Places to seeWhere to go in Nara
Start with the first of these. Each is worth half a day.
Nara奈良県
Nara was the capital before Kyoto, and what it kept is older.
Nara was the capital before Kyoto, and what it kept is older.
Start with the first of these. Each is worth half a day.
Todaiji holds a bronze Buddha nearly fifteen metres high, cast in the eighth century, in a wooden hall large enough to lose your sense of scale in.
Around the temples is Nara Park, and in the park are about a thousand wild deer that have lived there for centuries. They are used to people, and they will follow you if you buy the biscuits sold at stalls. Some of them bow before being fed, and some push. Keep maps and paper in your bag — they eat those too, and it is funnier before it happens to you.
Getting in: No airport, no shinkansen — 45 min from Osaka, under an hour from Kyoto by train
Pick the season first and the days will arrange themselves.
Yoshino from early to late April, in stages. The park is green and the deer have fawns in June.
Wet in June, hot in August. The temple halls are cool and shaded.
The best months. Autumn colour in the park in late November, with the deer under it.
Cold and very quiet. The deer stay all winter, and so do the lanterns.
