140 places cross-checked against the MICHELIN Guide Nara 2026, Tabelog and OpenStreetMap · no Eater coverage
Tap a route and it gets drawn on the map, stop by stop.
Tap a pin to see photos, rating and how to get there by train, bus or on foot. Turn on a route to follow the numbered path.
This interactive map of Nara (Japan) brings together 140 hand-picked places: 56 attractions, 42 restaurants, 21 cafés and 21 shops. It also includes 5 walking routes with their stops in order. For every place you get what it is, a practical tip and how to get there by public transport. It is free, works on your phone and needs no sign-up.
· Curated by the HOLASIM team · How we make the maps
Tap a route to see it drawn on the map, stop by stop.
6 stops · 2 h · start at 7:30, when the Daibutsuden opens empty and the buses have not arrived · 6 stops
7 stops · 2 h 30 · the outer precinct is free; the inner Honden costs ¥700 · 7 stops
7 stops · 3 h · nearly all free and under cover: Nara's rainy-day plan · 7 stops
5 stops · 3 h · Kintetsu Kashihara Line, not walkable from the park; everything shuts at 17:00 · 5 stops
6 stops · 4 h · every facility at the palace site is free; bring water, there is no shade · 6 stops
なら仏像館 · 登大路町
An 1894 building packed with Buddhas from the 7th to 13th centuries. Japan's best Buddhist sculpture collection.
Tip: During the Shosoin Exhibition the permanent gallery stays open on a separate ticket: your plan B if timed slots sell out.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Himuro-jinja Kokuritsu-Hakubutsukan stop, and you are there
Featured in: Museo Nacional de Nara
Show on map白毫寺 · 白毫寺町
A hillside temple with a stone stair and the best panorama over the Nara basin. Famous for its 400-year-old camellias.
Tip: ¥500, 9:00-17:00. No station nearby: take the bus to Takabatake-cho and walk 20 minutes uphill.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to Takabatake-cho, then 20 min uphill on foot
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map興福寺 中金堂 · 登大路町
The Central Golden Hall, rebuilt in 2018 after seven fires. Forty African camphor columns, fresh vermilion.
Tip: ¥500 on its own. If you also do the Tokondo and the Kokuhokan, the three-site ticket is ¥1,600 and saves ¥300.
🚇 4-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: UNESCO · Kofuku-ji oficial
Show on map東大寺 大仏殿 · 雑司町
A 15 m bronze Great Buddha inside the world's most famous wooden hall. UNESCO World Heritage since 1998.
Tip: ¥800 for the hall alone, ¥1,200 combined with the Museum. March-October it opens at 7:30 and the hall is nearly empty then.
🚇 19-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: UNESCO · Todai-ji oficial · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map第一次大極殿 · 佐紀町
Emperor Shomu's throne hall, rebuilt in 2010 with 44,000 timber pieces and not a visible nail.
Tip: Free, 9:00-16:30, closed Mondays. From the Suzakumon it is a long flat walk with no shade: bring water.
🚇 17-min walk from Yamato-Saidaiji Station (Kintetsu Nara and Kashihara lines)
Featured in: Parque Histórico de Heijo (oficial)
Show on map名勝旧大乗院庭園 · 高畑町
The garden of Kofuku-ji's most powerful monastery, laid out in 1465 by the landscaper Zen'ami. ¥200.
Tip: The cultural hall at the entrance has been suspended since April 2026, but you still enter the garden through it: 9:00-17:00, closed Mondays.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Nara Hotel stop, and you are there
Featured in: Ciudad de Nara (aviso oficial) · Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map元興寺 · 中院町
A World Heritage temple hidden in Naramachi. Its roof still carries 6th-century tiles brought from Asuka.
Tip: ¥700, 9:00-17:00 with last entry 16:30, open daily. During the autumn show it rises to ¥800.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Tanaka-cho stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: UNESCO · Gango-ji oficial · Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on mapがんこ一徹長屋 · 六条
A row of workshops where Nara's calligraphy brushes, akahada-yaki pottery, carving and embroidery live side by side.
Tip: Free to walk in and watch them work. Each workshop keeps its own hours: several close on Thursdays.
🚇 3-min walk from Nishinokyo Station (Kintetsu Kashihara Line)
Featured in: Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map興福寺 五重塔 · 登大路町
Japan's second-tallest pagoda, 50 m, from 1426. Today it is wrapped in its biggest restoration in 120 years.
Tip: You cannot see it: a 60 m work shelter and three-storey panels hide it. Restoration runs to 2031, so skip the walk if you came only for the photo.
🚇 6-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Prefectura de Nara · Nikkei
Show on map南都御霊神社 · 薬師堂町
Naramachi's en-musubi shrine, a red torii between wooden houses. It fills up with couples' votive plaques.
Tip: Free and always open. The lamps come on at dusk and the approach lane looks better at night than by day.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Tanaka-cho stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara · virales de Instagram
Show on map般若寺 · 般若寺町
The cosmos temple: in October the whole precinct is a chest-high field of pink and white flowers.
Tip: Cosmos peak in mid-October: right now. In flower season admission rises to ¥700; open 9:00-17:00, last entry 16:30. Look for the glass cubes with floating blooms, the temple's viral shot.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Narazaka-Minamiguchi stop, and you are there
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara · Prefectura de Nara · virales de Instagram
Show on map氷室神社 · 春日野町
The ice shrine: the imperial court's ice was stored here. Today it is the kakigori makers' altar.
