Nara Park (Nara Koen)

Most visitors come to Nara Park to see and feed the resident deer, but there are enough other attractions to keep you occupied for several hours. Don't miss the UNESCO-listed Todai-ji Temple, the world’s largest wooden building, which houses one of the world’s largest bronze Buddha statues. You can also visit the Nara National Museum, home to an extensive collection of Buddhist statues, relics, and artifacts.

Nara is a popular day trip from Osaka and Kyoto. Every sightseeing tour, whether half-day or full-day, will include a stop at Nara Park. Full-day tours usually also include nearby attractions such as Kofuku-ji Temple and Kasuga Grand Shrine.

• Nara Park is free to enter, though many of the attractions charge for admission.

• If you want to feed the deer, you must purchase special crackers, which are available from vendors throughout the park. You may not feed the deer anything else, and you can not leave any trash in the park.

• The deer are usually very tame, but they can sometimes become aggressive if food is around.

Nara Park is located about a 10-minute walk from Kintetsu Nara Station and about a 20-minute walk from the JR Nara Station. Several buses stop at the park, including the number 2 Nara City Loop Line bus and the number 70 and number 97 city buses. Nara City is a 35–45-minute train ride from Osaka and a 45-minute train ride from Kyoto.

Nara Park is open 24 hours a day. Different attractions inside the park have different and opening hours. Nara Park is at its most scenic in the spring, when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, and in the fall, when the leaves change.

Nara is home to a wide variety of museums. After visiting the Nara National Museum, take some time to stop by the Kofukuji National Treasure Museum, the Nara Palace Site Museum, the Nara Craft Museum, the Naramachi Museum, the Naramachi Mechanical Toy Museum, or the Irie Taikichi Memorial Museum of Photography.