Top Osaka Bus Tours - page 17

This was an excellent and extremely well-organized day trip from Osaka to Hiroshima and Miyajima, and everything ran remarkably smoothly from beginning to end. The organization impressed me before the tour had even really started. A representative met us at Shin-Osaka Station with our Shinkansen tickets and personally made sure we reached the correct platform and train car. Considering how large and potentially confusing Japanese train stations can be, having someone take care of those details made the start of the day completely stress-free. When we arrived at Hiroshima Station, our guide Hiro was waiting for us. She was fantastic — knowledgeable, energetic, genuinely funny, and able to convey a tremendous amount of useful information without making it feel like a history lecture. I was particularly impressed by Hiro's own story. She told us that until 2019 she had primarily been guiding Chinese-speaking tourists. She then decided to brush up on her English and transition to guiding English-speaking visitors. Considering how comfortably she now conducts an entire day of sightseeing in English while explaining some fairly complex history, I found that genuinely impressive. Our morning included the Atomic Bomb Dome, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. This was obviously the most serious and emotional portion of the day, and Hiru did an excellent job providing historical context while treating the subject with the respect it deserves. Then came one of the culinary highlights of my entire trip: Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki for lunch. It was prepared right in front of us on the griddle and was absolutely spectacular. Beyond being delicious, it was interesting to learn about this distinctly Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki and its connection to the city's postwar history. After lunch we continued to Miyajima, taking the ferry across the beautiful Seto Inland Sea. The island was a wonderful contrast to the morning in Hiroshima, with its mountain-and-sea scenery, roaming deer, traditional streets, temples, and, of course, Itsukushima Shrine and its famous torii gate. The transportation throughout the day was also excellent. The tour bus was clean and comfortable, with Wi-Fi and USB charging ports, both of which were very welcome during a full-day tour. What impressed me most was how ambitious this itinerary is while still being so well coordinated. In a single day from Osaka, we traveled by Shinkansen, explored some of Hiroshima's most important historical sites, visited the Peace Memorial Museum, had a fantastic local lunch, took a ferry to Miyajima, and explored one of Japan's most iconic destinations, without ever having to worry about tickets or transportation logistics ourselves. Hiro was a huge part of what made the day so enjoyable. Her knowledge, humor, and personality made an already fascinating itinerary even better. An extremely memorable day and one of the highlights of my trip to Japan. Highly recommended!