Tip: Free entry, right by the city loop bus stop. Its weeping cherry is the first to bloom in all Nara, around late March.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Himuro-jinja Kokuritsu-Hakubutsukan stop, and you are there
Featured in: Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map法華寺 · 法華寺町
A nunnery founded by Empress Komyo in 745 on her own palace. An Edo-era garden and a 9th-century wooden Kannon.
Tip: The main Kannon shows only for short spring and autumn windows: check dates first, the shrine stays shut the rest of the year.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from JR Nara to the Hokkeji stop, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map入江泰吉記念 奈良市写真美術館 · 高畑町
Eighty thousand negatives by Irie Taikichi, who spent half a century photographing Yamato's temples. Building by Kisho Kurokawa.
Tip: Closed Mondays, ¥500. It is sunk below grade so as not to block the view: from outside it looks like just a roof.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Takabatake-cho stop, then 9 min on foot
Featured in: Ciudad de Nara
Show on map依水園 · 水門町
The city's only pond-stroll garden, borrowing the Nandaimon and Mount Wakakusa as its backdrop.
Tip: ¥1,200 including the Neiraku Museum. Closed Tuesdays, 9:30-16:30 with last entry 16:00: don't save it for after the Daibutsuden.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Himuro-jinja Kokuritsu-Hakubutsukan stop, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: Isuien oficial
Show on map平城宮いざない館 · 二条大路南
The palace interpretation centre: scale models, a rebuilt embassy ship and English panels throughout.
Tip: Free like the rest of the site. It lends wheelchairs, strollers and canes, and has coin lockers.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from JR Nara to the Suzakumon Hiroba stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Parque Histórico de Heijo (oficial)
Show on map十輪院 · 十輪院町
A 13th-century main hall so low it looks like a house. The most intimate temple in all of Naramachi.
Tip: Closed Mondays, ¥500. The stone relief at the back of the garden is 13th-century and almost nobody looks for it.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Nara Hotel stop, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map東大寺 戒壇院 · 雑司町
The ordination hall and its 8th-century clay Four Heavenly Kings, the finest clay sculpture in Japan.
Tip: ¥800 and it shuts at 16:00, ninety minutes before the Daibutsuden: leave it for last and you miss it.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Imakoji stop, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: Todai-ji oficial
Show on map海龍王寺 · 法華寺町
A tiny temple holding a miniature 8th-century five-storey pagoda that fits inside a single room.
Tip: ¥500 and four minutes on foot from Hokke-ji. It is a National Treasure and there are rarely more than five people inside.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from JR Nara to the Hokkeji stop, and you are there
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map奈良町からくりおもちゃ館 · 陰陽町
Replicas of Edo-period karakuri toys that you can pick up and work yourself, free of charge.
Tip: Closed Wednesdays. The best rainy-day plan with kids in Naramachi, and it costs nothing.
🚇 12-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Ciudad de Nara
Show on map春日大社 国宝殿 · 春日野町
Fujiwara armour, giant ceremonial drums and swords in a new building, dark and perfectly lit.
Tip: The two dadaiko drums, four m across, are the thing nobody expects. It sits before the shrine, on the lantern path.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kasuga-taisha Omotesando stop, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: Kasuga Taisha oficial
Show on map春日大社 中門 · 春日野町
Three thousand stone and bronze lanterns, vermilion against deep green. The Fujiwara clan's shrine since 768.
Tip: The outer precinct is free; the special inner worship costs ¥700. Open 6:30-17:30 (7:00-17:00 November to February).
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kasuga-taisha Omotesando stop, then 13 min on foot
Featured in: UNESCO · Kasuga Taisha oficial
Show on map春日山原始林 · 春日野町
A sacred forest where no tree has been cut since the year 841. World Heritage, and almost nobody goes in.
Tip: The Takisaka-no-michi trail starts behind the park and takes a good two hours. Carry water and don't start after 14:00.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus to Kasuga-taisha Omotesando; the trail starts just behind
Featured in: UNESCO · Prefectura de Nara
Show on map興福寺 国宝館 · 登大路町
The three-faced, six-armed Ashura from 734. Japan's most beloved Buddhist sculpture, and it lives here.
Tip: ¥900 and the one thing you must pay for at Kofuku-ji. Open 9:00-17:00, last entry 16:45, never shut for holidays.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kencho-mae stop, and you are there
Featured in: UNESCO · Kofuku-ji oficial
Show on map奈良町庚申堂 · 西新屋町
The little hall behind the migawari-zaru, the red monkeys hanging from every eave in Naramachi.
Tip: Free and always open. Each monkey carries a written wish inside and hangs in your place: hence 'the substitute'.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kitakyobate-cho stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara · virales de Instagram
Show on map萬葉植物園 · 春日野町
Three hundred species quoted in the 8th-century Manyoshu poetry anthology, each planted beside its poem.
Tip: The wisteria trellis is a late-April thing; in October it is the herb garden and still-green maples.
🚇 24-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Kasuga Taisha oficial
Show on map夫婦大國社 · 春日野町
Japan's only shrine where the god and goddess of marriage share an altar. The votive plaques are shaped like rice scoops.
Tip: The scoop-shaped ema gets written on both sides, one each. ¥500, and the most photographed souvenir on the circuit.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kasuga-taisha Omotesando stop, then 14 min on foot
Featured in: Kasuga Taisha oficial · virales de TikTok
Show on map東大寺 南大門 · 雑司町
The Great South Gate and its two 8 m Nio guardians carved by Unkei and Kaikei in 1203. Free, day and night.
