Osaka Walking Tour: Explore Namba & Dotonbori

Embark on an exciting Osaka Kickstart Tour and uncover the city’s urban hotspots and hidden treasures. Choose from customized private tours or group tours and explore non-touristy areas, retro districts, traditional fish markets, and more. Get ready for a sensory overload and a great day out!

Duration: 7 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Hozenji Yokocho - These elusive, winding cobblestone alleys are rich in character and tradition. We’ll also see walls adorned with Osaka’s historical murals.
  • Dotonbori Tsuribori - A visit to Osaka’s Dotonbori River is essential and one of our highlights. This scenic area is surrounded by a plethora of stores to keep you entertained.
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What's Included
  • Private personalized tour or group tour with others
  • 1 can drink & 1 small side dish (likely 1 takoyaki ball)
  • Choose your hours: 3hrs, 4hrs, 5hrs, 7hrs
  • Tour on foot, with optional train or taxi (at your own expense)
What's Not Included
  • Entry tickets to any attractions
  • Transport Costs (normally none, or just 2 short rides of the train)
  • Food & Drink is not included (except for 1 drink & a small side dish)
Additional Information

Begin your Osaka walking adventure, day or night, with this tour featured on Channel 5’s popular series “Jane McDonald In Japan,” celebrated for its “authentic, quirky, and unfiltered glimpse of Osaka.”
Your local guide will enrich each location with personal anecdotes, historical insights, quirky facts, and a generous dose of enthusiasm and humor….

Location
2-chōme-2-8 Namba
Meet at Namba Subway station (Midosuji Line), exit 24, at the top of the stairs (its at the exact point at where the pin is on the map). Namba SUBWAY station is the very centre of Osaka.
Cancellation Policy

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

Customer Ratings
4.9
(782 Ratings)
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Matthew_m
May 5, 2025
This was an enjoyable... - This was an enjoyable tour. Getting the chance to explore Osaka, particularly Namba where there’s a lot of food and entertainment was a great experience. And our tour guide was very friendly.
Review provided by Viator
Maps53380
May 4, 2025
Great walking tour of Osaka - Rutti was a great guide, spoke perfect English and Japanese, and tailored our tours to accommodate timing and things we wanted to do along the way. Lots to see and explore in Osaka, I'd recommend this as a great way to see a lot without the pressure of a group tour that dictates timing.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Manisha_p
May 3, 2025
Adam showed us the top... - Adam showed us the top things to do Osaka in a short time. Very thorough and enjoyable. Gave us a great list of restaurants.
Review provided by Viator
K249lfshellyc
May 2, 2025
Wonderful Osaka - Our guide was Meryam and she was absolutely incredible. Her vibrant personality along with her vast knowledge of Osaka, made this tour so enjoyable that we really didn’t care about the awful weather at the start. Fortunately, Mother Nature pushed the clouds away for the second half. Meryam provided us with a wonderful introduction to this beautiful city and was happy to answer all our questions. As a fellow teacher, I really appreciated that she made a point of interacting with each of us individually. Upon completion of the tour, we all walked away saying “I’m so glad we did that!” We will definitely be recommending to others a stop/stay in Osaka should they travel to Japan. Thank you Meryam! Shelly, Dan, Blair & Willow British Columbia, Canada
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Manodeepl
Apr 30, 2025
Osaka 1 day hidden gems - Dom our guide was friendly and took us around and also explained the Historical significance... A must 1 day tour. It was a wonderful day spent.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ralph_h
Apr 29, 2025
Fantastic tour - great for first time visitors! - Fantastic experience and a great start to our one week holiday in Osaka. Adam was an excellent guide, who nor only was extremely knowledgeable, but also super fun to explore the city with. The mixture of historical and cultural sites paired with the best food market and fantastic shopping areas really gives you a great idea of the essence of Osaka. We both had been to Osaka before and know about Japanese culture quite a bit. However, Adam just was a well of "insider knowledge" regarding local city life & history as well as Japanese lifestyle. We were constantly learning so much valuable, surprising and entertaining new details about Osaka and Japan in general - it was absolutely fantastic. Adam was also greet fun to be around and talk to. He takes great care to ensure that his guests are having fun, discover new foods, views and stories about Tokyo. We could not have had a better guide, and a more inspiring start to our Osaka holidays. Regarding the tour itself, we chose to take the taxi to some places farther out if the way - and would recommend to spend extra to ensure that you can see all the sights and have time yo enjoy them. Overall organization and communication was great, and we always felt in very good hands with this excellent tour operator. Our favorite parts were the visit to o the food market, the Sake tastng and the tour of Osaka Castle. Adam is definitely one if the best tour guides we have ever met: what a great guy! We highly recommend the 5 hour tour since it just seems to be the right time frame to get a great first impression without feeling rushed at all. For a first time visit to Osaka this tour is highly recommended, and we enjoyed it immensely. Arigato goseimas, Adam!
Review provided by Viator
Nicholas_l
Apr 28, 2025
great tour - Our guide was amazing! highly reccomend, very knowledgable engaged and easy to talk to. knew the city excpetionally well and generated interest from the whole family.
Review provided by Viator
Cass_a
Apr 28, 2025
Fabulous tour of the Dotonbori Area in Osaka - Our Fabulous guide Caroline showed us so many spots on this tour that we would never have seen if we were walking the vibrant area by ourselves. We did a 5 hour private tour and it was wonderful. Caroline gave us an insight in to the history of Osake and the Dotonbori area, explained food stalls, was well informed and presented a tour incorporating the traditional and quirky sides of Dotonbori. We loved her personality and the fact that she realised we were at the end of 3 weeks in Japan and were a bit tired (74 and 76 year olds). She found quiet spots to give us information and a few minutes for a quick and appreciated rest. Thank you so much Caroline! We would certainly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Osaka
Review provided by Viator
N3650qhbobm
May 7, 2025
Wonderful Start To Two Days In Osaka - We opted for the 5 hr private tour. Our first morning. Very good decision because my wife and I are in our early 70’s and we could go at our own pace. Knox met us at our hotel right on time. He made the tour a fantastic experience.We started off going to the metro station for basic lesson in use. The whole city opens up when you can ride the metro and get a glimpse of the locals. We rode the metro several times during the tour. We chose not to go to Osaka Castle so we could stick in the center of town. We would have been bushed to do that too. Went there the next morning on our own….riding the metro of course. At the end of the tour he showed us where the food tour starts the next night…same tour co. Rode the metro back to our hotel.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
O5403ufkaties
May 5, 2025
Fun but long - We did the 3-hour evening tour, and our tour guide seamlessly walked us through various Osaka hotspots (primarily in Dotonbori) and shared some unique history of the city. It was fun to walk around at night, though I feel like the tour could've been completed in 2 hours. Plan to eat beforehand, since the tour only included a small takoyaki (yum!).
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $46
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).