Kobe Customized Private Car Tour: English Driver, No Guide

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. On January 17, 1995 at 5:46 am, the city of Kobe was hit by the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake, resulting in the death of more than 5000 people and the destruction of tens of thousands of homes. The Earthquake Memorial Museum, part of the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution (人と防災未来センター, Hito to Bōsai Mirai Center), was opened in 2002 to commemorate the tragic event and to educate visitors about earthquakes and disaster prevention. The museum includes a large screen theater with realistic images of the earthquake's destructiveness, a documentary film about the recovery process, lots of information about the earthquake and various interactive games about disaster prevention.

   30 min

2. Shin-Kobe Ropeway (新神戸ロープウェー) is one of three services that lifts tourists up the southern slopes of the Rokko mountain chain. The ropeway departs from next to Shin-Kobe Station, Kobe's shinkansen station. As it ascends, it passes by the Nunobiki Waterfall and the Nunobiki Herb Garden, giving a nice aerial view of both. The highlight of the ride lies in the observation deck located just beside the top station, which offers spectacular views of Kobe and is a popular night view spot. 1500 yen (round trip and admission to herb garden) 950 yen (one way and admission to herb garden) 900 yen (round trip after 17:00) 9:30 to 17:00 (until 20:30 on weekends, national holidays, and July 20 to August 31); admission ends 15 minutes before closing time

   30 min

3. Mount Rokko (六甲山, Rokkōsan, 931 meters) is the highest peak in the Rokko mountain range, which provides the pleasant green backdrop to the city of Kobe. Panoramic views of the heavily urbanized Hanshin region (Kobe and Osaka) can be enjoyed from the mountain and are particularly spectacular around sunset.

   30 min

4. Nunobiki Herb Garden, one of Japan's largest herb gardens with hundreds of herb species and seasonal flowers. A glasshouse in the garden makes growing flowers and fruits such as guavas and papayas possible throughout the yea

   30 min

5. You can hike down from the rope way station to visit the falls up close!

   45 min

6. The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge is, with a length of almost four kilometers, the world's longest suspension bridge. Opened in 1998, it spans the Akashi Strait (Akashi Kaikyo) between Kobe and Awaji Island and is part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, one of three expressways which connect Honshu with Shikoku. The Bridge Exhibition Center at the foot of the Kobe side of the bridge provides well-presented information about the planning and construction of the bridge and about other suspension bridges around the world, although the detailed explanations are available in Japanese only.

   30 min

7. Kitano-cho (北野町, Kitanochō) is a city district at the foot of the Rokko mountain range where many foreign merchants and diplomats settled after the Port of Kobe was opened to foreign trade in the second half of the 19th century. More than a dozen of the former mansions, known as Ijinkan, remain in the area and are open to the public as museums. Most of the houses charge an admission fee between 550 to 750 yen, while combination tickets are available to see multiple houses. The entire district is pleasant to walk through and offers a variety of cafes, restaurants and boutiques, making it a favorite among young Japanese couples

   1 h

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 4 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Shizuoka

• Its from-price is 61% below the median of the 42 day trips we list in Shizuoka.
• Its length is typical for the group.
• By number of reviews it ranks 10 of 42.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Shizuoka

Shizuoka is a city on Suruga Bay in tea country, with Mount Fuji on the horizon, a castle park and shrines tied to the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Shizuoka lies on the Pacific coast of central Japan, on Suruga Bay, with the Southern Alps and Mount Fuji on the horizon. Tokugawa Ieyasu, who unified Japan under his shogunate, retired to Sunpu, as the city was called, and its castle park with moats and stone walls stands in the centre. His first resting place, the Kunozan Toshogu shrine, sits on a hill reached by ropeway from the Nihondaira plateau, which has views over the bay and Fuji.

Top-ranked sights in Shizuoka: Miho no Matsubara, Kunozan Toshogu Shrine.

See all 119 experiences in Shizuoka