Tip: The Nio face inward, not the street: walk through, turn around, and only then look up.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Himuro-jinja Kokuritsu-Hakubutsukan stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: UNESCO · Todai-ji oficial
Show on map興福寺 南円堂 · 登大路町
An octagonal hall from 1789, ninth stop on the Saigoku pilgrimage. From outside: free and always open.
Tip: The interior opens only on 17 October each year. If you are in Nara that day, it is a door almost nobody gets through.
🚇 4-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Kofuku-ji oficial
Show on map奈良ホテル · 高畑町
Opened in 1909 by Meiji-era imperial architects. Einstein played the lobby piano, and the piano is still there.
Tip: No need to stay: walk into the main building's tea lounge, 10:00-18:00, and see Einstein's piano up close.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Nara Hotel stop, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: Hotel Nara oficial · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on mapなら工藝館 · 阿字万字町
Sumi ink, calligraphy brushes, akahada-yaki pottery and ittobori carving under one roof, with makers at work.
Tip: Free entry, closed Mondays. The best place to learn what you are buying before you spend downtown.
🚇 10-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Ciudad de Nara · Nara Craft Museum
Show on map奈良国立博物館 · 登大路町
Home of the Shosoin Exhibition: for 17 days a year the 8th-century imperial treasures come out.
Tip: The 78th Shosoin Exhibition runs 24 Oct-9 Nov 2026, open every day. Timed ticket ¥2,000; from 16:00 Mon-Thu and 17:00 Fri-Sun it drops to ¥1,500.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Himuro-jinja Kokuritsu-Hakubutsukan stop, and you are there
Featured in: Museo Nacional de Nara · shosoin-ten.jp
Show on map奈良町資料館 · 西新屋町
The neighbourhood museum explaining the migawari-zaru, the guilds and the Buddhist images that outlived Gango-ji.
Tip: Entry is by donation. From the street it looks like a souvenir shop: the room is at the back, past the curtain.
🚇 13-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map東大寺 二月堂 · 雑司町
A wooden balcony pinned to the hillside with the best sunset view over Nara's rooftops. Free and always open.
Tip: Go up 40 minutes before sunset. The hall never closes and never charges: it is Nara's only viewpoint you can use at night.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Daibutsuden Kasugataisha-mae stop, then 13 min on foot
Featured in: Todai-ji oficial · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map奈良町にぎわいの家 · 中新屋町
A 1917 merchant house restored and opened for free: well, Buddhist altar, inner courtyard and earth-floor kitchen.
Tip: Closed Wednesdays. Ask about the tsuboniwa, the tiny middle courtyard: the trick that keeps the whole house cool in summer.
🚇 13-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Ciudad de Nara · Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map奈良県立美術館 · 登大路町
Ukiyo-e prints, nihonga painting and rotating shows, three minutes from Kintetsu Nara station.
Tip: Closed Mondays. If Monday is wet, the fallback is the Buddhist Sculpture Hall, which opens anyway.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kencho-mae stop, and you are there
Featured in: Prefectura de Nara
Show on map鹿苑 · 春日野町
The Preservation Foundation's shelter and the ring where the antler-cutting rite, 350 years old, takes place.
Tip: Shika no tsunokiri 2026 falls on 7-8 November, not October: 11:45-15:00, doors 11:15, last entry 14:30, ¥1,000 adults.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kasuga-taisha Omotesando stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Fundación de Preservación de los Ciervos de Nara · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map猿沢池 · 登大路町
The pool that mirrors Kofuku-ji's five-storey pagoda. Nara's postcard for a thousand years.
Tip: Heads up: the pagoda is wrapped in a 60 m work shelter into the 2030s. Today's reflection is Kofuku-ji under restoration.
🚇 6-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Prefectura de Nara · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map志賀直哉旧居 · 高畑町
The house the novelist designed for himself in 1929, where he wrote 'A Dark Night's Passing'. Sukiya, Chinese and Western at once.
Tip: ¥350, closed in winter. Go up to the first-floor sunroom: from there you see the three Yamato mountains at once.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Takabatake-cho stop, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map鹿の舟 繭 · 井上町
The reading room of a three-building old-house complex in southern Naramachi. Library, old bathhouse and cafe.
Tip: Entry is free and you can read all day. Six blocks south of Gango-ji, past where tour groups turn back.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Tanaka-cho stop, and you are there
Featured in: Nara Visitors Bureau · Time Out Japan
Show on map新薬師寺 · 高畑町
An 8th-century hall with the seated Yakushi ringed by the Twelve Clay Generals, in a circle one step from you.
Tip: ¥600, 9:00-17:00, no closing day. Eleven are 8th-century originals and one is a rebuild: guess which before reading the sign.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Takabatake-cho stop, then 9 min on foot
Featured in: Shin-Yakushi-ji oficial
Show on map正倉院 · 雑司町
The 8th-century imperial storehouse that kept 1,200 years of Silk Road treasures. Exterior viewing, weekdays only.
Tip: The forecourt opens weekdays 10:00-15:00 and is free. What is inside never shows here: it travels once a year to the National Museum.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Tegai-cho stop, then 6 min on foot
Featured in: Agencia de la Casa Imperial · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map墨の資料館 · 六条
Nara has made 90% of Japan's calligraphy ink since the 14th century. Here you see soot kneaded with fish glue.
Tip: Free entry, right next to the Ganko Ittetsu Nagaya craft row in Nishinokyo. Closed Sundays and holidays.
