Nara Half Day Trip Walking TourExplore the Japan's 1st historical capital in a half day with a local guide
★★★★★- 5 hour tour
- Small group tour
- English speaking guide
What makes this tour unique
- Explore places that are off the beaten path in Nara in half day
- Visit Todaiji temple & Kasuga Taisha shrine, classified both as UNESCO World Heritage Sites and showing distinct Japanese religious culture
- Meet and feed the wild deer living in Nara Park. For over 1200 years, deers in Japan are considered sacred divine messengers
What's included
- Entrance fee for all of the temples and shrines we are visiting
- One packet of cracker to feed a deer
- Lunch (Vegan menu available)
Tips and recommendations by our official guides
Nara is located less than 1 hour from Osaka and around 1.2h from Kyoto by train. Due to its past as the first permanent capital back in the year of 710 , the city remains full of historical sites, including Japan's oldest and largest temples.
In this tour, our local guide will show you some secret places which only a few local people knows, so you are going to enjoy walking (one of my colleagues told me it was a kind of hiking though...) around the city.
You will also notice how beautiful the nature is in Nara walking through the forest. Don't worry, we never forget to go to some places which are part of one of the World heritage sites in Nara, so you will definitely get to know the history.
In addition, this Nara walking tour is around the lunch time, so a lunch plate including local ingredients & vegetables from Nara will make your empty stomach much full at the end of the tour!
If you're interested in seeing around Nara efficiently & don't mind a little bit of exercise, come see us and join our Nara tour and feel the beautiful history & nature in the oldest capital in Japan!
Official guide
After meeting your local guide in front of the statue, it's time to start the Nara historical walking tour!
As soon as we pass through the shopping arcade, we will visit Kofuku-ji temple where we can see the beautiful 5 stories pagoda. After taking some good photos, we will be heading to Todai-ji temple. In the entrance 2 huge gurdians called Kongo Rikishi statue welcome you and the huge Great Buddha statue await you in the back. Our local guide will explain some histories and interesting facts about Japanese Buddhism and temples!
After seeing the Great Buddha statue, we will enjoy viewing Nara on the Nigetsu-do temple!
On the top of Todai-ji temple, there is Nigetsu-do temple where we can enjoy the great view of Nara. After that, we will visit some traditional souvenir shops and walk toward Kasuga shrine where many wild deers gather!
Walk inside Nara park and interact with cute wild deers
Explore the beautiful red shrine housing hundreds of lanterns! After nice walk, we will visit good old restaurant for lunch. After that, we will check a Japanese old town that is extremely different from what we know of metropolitan Tokyo. Walking between the historical buildings, we can go inside a merchant's house and see how the people around here lived.
Meeting Point
In front of the Gyoki Bosatsu statue near Exit 2 or East Exist of Kintetsu Nara Station
See on google maps- The closest exit is Exit #2 or East Exist at Kintetsu Nara Station.
- Your guide will be holding a board saying "MagicalTrip"
- Please don’t go JR Nara station, you need to be at Kintetsu Nara Station.
- All ages can join this tour
- Though we walk with a few short break during the tour,
- let us know beforehand if your group members are worried about their health problem.
- If you're vegetarian or want gluten free lunch, just contact us before the tour date.
- We might not be able to serve you the lunch plate for you if you have some restriction about the food.
- You do not need to pay for the guide's food and drinks.
- Please bring some cash if you need additional snacks and drinks.
- Out of respect for our other guests and to ensure the best tour for everyone, we must start the tour on time.
- For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the tour starting time.
- Free date/time rescheduling up to 24 hours before the tour starting time (depending on availability).