Nara

Where to shoot

• Nara Park's deer — Over a thousand sika deer wander freely across the park's lawns and paths, tame enough to bow for crackers but still fully wild.
• Tōdai-ji's Great Buddha Hall — One of the world's largest wooden buildings, housing a towering 8th-century bronze Buddha cast on an almost incomprehensible scale.
• Kasuga Taisha's lantern paths — Hundreds of stone and bronze lanterns line the cedar-forest approach to this Shinto shrine, moss-covered and centuries old.
• Nigatsu-dō — A wooden hall on a hillside above Tōdai-ji with sweeping views back over the park's rooftops and forest, quieter than the main temple grounds.
• Todai-ji — a vast temple housing a monumental bronze Great Buddha, approached through a towering wooden gate guarded by fierce statues.
• Nara Park — open parkland where tame sika deer roam freely among the lawns and visitors, often wreathed in morning mist.
• Kasuga Taisha — a Shinto shrine famed for hundreds of moss-covered stone and bronze lanterns lining its forested approach.
• Isuien Garden — a classical strolling garden whose ponds borrow the surrounding hills and temple roofs into the view.
• Tōdai-ji — a vast wooden temple hall sheltering one of the world's largest bronze Buddhas
• Nara Park — open parkland where wild sika deer roam freely among the temples
• Kasuga Taisha — a forest shrine lined with hundreds of bronze and stone lanterns
• Nigatsu-dō — an elevated temple hall with a terrace overlooking the city and park

When to go

Spring (late March through April) for cherry blossoms in the park, or November for autumn foliage around Kasuga Taisha; both are peak crowds, so early morning is essential either way.

What to eat

Kakinoha-zushi, persimmon-leaf-wrapped sushi that was originally a preservation method before refrigeration, is a Nara specialty worth seeking out, along with the narazuke pickles found in shops around the old town.

Where to stay

Base yourself near Nara Park or the Naramachi old town district, both are walkable to Tōdai-ji and Kasuga Taisha and put you close to the deer at dawn before the tour buses arrive.