🚇 3-min walk from Nishinokyo Station (Kintetsu Kashihara Line)
Featured in: Nara Visitors Bureau · Nara Craft Museum
Show on map朱雀門 · 二条大路南
The main gate of the capital of 710, rebuilt full-size in 1998. It stands 22 m and entry is free.
Tip: Every facility at the Heijo Palace site is free. The Kintetsu line still crosses the site: the diversion is only planned for the 2060s.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from JR Nara to the Suzakumon Hiroba stop, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: UNESCO · Parque Histórico de Heijo · Nikkei
Show on map手向山八幡宮 · 雑司町
Todai-ji's guardian shrine, hidden among maples. In November it is the reddest corner of the whole park.
Tip: Mid-October it is still green: peak colour in the park is forecast for around 21 November.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Daibutsuden Kasugataisha-mae stop, then 11 min on foot
Featured in: Weathernews pronóstico 2026 · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map飛火野 · 春日野町
The park's great meadow where hundreds of deer graze among scattered cedars. The best place to really watch them.
Tip: September to November the stags are rutting and the Deer Preservation Foundation asks you not to approach or touch them. If one lowers its head and snorts, back away sideways.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kasuga-taisha Omotesando stop, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: Fundación de Preservación de los Ciervos de Nara · Prefectura de Nara
Show on map東大寺ミュージアム · 雑司町
The sculptures that no longer fit in the halls: the Hokkedo's Nikko and Gakko, in cases at eye level.
Tip: ¥800 on its own, but the Daibutsuden combo is ¥1,200 and saves you ¥400. Buy the combo at the hall's ticket window.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Himuro-jinja Kokuritsu-Hakubutsukan stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Todai-ji oficial
Show on map興福寺 東金堂 · 登大路町
The Eastern Golden Hall of 1415, with a seated Yakushi three m tall and the Twelve Heavenly Generals.
Tip: During Shuya no Nara Tabi 2026 it opens at night on Saturdays 31 Oct and 7, 14, 21, 28 Nov, 17:30-21:00, ¥500, no booking.
🚇 6-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Kofuku-ji oficial · Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map唐招提寺 · 五条町
Founded in 759 by the Chinese monk Ganjin, who crossed the sea six times and arrived blind. The Kondo is 8th-century, intact.
Tip: ¥1,000, open 8:30-17:00 with last entry 16:30. Ten minutes on foot from Yakushi-ji along a country lane: do both together.
🚇 10-min walk from Nishinokyo Station (Kintetsu Kashihara Line)
Featured in: UNESCO · Toshodai-ji oficial
Show on map浮見堂 · 高畑町
A hexagonal pavilion floating on Sagiike pond. Walk in, sit on the wooden floor, pay nothing.
Tip: It is lit at night until 22:00 and almost nobody knows. With little wind the reflection is perfect.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kasuga-taisha Omotesando stop, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Prefectura de Nara · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map若草山 · 春日野町
A bare 342 m slope you can climb in 30 minutes. At the top, the whole Nara basin in one glance.
Tip: Open only mid-March to mid-December, 9:00-17:00, ¥150 adults and ¥80 children. Strong wind closes the gates.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to Daibutsuden Kasugataisha-mae, then 15 min uphill on foot
Featured in: Oficina del Parque de Nara · Prefectura de Nara
Show on map春日大社 若宮神社 · 春日野町
Kasuga Taisha's offspring shrine at the end of a cedar path. Start of the fifteen-shrine circuit.
Tip: The full circuit takes 50 minutes and is free. Ask for the map at the shrine desk: Japanese only, but the numbers are enough.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kasuga-taisha Omotesando stop, then 14 min on foot
Featured in: Kasuga Taisha oficial
Show on map薬師寺 · 西ノ京町
Founded in 680 and World Heritage. The most spectacular set of vermilion halls in Nishinokyo.
Tip: Shuts at 17:00, last entry 16:30, well before the park. It is on the Kintetsu Kashihara Line: you cannot walk here from the park.
🚇 4-min walk from Nishinokyo Station (Kintetsu Kashihara Line)
Featured in: UNESCO · Yakushi-ji oficial
Show on map薬師寺 東塔 · 西ノ京町
The temple's only original building, from 730. Twelve years of piece-by-piece dismantling returned it whole in 2021.
Tip: It looks six-storey but has three: the in-between eaves are false. That asymmetry is why architects love it.
🚇 5-min walk from Nishinokyo Station (Kintetsu Kashihara Line)
Featured in: UNESCO · Yakushi-ji oficial
Show on map吉城園 · 水門町
Three gardens in one — pond, moss and tea — right next door to Isuien and for a fraction of the price.
Tip: Prefecture-owned, just ¥250. The moss garden is the one that pays off: go after rain.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Himuro-jinja Kokuritsu-Hakubutsukan stop, and you are there
Featured in: Prefectura de Nara · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map頭塔 · 高畑町
A stepped earthen pyramid from 767, with 44 stone Buddhas on its terraces. There is no other like it in Japan.
Tip: From the street you see all of it for free, but guided access inside the enclosure opens only in set seasons.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Takabatake-cho stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Ciudad de Nara · Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map奈良らーめん あおによし · 東向中町
Nara's ramen: thick pork-and-chicken broth with back fat, a step from Kintetsu station.
Tip: Open late, and one of the few places in Nara — a town that shuts early — where you eat after 21:00.
