Nara, Japan
After leaving Koyasan we be headed to Nara. We’d be staying right next to the Mt. Kasuga Primeval Forest and
Nara Park, famous for its deer and ancient temples.
Traveling from Koyasan we took the Koyasan Cable Car, transferred to the Nankai Koya Line and took the train to Nara station.
After arriving in Nara, we dropped off our bags at our room at the Nara Visitor Center & Inn.
The inn has all the local information you’d need as it’s also a tourism centre.
The building has a connected convenience store.
After dropping off our bags we picked up some snacks to keep us going and also picked up some biscuits for the deer we’d meet.
After short rest we headed out to explore
On the way to Nara park we walked though Kofuku-ji
Buddhist temple complex.
Here you can find Kohukuji Tokondo Hall, Kofuku-ji Gojunoto, Kōfuku-ji Chukondo and more all
built in the early 700s.
Once making it to Nara Park we found more deer than we expected, a lot more. It was amazing to see. They were very interested in the food we bought them, and once we ran out, interest turned to our bags we had kept them in.
We ran out of deer food so quickly, we ended up buying more from the park vendors.
Once we had (mostly) lost the deer we headed to Mount Wakakusa. Its more of a hill at 342 meters elevation but the views of Nara are great, so its worth the walk.
When it was close to sunset we headed back to our hotel but luckily we stumbled upon Todai-ji Nigatsudo on the way. This temple has a hall withsweeping views of Nara from its balcony.
We stayed at the hall to watch the sunset on the advice of an enthusiastic local. The views and sunset did not disappoint.
After sundown we headed back through the park. Half rushing for some food, half enjoying the park at night.
Despite it being quite late we found a small but excellent place serving okonomiyaki and local Nara sake, Okonomiyaki Parco.
We stayed there until late and headed to our room for some sleep.
The next day we’d head to our fourth city, Kyoto
Overview
We Stayed at: Nara Visitor Center & Inn. for one night in Nara.
We visited: Nara Park, Kofuku-ji, Mount Wakakusa, Todai-ji Nigatsudo
We ate at: Okonomiyaki Parco
Next Stop: Kyoto
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