the route
Nara from Osaka: the Great Buddha, Kasuga's lanterns and an afternoon in Naramachi
Sora Nakamura is a pen name. Routes are drafted with AI assistance from the sources named on each stop, and read before they go out. How we work →
A day out from Osaka on Jalan's model course for central Nara (as of 16 March 2026), all on foot from Kintetsu-Nara station: the Great Buddha at Todai-ji, Kasuga Taisha and lunch at its teahouse, then the old merchant streets of Naramachi until the train home.
Jalan's course also stops at the Nara National Museum. Its Buddhist sculpture hall closed for rebuilding on 14 September 2026 and should reopen around spring 2028; until then only the bronze gallery is open, free of charge, and from 24 October to 9 November 2026 the museum holds the Shoso-in exhibition, with its own ticket (the museum's site, checked 25 September 2026). We have left it out.
Todai-ji's hours and fee come from the temple's own site, and the train from Kintetsu's fare table: ¥680 each way at the ordinary fare. Entry and food add up to about ¥3,400 a person, plus ¥1,360 for the return train. The lattice house is shut on Mondays, and the teahouse closes on days of its own choosing.
- Where
- Nara
- How long
- 1 day
- Stops
- 7
- Distance
- 3 km · 3.2 km on foot
- On the clock
- about 6.7 h
- Pace
- slow
- Season
- all
- Mood
- first-time · slow · sweets
Times are the editor’s plan, not a timetable. ≈ marks our own rough estimate; check the train times before you go.
what it costs
Per person, one adult. Each place’s figure is what its source printed, and the stop names the source and the date; the fares are the operators’ own published figures. Meals and rides with no printed figure are not in the total, and a figure printed more than a year ago says so. Converted at the European Central Bank reference rate of 2026-09-25, not a bank rate.
the day
- Train≈60 min · Kintetsu Nara line, Osaka-Namba to Kintetsu-Nara, then on foot · ¥680
- 観Todai-ji 東大寺
The temple founded at Emperor Shomu's wish in the Nara period, below Mount Wakakusa. The Great Buddha inside is 14.98 metres tall; the hall around it has been rebuilt twice, keeping nearly its first height and depth. Each hall charges its own entry, cash only.
Todai-ji · 60 min¥800per personas printed by Todai-ji September 25checked 2026-09-25HoursGreat Buddha Hall 7:30–17:30 April to October, 8:00–17:00 November to March; open every day unless a ceremony or an emergency closes it · todaiji.or.jp, checked 25 Sep 2026
Source ↗Open in maps ↗ - Walk≈15 min · 0.7 km
- 観Kasuga Taisha 春日大社
A World Heritage shrine beside Nara Park, its halls first built in 768; the main sanctuary is a National Treasure. Lanterns have been given to the shrine since the Heian period, and about 3,000 are lit on the evening of Setsubun and on 14 and 15 August. The grounds are free; the inner sanctuary is ¥700.
Jalan · 60 minFreeper Jalan March 16Hours6:30–17:30 March to October, 7:00–17:00 November to February · Jalan, as of 16 Mar 2026
Source ↗Open in maps ↗ - Walk≈5 min
- 食Kasuga Ninaijaya 春日大社 春日荷茶屋
The teahouse inside the shrine, named after the tea sellers who carried their stalls on shoulder poles through the grounds in the late Edo period. Its manyo-gayu is rice porridge in white miso on Hokkaido kelp stock, made with Nara's Hinohikari rice and a topping that changes every month: ¥1,200.
Jalan · 50 min¥1,200per personas printed by Jalan March 16Hours10:30–16:00 (last order); closes on irregular days · Jalan, as of 16 Mar 2026
Source ↗Open in maps ↗ - Walk≈25 min · 1.4 km
- 甘Nakatanidou 中谷堂
Mochi made the way it is made in Kotochi, a village in Kamikitayama in the Yoshino hills: pounded fast and hard while the rice is hot, so it comes out soft but springy. The yomogi mochi, of Hiyokumochi rice and mugwort sent from one growing area, is ¥200, unchanged since the shop opened in 1992.
Jalan · 20 min¥200per personas printed by Jalan March 16Hours10:00–19:00, earlier if sold out; closes on irregular days · Jalan, as of 16 Mar 2026
Source ↗Open in maps ↗ - Walk≈15 min · 0.7 km
- 観Naramachi Koshi-no-ie ならまち格子の家
A free reconstruction of a Naramachi merchant house, narrow at the street and deep behind: the main house, a courtyard and a storehouse at the back. The lattice kept eyes out and, Jalan says, the deer too.
Jalan · 30 minFreeper Jalan March 16Hours9:00–17:00; closed Mondays (the next weekday when Monday is a holiday), the day after a holiday unless it falls on a weekend, and at the year end · Jalan, as of 16 Mar 2026
Source ↗Open in maps ↗Plan BClosed on Mondays: walk straight on into Naramachi.
- Walk≈5 min · 0.3 km
- 観Naramachi ならまち
Nara's old town, spread over the former grounds of Gango-ji: townhouses from the Edo period to the early Showa years, many now small museums, restaurants and shops. Deer often walk the streets here too.
Jalan · 75 minHoursA town district; the shops keep their own hours · Jalan, as of 16 Mar 2026
Source ↗Open in maps ↗ - Walk≈5 min · 0.1 km
- 甘Kashiya 萬御菓子誂處 樫舎
A wagashi maker in an Edo-period townhouse. In its tearoom the set to order is matcha with kuzu-yaki, a baked sweet of Yoshino kuzu, Tamba red-bean paste and beet sugar: ¥1,210. The shop sells warabi-mochi and other sweets boxed to take home. Kintetsu-Nara station is about fifteen minutes on foot, and the ordinary fare back to Osaka-Namba is ¥680.
Jalan · 40 min¥1,210per personas printed by Jalan March 16HoursShop 9:00–18:00; tearoom 11:00–17:00 (last order 16:30); open every day · Jalan, as of 16 Mar 2026
Source ↗Open in maps ↗
if it is shut
- 5. Naramachi Koshi-no-ie ならまち格子の家
Closed on Mondays: walk straight on into Naramachi.
music for the way
the editor
Sora Nakamura is the pen name the routes on Day by Day Japan are written under, drafted with AI assistance and read before they go out. Every fare, fee and opening time on a route comes from whoever printed it, the operator, the place itself or a Japanese magazine or guide, and the page says which, with the date. Sora writes routes, not rankings, and would rather send you to a place that has kept its regulars for fifty years than to anything called a hidden gem.