🚇 3-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on map奈良漬 あしびや本舗 · ならまち
Nara pickles in a Naramachi machiya, with a counter tasting before you buy anything.
Tip: Ask for the cucumber narazuke instead of the classic melon: milder and it travels better in a suitcase.
🚇 11-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map粟 ならまち店 · 勝南院町
Heirloom Yamato vegetables grown by the house itself, served in a restored Naramachi machiya.
Tip: One of the seven Green Stars in the Nara 2026 guide. The menu follows that day's harvest: book ahead.
🚇 10-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: MICHELIN Nara 2026 (Estrella Verde) · Tabelog
Show on mapふじ門製麺 · 馬場町
Clear chicken-broth ramen with house-made noodles, three blocks from Sarusawa pond.
Tip: Order the plain shoyu before the special: the clear broth is what they came here to make.
🚇 10-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on map吟松 · ならまち
Soba and seasonal cooking in a Naramachi machiya, with a table beside the inner garden.
Tip: Few tables and a short lunch service: be in before 12:30 or you wait. Order the soba set with Yamato vegetable tempura.
🚇 13-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on mapGolden Rabbit Beer · 東寺林町
Nine rotating taps on the first floor of a Naramachi house, with food for the non-drinkers.
Tip: Go up to the first floor, where the good bar is. From the pavement it looks shut and it is not.
🚇 9-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara · Tabelog
Show on maphananoco · ならまち
Seasonal cooking with Yamato vegetables in a tiny room south of Gango-ji, no big sign outside.
Tip: Few tables and one menu a day. Walk in as it opens or you will not get a seat.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Tanaka-cho stop, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on map和食屋 八寶 · 東向中町
Everyday Japanese cooking in the Higashimuki arcade: fish of the day, rice, soup and pickles, cheap.
Tip: It is under cover in the arcade: the rainy-day plan two minutes from Kintetsu Nara station.
🚇 Right at Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on map平宗 奈良店 · 下御門町
The Naramachi branch, where besides kakinoha-zushi they serve chagayu: rice porridge simmered in hojicha tea.
Tip: Chagayu has been the breakfast of Nara's monks for 1,200 years. Order it with the kakinoha-zushi lunch set.
🚇 8-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Hiraso oficial · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map平宗 柿の葉ずし 登大路店 · 登大路町
Kakinoha-zushi: pressed sushi wrapped in persimmon leaf, invented by mountain villages with no sea in sight.
Tip: The leaf is packaging, not food. Let it rest a day and the flavour improves, which is why it travels for up to three days.
🚇 Right at Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Hiraso oficial · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map本家菊屋 · 東向北町
A confectioner founded in 1585 at Toyotomi Hideyoshi's request. Its bean mochi is called 'the lord's gift'.
Tip: The mikasa, a giant dorayaki named after Mount Mikasa, is what locals buy as a gift.
🚇 Right at Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Nara Visitors Bureau · Tabelog
Show on mapゐざさ茶屋 · 春日野町
Kakinoha-zushi from Yoshino's Izasa house, in a teahouse with a terrace on the Todai-ji approach.
Tip: It is right where the bus drops you for the Daibutsuden: the quick lunch before you enter the temple.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Daibutsuden Kasugataisha-mae stop, and you are there
Featured in: Tabelog · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map寛永堂本店 · 東向中町
Classic Japanese sweets on Higashimuki street, wooden counter and a cup of tea you get anyway.
Tip: It sits on the arcade linking Kintetsu station to Sanjo-dori: the last-minute buy before your train.
🚇 Right at Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on map春日荷茶屋 · 春日野町
Kasuga Taisha's own teahouse, under the wisteria. They serve manyo-gayu, chagayu with seasonal vegetables.
Tip: Shuts at 16:00 and on Wednesdays. The only place in the park where you eat sitting down with deer walking past.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kasuga-taisha Omotesando stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Kasuga Taisha oficial · Tabelog
Show on mapさつま焼 春日庵 · ならまち
Naramachi wagashi with satsumayaki as the star: a sweet-potato confection made only here.
Tip: They are made in the morning and gone by afternoon. Arrive after 16:00 and there will probably be none left.
🚇 12-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on mapうなぎ 川はら 三条家 · 三条町
Charcoal-grilled eel on Sanjo street, with the house sauce and the coals in plain view from the pavement.
Tip: It sits on the walk between JR Nara and the park: the obvious lunch stop if you arrive on a morning train.
🚇 7-min walk from JR Nara Station (JR Yamatoji and Nara lines)
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on map菊水楼 · 高畑町
An 1891 ryokan by Sarusawa pond, with a kaiseki dining room open to non-guests and its own garden.
Tip: You do not need to stay to eat lunch there. Book a day ahead and ask for a garden-view table, not the main room.
🚇 10-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Nara Visitors Bureau · Tabelog
Show on mapそば処 喜多原 · 登大路町
Whole-grain soba on the road up from the station to the park, short counter and a local queue.
Tip: They close when the dough runs out. Ask for sobayu at the end: the cooking water is drunk, not binned.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Oshiage-cho stop, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on mapラ・フォルム ド エテルニテ · きたまち
French cooking with Yamato produce at a Kitamachi counter. One of the most sought-after tables in town.
Tip: Set menu and few seats: book ahead. North of Kintetsu station, in the neighbourhood where locals actually eat.
🚇 4-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: MICHELIN Nara 2026 · Tabelog
Show on mapLBK Craft · 東向北町
A taproom plating local Yamato produce in small dishes, in the bar quarter north of Sanjo.
