Nara
Japan
The first permanent capital, with the biggest bronze Buddha in the world and twelve hundred deer that bow for a biscuit
Photo by Stefano Bucciarelli on Unsplash
Photos by Tegan Conway, Supradoc, Nathan Guan and María Cosmen on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Japan
October to November, and April — the deer park is busy all year and the middle of the day is the crush
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 190mm in Jun
Where it is
34.68°N, 135.83°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Stand under the Great Buddha at opening time, before the school parties
- Walk the lantern path to Kasuga Taisha at dusk
- Buy the deer biscuits and learn what a bow costs
- Climb Wakakusa hill for the view over the basin
- Take the train out to Horyu-ji for the oldest wood standing
Nara travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Japan
Mid-rangeCash still matters more than anywhere else this rich — small restaurants, shrines and buses are coins and notes. Seven Bank machines in 7-Eleven take every foreign card, and Japan Post machines are the backup.
ATMs & cards
Use the machines in 7-Eleven (Seven Bank) or at the post office. Bank machines in Japan often refuse foreign cards and many shut overnight, which surprises people who expect a rich country to be a card country.
Avoid these
- bank machines without a Global or International sign, which refuse foreign cards
Use these instead
- 7-Eleven (Seven Bank)
- Japan Post
- Lawson and FamilyMart machines
Japan is still a cash country in the places worth eating at. Seven Bank machines in any 7-Eleven take every foreign card, at any hour. Nara’s temple stalls and the deer biscuit sellers take coins and nothing else.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Japan
Very safeAs safe as anywhere in Japan, which is to say extremely. The deer are wild animals: they headbutt for food, they bite bags, and the signs saying so are not decoration. Keep maps and tickets out of reach.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the deer — they headbutt, bite bags and take maps out of hands; the signs saying so are not decoration
- the park after dark — unlit, and the deer are still there
As safe as anywhere in Japan. The only creatures that will trouble you are the ones bowing for a biscuit..
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Japan visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
A pre-travel electronic authorisation (JESTA) is being introduced — check the official link for whether it applies to your dates.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Nothing to arrange for visa-free entry. Use the Visit Japan Web service to pre-file immigration and customs and skip the paper forms.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: the arrival card
Visit Japan WebOptional
Any time before you fly. Register the account early; the trip details can wait.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- flight number
- the full address of your first night
Not compulsory, but immigration and customs both have a QR lane for it and the other queue is long.
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of Japan
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Japanese encephalitis only for long rural stays in summer
Getting treated
Superb, and ambulances are free. Treatment is not: visitors pay in full up front, and hospitals routinely refuse cards, so carry cash and real insurance. Finding English-speaking staff outside major cities is the harder problem — the JNTO medical directory is worth bookmarking before you go.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodKakinoha-zushi — sushi wrapped in a persimmon leaf, a preserving trick from before refrigeration. Narazuke pickles are an acquired taste and the shops give samples. Mochi pounded at speed at Nakatanidou is a performance and a queue.
Getting around
Easy and cheap- UberWorks here
- GOWorks here
- DiDiWorks here
- S.RIDEWorks here
- BoltNot here
- GrabNot here
GO the big taxi-hailing app, and the one to install · Uber which dispatches ordinary taxis here · DiDi taxis again · S.RIDE Tokyo
- Against a taxi
- Identical — every app in Japan hails a licensed taxi on the meter.
Japan legalised a narrow form of ride-sharing in 2024, but in practice what arrives is still a taxi with a white-gloved driver.
Time zone and your working day
Asia/Tokyo — 13 hours ahead of you
0 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — — your time, — theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 20:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 20:00–04:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Japan
Why these are Japan's numbers and not Nara's
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.8× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 61% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Nara, so these are medians for all of Japan. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Japan, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Japanese
- Helloこんにちは — Konnichiwakon-nee-chee-WA
- Pleaseお願いします — Onegaishimasuo-neh-gai-shi-MAS
- Thank youありがとうございます — Arigatou gozaimasua-ri-ga-TOH go-zai-mas
- Yes / Noはい / いいえ — Hai / Iiehi / EE-eh
4 more phrases
- Excuse meすみません — Sumimasensoo-mi-ma-SEN
- How much is it?いくらですか — Ikura desu ka?ee-KOO-ra des ka
- The bill, pleaseお会計お願いします — Okaikei onegaishimasuo-KAI-kay
- Cheers!乾杯 — Kanpai!kan-PIE
Sumimasen does double duty as excuse me, sorry and to get a waiter’s attention. It is the single most useful word here.
Religion
Shinto and Buddhist, practised together
Most Japanese observe both without conflict — Shinto for birth and marriage, Buddhist for funerals. Few describe themselves as religious. Purify hands and mouth at the shrine basin before approaching.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Take shoes off wherever you see a step up or shoes lined up
- Carry your rubbish until you find a bin — there are almost none in public
- Stand in the queue markings on platforms and let passengers off first
- Receive business cards and change with two hands
Don't
- Do not tip — it causes confusion and can be refused as insulting
- Do not talk on the phone on trains, and keep conversation quiet
- Do not stick chopsticks upright in rice or pass food chopstick to chopstick; both echo funeral rites
- Do not photograph geiko and maiko in Gion — some streets ban it outright and fine offenders
Where to stay in Nara
No Holistay rentals in Nara yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Nara on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Kansai KIX
1h 20mfrom the airport· 61 km as the crow flies
80 min by train, or Itami for domestic flights.
Also worth pricing: Osaka Itami ITM — 1h by bus, and the closer of the two.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
