Guided Nara Day Trips from Osaka

- In our Nara Park Tour we use Kintetsu Railways. This company has built a tunnel inside the mountain called Mount Ikoma, that divides Osaka and Nara. Since you go straight across it, it is one of the most convenient and short ways to go on a Nara daytrip from Osaka. 

- If you take a Limited Express train from the Kintetsu Namba Station in Osaka, it will cost you less than 5 USD and it will take you to Nara in 36 minutes. The Kintetsu Nara station is right next to Nara Park, so you will start interacting with the deer just a few minutes after you get off the train. This means your Nara Daytrip from Osaka starts immediately after arrival!

- JR Railways do have a Nara station too, but the station itself is not as close to Deer Park as Kintetsu’s, so you have a 15 minutes walk to get there. Plus, JR trains do not go through the mountain, taking almost an hour to arrive in Nara from Osaka.

- Kintetsu Railways also has deer themed trains making taking your Nara Daytrip from Osaka to the next level and for the same price!

- Your Nara Daytrip starts immediately after arrival:

As you would experience in our Nara Park Tour, a few minutes after arrival you will be bowing at the Nara deers. More than 1,200 deer in Nara are waiting to interact with you in a beautiful historic setting.

- No tourist fatigue:

Surrounded by mountains and green landscapes, Nara offers a lot of calm to its visitors.
The total area of Nara city (including the park we tour) is about 276.84 km2, similar to Paris or San Francisco, but its population is much smaller than these cities which makes it a really calm place to explore on a daytrip from Osaka for example.

- Emotionally powerful

From the Scale of the Great Buddha, to the deers appearing through Kasuga Taisha Shrine lanterns, you can feel the ancient roots and profound spirituality of Japan within the whole city. Our Nara Park tour is also designed for you to enjoy and learn about this aspect too. This is a great option for a daytrip from Osaka to experience a different scenery too.

- Very easy logistics:

Nara Deer Park, Todaiji Temple, Kasuga Taisha Shrine and many other major sites are within the same walking area, making it the perfect destination for a Daytrip from Osaka.

- Lots of places to discover

While Nara Park is worldwide famous, there are a lot of beautiful places outside Nara city that not many foreigners know. That is why Nara is the perfect location to discover off the beaten path locations and hidden gems not many people visit. Although Nara Daytrips from Osaka are great, there are a lot of reasons to stay in Nara too. If you are interested, be sure to check our tours to Mount Yoshino in Spring or Autumn, or Hozanji Temple, among many locations different from our Nara Park tours. As the saying goes: “Your wish is our command!”

 Some of these things you may have heard about in our Nara Park Tour, but with the establishment of the Capital in Nara in 710 AD, great temples moved to Nara as well, including the one that we nowadays know as Kofukuji. That one temple that is really close to Deer Park.

With time this temple will become one of the most influential ones in the country, expanding and even somehow merging with the great Shinto Shrine Kasuga Taisha nearby too. Many people visit this shrine on their Nara daytrip too.

Time passed, and Kofukuji temple was set on fire -and rebuilded- many times until in 1868, with a policy passed by the Meiji Government at that time, enforcing the separation of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, the territory of the temple ended up confiscated by the government.

Almost all Kofukuji’s monks returned to secular life or became priests in shrines, leaving the temple territory abandoned. In the following year, gates, fences and many sectors of the temple’s territory were taken down to open routes and paths. That is why it is currently hard to tell where the temple area ends and from where the park area starts.

In 1880, Nara Park was officially designated in the area that used to belong to Kofukuji Temple. Years later the park was also expanded, to include areas around Kasuga Taisha Shrine (Deer Shrine), Todaiji Temple (the one that contains the Big Buddha Hall) and Mount Wakakusa, reaching 535 hectares (now roughly 660 hectares).

The Nara Park that we tour includes several World Heritage Sites along with 47 buildings designated as National Treasures too.

This kind of information may help you enjoy your Nara daytrip from Osaka better:

Do you remember that big Shrine in Nara full of the deers walking around its lanterns? Its name is Kasuga Taisha and legend has it that the main deity of this shrine, descended on Mount Wakakusa -the mountain behind the shrine, that we see on our Nara Park tour- riding a white deer.

From that moment, deers have been considered the sacred messengers of the gods of this shrine, and have been carefully protected by the locals. Actually killing a deer was considered a capital offense up until 1637.

In recent years, studies held by local universities have found that there are genetic differences in the Deers of the Nara Park. It is said that these differences occurred about 1,400 years ago, pretty likely when the Kasuga Taisha Shrine was originally founded. This confirms that the locals have been taking care of the Deers in Nara for more than 1,000 years, changing their genetics and allowing them to maintain their population across many generations. Is well know that Nara Deers live slightly longer than other species whitin Japan.