Tip: The menu changes weekly with what arrives from the farms. Travelling solo, the counter is Nara's best place to talk.
🚇 3-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Time Out Japan · Tabelog
Show on mapリンコントロ · ならまち
Italian with Yamato produce in a Naramachi house, fresh pasta made that very morning.
Tip: It appears in the MICHELIN Nara selection. The pasta-and-dessert lunch is far cheaper than dinner.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Tanaka-cho stop, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: MICHELIN Nara 2026 · Tabelog
Show on mapうどんカフェ 麺喰 · ならまち
Hand-kneaded udon in a Naramachi house, with Hokkaido kombu broth and not a drop too much.
Tip: The kamaage, served in its own cooking water, is how you taste the dough. It shuts early, near 15:00.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Nara Hotel stop, and you are there
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on map水谷茶屋 · 春日野町
A thatched teahouse by the stream between Todai-ji and Kasuga. Nara's most repeated autumn photograph.
Tip: Order the warabimochi and amazake. The maples around it are still green in mid-October: red comes in late November.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Daibutsuden Kasugataisha-mae stop, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: Tabelog · Weathernews pronóstico 2026
Show on mapそば切り百夜月 · 東向南町
Soba hand-cut every morning at a wooden counter, two blocks from Kintetsu Nara station.
Tip: They close when the day's dough runs out, usually before 15:00. Order the cold zaru even in cool weather: that is where the grain shows.
🚇 Right at Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on map夢窓庵 · 水門町
Japanese cooking in a garden house on the edge of the park, with the most reasonable set lunch around.
Tip: It sits in the MICHELIN Nara selection without a star, exactly where you eat well without it hurting. Book lunch.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Oshiage-cho stop, and you are there
Featured in: MICHELIN Nara 2026 · Tabelog
Show on map中谷堂 · 橋本町
Japan's fastest mochi pounding: two men, one mallet and a speed that looks faked. Then you eat it.
Tip: No fixed schedule: they pound 5-6 times a day depending on sales, and post the next round on a sign in the window. Open 10:00-19:00, yomogi mochi ¥180.
🚇 4-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Jalan · virales de TikTok · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map奈良 而今 · きたまち
Kaiseki at a tiny counter in Kitamachi. Five years running with two stars in the Nara guide.
Tip: One of only four two-star tables in the whole prefecture, with very few seats: book months ahead, do not drop in.
🚇 5-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: MICHELIN Nara 2026 · Tabelog
Show on mapなら麦酒 ならまち醸造所 · 紀寺町
A craft brewery with tanks in view and an eight-tap bar, on Naramachi's southern edge.
Tip: They brew an ale with narazuke and another with Yamato tea: take the tasting flight before committing to a pint.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Tanaka-cho stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Time Out Japan · Tabelog
Show on map奈良町 みよし · ならまち
Home-style Japanese cooking in Naramachi, lunch served in multi-tier lacquer boxes.
Tip: The three-tier lunch box is Naramachi's best value. It runs out by 14:00.
🚇 11-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on mapFrench O.mo.ya 奈良町 · 公納堂町
French cooking inside a 150-year-old merchant house, with the inner garden in view from your table.
Tip: The three-course lunch costs far less than dinner and still gets you the best table, the garden one.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Nara Hotel stop, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: Tabelog · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map千寿庵吉宗 · 今御門町
Nara's warabimochi house: bracken starch whipped until translucent, dusted with kinako.
Tip: The fresh one lasts a day: eat it there or that same day. The packaged version travels, but it is not the same.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Imakoji stop, and you are there
Featured in: Tabelog · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map鹿の舟 竈 · 井上町
Rice cooked in an iron pot over fire with Yamato vegetables, in Naramachi's quiet south.
Tip: They serve breakfast from 8:00, which is rare in Nara. The way to start the day before the temples open.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Tanaka-cho stop, and you are there
Featured in: Time Out Japan · Tabelog
Show on map志津香 公園店 · 登大路町
Nara's kamameshi: rice cooked in its own iron pot with seven toppings, since 1970.
Tip: It takes 25 minutes from ordering because it is cooked to order. Put your name down, go see the Daibutsuden, come back.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Himuro-jinja Kokuritsu-Hakubutsukan stop, and you are there
Featured in: Tabelog · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map柿の葉寿司本舗 たなか · 東向中町
The other great persimmon-leaf sushi house, born in Yoshino in 1903. Mackerel, salmon and sea bream.
Tip: Mackerel is the original and the saltiest; salmon is the one kids like. Buy the mixed box and compare on the train.
🚇 Right at Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tanaka oficial · Jalan
Show on map柿の葉寿司本舗 たなか 奈良ショップ · 東向中町
Kakinohazushi Tanaka's shop right by Kintetsu station: boxes packed and ready for the train.
Tip: Buy the box of eight before boarding: it keeps three days unrefrigerated and is Japan's best travel lunch.
🚇 Right at Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tanaka oficial · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on mapタリカロ · もちいどの
Nara's cult curry: spices ground in-house every morning and a menu of exactly two dishes.
Tip: Ten seats and full by 11:40. If there is a queue, walk to Mochiidono and come back at 13:30, when it thins out.
🚇 6-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog · virales de Instagram
Show on map天平倶楽部 · 法蓮町
An early 20th-century mansion with its own garden, north of Todai-ji. Japanese cooking and a cafe in one place.
