30% offFree cancellation
All must-sees in 3 hours - Nara Park Classic Tour! From JR Nara!
- 3 hours
- Free cancellation up to 24h before
- Guided in English
- Instant confirmation
Highlights
This is a guided walking tour covering all must-sees of Nara Park area. Instead of looking down at your smartphones or guidebooks for information, look up and around to enjoy the city. Our guide is sure to tell you history, picture spots, about deer and so on. The tour usually ends around 1 pm; you have enough time to explore the city on your own afterwards. *This tour is not a private tour. This is a group tour with other guests. *The tour starts punctually. As this is a group tour, we do not wait for those who cannot or does not appear on time at the meeting spot. If you arrive late, unfortunately you cannot join the tour.
Inclusions
What's included
- One bus ride from JR Nara Station to Nara Park area
- Admission to Great Buddha Hall
What's not
- Meals and Drinks
Itinerary
Our meeting spot is JR Nara Station. You will find our guide in front of the ticket gates. There is only one location for ticket gates at JR Nara Station. So just come out, and find our guide with a white NaraWalk flag. *Note: If you find ticket gates at underground level, you are at Kintetsu Nara Station which is a station about 15 min. away on foot from JR Nara Station.
Walk the precinct with the guide and most likely you can spot deer here and there. Find out why deer are freely roaming in Nara, the difference between Shinto and Buddhism and so on.
We visit the Great Buddha Hall to meet the Big Buddha. The guide will tell you stories behind the Big Buddha statue and the temple. It's a picture spot.
Our destinations, Todaiji Temple, Kasuga Taisha Shrine, and Kofukuji Temple - it's not wrong to say all of them are in the Nara Park. Depending on the season and speed of the group, we may add more spots from the Nara Park.
We usually end the tour at this temple. The five-storied pagoda is photogenic. After informing you with history, we are happy to give you direction for train stations, afternoon plans, and a lunch. (*During June to September, when heatstroke is a concern, we may only visit Kasuga Grand Shrine, Nara Park and Todaiji Temple. If the temperature permits we may go to Kofukuji Temple. *Kofukuji Temple’s iconic five-storied pagoda is undergoing a major repair. It is scheduled to end in March 2031. You may not be able to see the tower till the project completes.)
Cancellation
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.
Reviews
4.9
- 5114
- 45
- 32
- 20
- 10
Ratings come from 121 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.
Showing reviews written in English.
53 hours of Japanese culture.
Just a wonderful short tour with an excellent tour guide Mamiko and retired British gentleman/ avid concert goer Mark for company. Mamiko was very informative and the tour was good cardio on a humid day. Pleased to have seen the major sites in Nara and recommend this tour to anyone interested.
5Nara espectacular
We had an amazing day in Nara. Whitney my family. Our guide made the experience truly wonderful. Highly recommended!
5Excellent day in Nara....
Excellent day in Nara. Loved all the explanation. Loved seeing the beautiful temple and shrine while being surrounded by the deer.
5Great tour!
Setsuko was wonderful! Very kind, friendly, and enthusiastic. She was full of info about the deer and temples at Nara Park. And she showed us helpful photos to explain things. She gave us deer crackers so we could feed the deer. And as a bonus, she showed us the Noh theater, beautiful Japanese garden, and mochi shop where they make the mochi fresh by hand. Thank you for a wonderful tour!
5Excellent walking tour with Setsuko
We really enjoyed our walking tour with Setsuko and another family. She met us right in Nara JR Station as promised after we took a 45 min train ride from Osaka. We all took a bus to Nara Park and then walked to the various site. While flowers and trees are not blooming in June, it was still very beautiful with trees and nature and of course the bowing deer! Our guide Setsuko brought some rice crackers for us to feed the deer. They did not disappoint. We appreciate the insight provided by our very thoughtful guide. We found 3 hours was perfect for us and highly recommend this tour.
4Tour guide did well and...
Tour guide did well and knows her subject! Tour was interesting but a bit long due to the very warm weather. I would not want to do this tour in the summer!
Know before you go
- Meeting point
- *Meet your guide in front of the ticket gate at JR Nara Station. JR Nara Station has only one ticket gate. Just come out, and find a NaraWalk guide with a white flag! (Ticket gate is a machine you tap your IC card or insert your train ticket.) *There are two "Nara Station" in Nara. Please come to JR Nara Station, not Kintetsu Nara Station. *If you have arrived at Kintetsu Nara Station, please come to JR Nara Station. This is not a private tour, and our only meeting place is JR Nara Station. *The tour starts punctually. As this is a group tour, we do not wait for those who cannot or does not appear on time at the meeting spot. If you arrive late, unfortunately you cannot join the tour.
- Pickup
- Everyone meets at the starting point; there is no pickup.
- Ticket type
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Group size
- Up to 15 travellers
- Operated by
- NARAWALK
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- The tour route includes steps and a gravel path where you would need to carry or need a harder push for your baby stroller.
- If you are arriving at Kintetsu Nara Station, please come to JR Nara Station. We cannot meet or pick you up at Kintetsu Nara Station, since this is not a private tour. We take a bus from JR Nara Station, and we do not stop at Kintetsu Nara Station.
How it compares in Nara
- Its from-price is 61% below the median of the 135 experiences we list in Nara.
- Its length is typical for the group.
- By number of reviews it ranks 5 of 135.
- The operator lists free cancellation on it.
About Nara
Nara, in the Kansai region, was Japan's capital in the eighth century and is now a city of great Buddhist temples and free-roaming deer.
Nara was the capital, Heijo-kyo, from 710 to 784, and its monuments from that age make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Todai-ji temple houses a bronze Great Buddha in one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. Around it spreads Nara Park, where more than a thousand sika deer roam freely and bow for crackers sold at stalls.
Top-ranked sights in Nara: Toshodaiji Temple.
Special offers in Nara
Was/now prices come from the operator, never from us.
