A visit to Osaka Castle is an essential part of any Osaka private tour from Kobe, and it’s also a fair claim that this is the most iconic spot of historical significance in Osaka. We’ll take in the surrounding Osaka Castle Park as well, talking about history, design, and the overall significance of the Castle property. The castle’s rebuilt interior is a disappointment, so we recommend giving it a miss. Trust us with this one. We’ll spend about 75 minutes here.

Shintennoji is cited as the oldest Buddhist temple in not only Osaka, but in Japan too. Intermittent waves of attack from both man and nature have resulted in great damage at times, the important buildings have always been reconstructed as they largely looked over the roughly fifteen centuries of Shitennoji history. Buildings and open spaces are very deliberately designed, and the timelessness often strikes a chord with visitors. Buddhism came to Osaka and Japan first from Korea (go back more to find China and then India at the root), so the design differences as compared to Kyoto are noteworthy. We spend around 45-75 minutes here, depending on if the garden is open.

Come head up Osaka’s tallest building (please note the caveat: While it’s the tallest building in Japan, it is not the tallest tower, which would be the Skytree in Tokyo). We won’t ascend to the top floor of this 300m building, instead going high enough using the building’s glass elevators to afford a quick and easy, free (!) view from above. Next we’ll dive down to the underground levels for a mouth-watering, instructive walk-n-talk through a high end Japanese department store food hall. Here we’ll see hunger pang inducing prepared foods, both Japanese and Western sweets, plus a large and varied selection of seafood and raw meats for shoppers to cook at home. About 90 minutes here, possibly more depending on lunch.

Fun for both kids and adults awaits in Shin-sekai’s boisterous and, in some ways, carnival-like atmosphere. Not visiting Shin-sekai while visiting Osaka would be to miss out on a genuine, classic part of the city. In the 1920s-1930s, it was a very popular amusement park, but then hard times hit, but then more good times, oh but more more hard times, and now the place is solidly back enjoying good times. Games, food, fashion (“fashion” be a subjective matter), and that distinctive Osaka aura. For most, a visit to Shin-sekai is never forgotten. About 30 minutes of strolling about here.

In consultation with you, we’ll choose from different spots in this neighborhood, but the always-popular include Kuromon Ichiba (a seafood open market street with an emphasis on the  ready-to-eat), but also funky back streets, the restaurant and kitchen supply district, and finally we’d be very poor guides to not show you around the Dotonbori area proper if you haven’t seen it already. 1 to 1.5 hours.