Tip: Book the table by the garden window. It is in Kitamachi, ten minutes on foot from the Daibutsuden and free of tour groups.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Tegai-cho stop, and you are there
Featured in: Tabelog · Time Out Japan
Show on map奈良町豆腐庵こんどう · 西新屋町
A whole menu of handmade tofu in a Naramachi machiya: yuba, fried tofu, soy ice cream.
Tip: The lunch set runs to eight different tofu preparations and starts around ¥2,000. They sell out by 14:00.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kitakyobate-cho stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Tabelog · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map月日亭 · 東向南町
Nara kaiseki with mountain produce — mushrooms, game, Yamato vegetables — right downtown, near Sanjo-dori.
Tip: October is matsutake and Yamato mushroom month: ask for the seasonal menu before taking the fixed one.
🚇 Right at Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on mapYAMATO Craft Beer Table · 三条町
Ten taps of Nara and Kansai breweries on Sanjo street, with food to match until late.
Tip: It sits between JR Nara and the park on Sanjo-dori: the obligatory stop if you walk back to the station at night.
🚇 7-min walk from JR Nara Station (JR Yamatoji and Nara lines)
Featured in: Tabelog · Time Out Japan
Show on map山崎屋本店 · 東向南町
Narazuke since 1869: vegetables cured in sake lees for years until they turn dark amber.
Tip: Taste the uri melon before buying: the long cure carries an alcoholic hit that is not for everyone.
🚇 3-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Nara Visitors Bureau · Tabelog
Show on mapゆき亭 · ならまち
A neighbourhood French bistro in Naramachi, hand-written daily menu and Yamato market produce.
Tip: Few tables and the owner cooking alone: phone ahead, even same-day, before 11:00.
🚇 12-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on mapblue note Naramachi · 勝南院町
Cafe by day, jazz bar by night in a Naramachi machiya, vinyl records and low light.
Tip: Nara shuts early and this does not: one of the few places in the quarter open past 22:00.
🚇 9-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog · Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on mapボリクコーヒー · 西新屋町
House roasting in a Naramachi home, with rotating art shows and sweets made on site.
Tip: Open 12:30-18:00 and only while a show is on: outside exhibition periods it stays shut. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kitakyobate-cho stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Narratives · Tabelog
Show on mapcafe zuccu · 高畑町
A neighbourhood cafe in Takabatake, between the Nara Hotel and Shin-Yakushi-ji, house roast and homemade tarts.
Tip: The only decent coffee stop on the eastern temple walk: fuel up before heading to Shin-Yakushi-ji.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Takabatake-cho stop, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on map大佛布丁 · 東向中町
The Sanjo street branch of the Great Buddha pudding, fridge full and a short queue near the station.
Tip: If the main shop has a queue, this branch sells exactly the same thing and is almost always empty.
🚇 Right at Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Nara Visitors Bureau · Tabelog
Show on mapCafe & gallery えすぱす · 高畑町
A cafe and gallery in a Takabatake house, with local craft shows rotating every month.
Tip: What is on show is for sale, usually akahada-yaki pottery by local makers.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Takabatake-cho stop, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Tabelog · Nara Craft Museum
Show on mapほうせき箱 · 餅飯殿町
The kakigori that put Nara on the shaved-ice map: clear ice under a milk espuma that collapses on its own.
Tip: Open 10:00-17:00 (17:30 weekends), closed Thursdays, with a 12:50-14:00 break. It runs on timed slots: get there early to sign up.
🚇 7-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Co-Trip · Tabelog · virales de TikTok
Show on map喫茶 いつここ · 京終
A neighbourhood kissaten south of Naramachi, in the Kyobate area where no tour group ever reaches.
Tip: They do 'morning': before 11:00 your coffee comes with toast and a boiled egg at no extra charge.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Takabatake-cho stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on mapカナカナ · 公納堂町
The machiya that invented the Naramachi cafe: a tray of eight small seasonal vegetable dishes and a fruit dessert.
Tip: Open 11:00-19:00, closed Mondays. The kanakana gohan sells out: go before 13:00 if you want the full plate.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Nara Hotel stop, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: Narratives · Colocal · Tabelog
Show on map萬御菓子誂處 樫舎 · 中院町
Wagashi made in front of you at an eight-seat counter. House bean paste, matcha and Nara lacquerware.
Tip: Tea service runs 11:00-16:30 and booking is wise. Sweets to take away sell 9:00-18:00 with no booking.
🚇 10-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Co-Trip · Rurubu · Tabelog
Show on mapコバト · 高畑町
A classic Takabatake kissaten, siphon brewing, dark roast and worn leather chairs from decades back.
Tip: Order the house blend with the dark roast: the taste of the Japanese kissaten before the third wave.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Takabatake-cho stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on mapきっさきょってい · ならまち
A tea room in a Naramachi house: tatami, a window onto the courtyard and a hand-written menu.
Tip: Shoes off at the door. There is exactly one table by the courtyard window: arrive early if you want it.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Nara Hotel stop, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on mapまほろば大仏プリン本舗 · 春日野町
The jarred custard with the Great Buddha's face on the lid. Nara's most photographed souvenir after the deer.
Tip: The glass jar is reusable, which is why everyone takes one. The seasonal flavour changes every few weeks.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Himuro-jinja Kokuritsu-Hakubutsukan stop, and you are there
Featured in: virales de Instagram · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map二月堂北の茶所 · 雑司町
A tatami room with an open hearth behind Nigatsudo, where the tea is free and the neighbours pour it.