Have you noticed any other uniqueness of the deers when you took our Nara Park tour? Tell us about it!

If you took our Nara Park Tour you may already know this but, Nara Deers have been designated as a natural monument. There are institutions like the Nara Deer Preservation Foundation who carefully look after the Deers in Nara.

Even though Nara deers are used to people and will bow at you during your Nara Park tour, we need to keep in mind they’re still wild animals.
Nara Governments recommend (and we spread the word in our Nara Park tours too) the following manners to interact with the deers:

(1) Pay attention to the behavior of the deers:

The deers of Nara Park are wild animals so sometimes they may kick, bite or even charge against you. 
There are also two seasons to be especially careful: Spring, because mothers get protective with their newborns, and Autumn, because it is their mating season, so male deers tend to become aggressive.

(2) Do not feed them anything else than Deers crackers:

Deers can not digest human food, that is why it is very important you don’t feed them with human food.
Deers primarily eat plants they find in the park, and even though the crackers do not have any nutritional value, they serve as a great snack. Deer crackers in fact originated during the Edo Period, and nowadays are available throughout Nara Park through vendors. Also part of its sales helps to afford deer protection costs too.

(3) Watch your belongings inside Nara Park.

We also say this when starting our Nara Park Tours, but Deers may eat plastic bags, pamphlets or other human objects you may have with you. Be careful not to have it taken by our fellow sacred messengers.
Also if you carry a bag, be sure to hold it securely so it doesn’t get caught on their antlers either.

(4) Do not litter

In the past, deer have died by eating discarded trash by accident. There are no trash cans in Nara Park, because in Japanese customs it’s a given that you are going to take your own trash with you. Participants of our Nara Park tour are required to follow this rule, adn we hope all daytrip visitors do it too.

(5) Careful when walking your dog:

Even though we don’t usually have animals on our Nara Park tour, it is important to remind you that Deers are really shy animals. And being startled by other animals may end up in them causing accidents.

*Another extra guideline we teach on our Nara Park Tour, is that if you don’t have deer crackers, you can raise your hands and show your empty palms to the deers, so they know you do not have more snacks for them.
Also, if you buy Deer crackers, try to break it into pieces first, and have it in a place deers won’t see easily. Pick a small piece or a single cracker, before handing them to the deers. This will prevent the deers getting too excited about the crackers and surrounding you.

When the main God of Kasuga Taisha descended on Mount Wakakusa (the mountain behind the shrine we see on our Nara Park Tour), he came riding a white deer. Because of this, deers were considered the sacred messengers of this God and the people who visited the shrine bowed tirelessly to the Deers at the shrine showing their devotion.

Legend has it deers had so many people bowing at them, that they learned how to do it too, and started greeting back to the people.

We do a lot of bowing on our Nara Park Tours, and you will probably do it during your Nara daytrip too.
We also know that deer bowing is a behavior associated with receiving food. If they bow to you, it is highly likely they expect you to give them a deer cracker. While Deers in Nara are used to interact with people, please bear in mind that they may not like it if they are asked to bow a lot and don’t receive anything. After all, we all become cranky when hungry, right?

Part of the sales of deer crackers (shika senbei) go to Deer protection so they are a nice way to help too!

One of the locations you should not miss on your Nara daytrip from Osaka: the big buddha in the Todaiji Temple.
This temple was built by the Shoumu Emperor. Back then it was a time of great hardship, marked by political strife, famines, earthquakes, and major outbreaks of smallpox throughout Japan.
Emperor Shoumu incorporated the philosophy of Buddhist teachings into his governance. The main goal of the Big Buddha construction was to foster a spirit of compassion that would connect the hearts of the people in those hard times. 

But Emperor Shoumu didn’t want to build it just by simply using money. Instead he wanted to be builded out of the cooperation between living beings. So he proclaimed “Even if one brings but a single blade of grass or a handful of solid, if anyone wishes to assist, let them do so”.

It is said that half of Japan's population at that time contributed to the Big Buddha construction. Now you know why it is a spot you can not miss on your Nara Daytrip from Osaka.

Whether you’re staying in Osaka or already in Nara, our guided tours take you deeper into Japan’s ancient capital, featuring the best local recommendations as well as off-the-beaten-path locations that few people know.

About our Guided tours in Nara

Have you heard the legend about the deer in Nara Park? Do you know why the Big Buddha in Todaiji Temple was built? Additionally, want to discover Nara's hidden gems only locals know?

Our team of expert local guides strive to create the best Nara day trip for you. That's why our walking tours provide authentic cultural experiences to let you discover the cultural depth of Japan.