of the city’s history, culture, and hidden gems truly enriched our visit, and she shared everything with such enthusiasm and warmth. Not only was she exceptionally well-prepared, but she also made us feel completely at ease, ensuring that we had a seamless and memorable experience. Her passion for guiding and her attention to detail were evident throughout the entire tour. We couldn’t have asked for a better guide! If you’re planning a visit to Kobe, we highly recommend Hiromi—she will make your trip truly special. Thank you, Hiromi, for an unforgettable day

Hiromi was so knowledgeable and wonderful to be with! She showed us many things only a local person could! We would highly recommend her to others!

Her knowledge of the city and points of interest were amazing! we had an excellent time with her and enjoyed every minute of our experience. She really gave us a lasting memory which we will cherish!

Anjelica was amazing! She is culturally knowledgeable, speaks incredible English and has a great sense of humor. We learned more from her customized tour than the prior 5 tours we took. What a great experience!! Thank you Anjelica!!!

Anjelica was knowledgeable, personable and she created a tailored experience like no other.

Our guide was great; she took us everywhere we wanted to go and explained everything brilliantly. Thank you very much.

Angelina is a great tour guide and her English is excellent.

Silver did an amazing job of showing us the perfect day, even though it started out with a horrible rain storm. Our favorite part of the day was the herb gardens which by the time we got there the rain had stopped. We had a wonderful leisurely experience there with no crowds. We had a great lunch at his favorite local restaurant and he made my sister very happy by finding her a family store that specialized in homemade rice crackers. Her suitcase home was filled with them.

Silva was a fantastic guide, very friendly and personable. Thoroughly knowledgable of the sites and made it a great experience.

Fun & interesting time

Silva is an exceptional guide and gave us a full experience of Kobe and the six of us achieved everything we asked for. We had a real mix of activities including a trip to the 2nd largest suspension bridge in the world! The tour was amazing and that night we sailed under it on our way to the next destination. Thank you for a fantastic day Silva, and he also took some super photos of the group as an added bonus!

We had taken this trip to Osaka with our Granddaughter, we wanted a tour just for her to enjoy, enjoy she did! Our guide Manami had planned a great itinerary, she also got along with our Granddaughter who was sad when our tour ended. I highly recommend this tour.

Our guide, Manami, was wonderful! She contacted us ahead of time and worked through an itinerary with us, coming up with creative ideas to make our day memorable, based on the interests of our kids. Highly recommend!

We had an amazing experience with Manami for our half day tour of Kobe. She has lived in the Kobe area for 29 years and she really knows the area well. She met us at the Shin-Kobe station right on time, and she gave us some choices what we wanted to see. We told Manami we wanted to experience Kobe from a local's perspective and, of course, Kobe beef. She took us to a small town of Arima known for its natural springs. We went to a spa where my family of 5 got to experience the feet treatment by small fish removing impurities from the skin. The family loved it! Then we walked through the town looking at all the specialty shops and stopped to get Arima soda, matcha ice cream, and Arima crackers. This was exactly what we were hoping for in a Kobe tour. Manami took us to a restaurant where we ate Kobe beef prepared hibachi style. Manami is very kind, friendly. She speaks English well. We really enjoyed our tour of Kobe.

Our guide was lovely and chill and helped us to do the itinerary that was right for us. Thankyou :)

Our tour guide, Max, made this tour an unforgettable one. We learned a lot about Japan, its people, the food, and the city of Kobe from him. We look forward to coming back soon!

Max was an excellent guide. The places he took us to and the food he chose and had us try (and the beer!) were all very delicious. We felt more like locals and learned a lot in this specific tour out of all the ones we participated in. If you want to know more about Kobe and even other cities in Japan, he’s your guide!

This was a great tour, a good way to explore Kobe! We were only 2 people in our group so Max our guide planned it on the fly and took us to different places. Max was very informative and helpful. Thank you!

Rio, our guide was fabulous. He speaks perfect English. He lived in Ann Arbor MI for 9 years until he was 18. He picked us up at port and we went by local transportation. We saw some cool Kobe sights but best of all was Katani and synagogue where we spent about an hour with the rabbi and some. Congregants. A real rush while in Japan. Thanks Rio !⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rio was a great tour guide and we had a great time in Kyoto and really enjoyed seeing Kitani area and then he took us to see a synagogue where we spent an hour with the rabbi. It was such a rush to be there and we really enjoyed his personal comments And his worm nature.

Rio was great even though he said that I was his first tour it certainly didn’t seem like it. Rio had a wealth of knowledge and I felt like a “local “ walking the streets of Kobe with Rio. I even learned a little Japanese along the way. I highly recommend Rio for anyone seeking to learn more about Kobe and to find hidden treasures of the city

We would never have managed to do so much in such a short time had it not been for Manu. She organised everything around what we had suggested. She was most informative and gave us what was the best 4 hours we’ve had in Japan. Thank you Manu for a lovely experience.

Hamu was fabulous! Wonderful English and knows the area really well. She very much loves what she does as she has so much history and cultural knowledge of the area.

Our guide was amazing and really accommodated our interests. We found some amazing out-of-the-way locals spots that we never would have found on our own. City UnScipted guides are highly recommended.