Tip: The park's best-kept secret: shoes off, sit by the fire and drop a coin in the box.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Daibutsuden Kasugataisha-mae stop, then 13 min on foot
Featured in: Todai-ji oficial · Time Out Japan
Show on mapノモケマナ · 高畑町
A Takabatake bakery and cafe with sourdough bread and pavement tables, next to the Nara Hotel.
Tip: Opens early and sells out by midday. Breakfast before walking up to Kasuga Taisha along the lantern path.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Nara Hotel stop, and you are there
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on mapNORR COFFEE · きたまち
Nordic third wave in Kitamachi, light roast and pour-over at a pale wooden counter.
Tip: North of Kintetsu station, in the quarter where the roasters moved: the stretch nobody walks.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Imakoji stop, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: Tabelog · Time Out Japan
Show on mapをかし東城 · 中院町
The Harushika sake-lees cheesecake: the yeast of Nara's own sake turned into dessert.
Tip: Open 10:00-20:00, closed Tuesday and Wednesday. One of the few places in Naramachi for something sweet after 18:00.
🚇 11-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog · Narratives
Show on map尾崎珈琲 · ならまち
Roastery and gallery in one, on the Naramachi stretch linking Sarusawa pond to Gango-ji.
Tip: They sell same-day roasted beans in 100 g bags: the souvenir that neither breaks nor takes space.
🚇 8-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on mapろくさろん · 高畑町
A garden cafe in Takabatake, on the stretch where houses still have earthen walls.
Tip: It sits on the Sanin lane, the old path between the Nara Hotel and Shin-Yakushi-ji. Almost nobody walks it.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Takabatake-cho stop, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: Tabelog
Show on map鹿の舟 囀 · 井上町
The cafe of the old-house complex in southern Naramachi, with seasonal Yamato fruit desserts.
Tip: Open 11:00-17:00, closed Wednesdays plus surprise closures: check their socials before crossing all of Naramachi.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Tanaka-cho stop, and you are there
Featured in: Narratives · Tabelog
Show on map抹茶 吉田園 · もちいどの
A Yamato tea house in the Mochiidono arcade: matcha whisked in front of you and ice cream of the same tea.
Tip: Order the cold whisked matcha: the only way to taste Yamato tea's bitterness without sugar on top.
🚇 7-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara · Tabelog
Show on map吉野葛 佐久良 · 高御門町
Kuzumochi and kuzukiri made to order with Yoshino arrowroot starch. Translucent, cold and barely sweet.
Tip: Made to order with a ten-minute wait: not for people in a hurry. Closed Wednesday and Thursday.
🚇 12-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Co-Trip · Tabelog
Show on mapフルコト · きたまち
A shop of objects and food from Nara makers in Kitamachi, picked one by one by the owners.
Tip: It is in Kitamachi, north of the station, and tourism barely reaches it. Ask who made each item: they will tell you.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Tegai-cho stop, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: Time Out Japan · Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on mapならまち Bookspace ふうせんかずら · ならまち
A tiny Naramachi bookshop with art, travel and poetry books, and a long table to sit and read.
Tip: It opens only a few days a week: check the door or their socials before making the trip.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Kitakyobate-cho stop, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Time Out Japan · Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map東向商店街 · 東向中町
The covered arcade running from Kintetsu Nara station down to Sanjo-dori. The funnel everybody passes through.
Tip: The name means 'facing east' because the shops turned their backs on the Kofuku-ji precinct. Open late, with pharmacies.
🚇 Right at Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map池田含香堂 · 角振町
Japan's last workshop making the hand-cut Nara fan. Six generations behind the same window.
Tip: The cutting is done blade by blade, leaf by leaf, visible from the counter. Closed Mondays.
🚇 4-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Rurubu · Nara Craft Museum
Show on map一心堂 · 三条町
Narazuke on Sanjo-dori: vegetables cured in sake lees, with a taste before you buy.
Tip: Vacuum-packed narazuke clears customs without fuss and keeps for months: the food souvenir you can actually bring back.
🚇 5-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on mapなら泉勇斎 · 西寺林町
The one shop stocking sake from all 28 breweries in Nara prefecture, with walk-up tasting cups.
Tip: A few hundred yen buys you three tastes. Nara is the cradle of refined sake: ask for a Yamato junmai to see why.
🚇 8-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map蚊帳のれん 舎 · ならまち
Noren curtains woven in Nara kaya, made to measure, on Naramachi's prettiest stretch.
Tip: A small noren folds into a suitcase and is the most Japanese thing you can hang in a doorway at home.
🚇 13-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Nara Craft Museum · Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map啓林堂書店 · 東向中町
Nara's big bookshop, in the middle of the Higashimuki arcade, with a whole section on Yamato history.
Tip: It stocks maps and photo guides of the temples with good images: they work even if you read no Japanese.
🚇 Right at Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map菊一文珠四郎包永 · 春日野町
Bladesmiths since the 13th century, when they forged swords for the court. Today they make laminated-steel kitchen knives.
Tip: They engrave your name on the handle free and wrap it for the hold, not for your cabin bag.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Daibutsuden Kasugataisha-mae stop, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on map菊岡漢方薬局 · 中新屋町
A Chinese-medicine pharmacy open since 1184. Nara was Japan's herbal-remedy capital, and this is the proof.
Tip: They sell darani-suke, the sake-lees cucumber pickle monks ate to get through night prayer.
🚇 13-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara · Nara Visitors Bureau
Show on mapきくや本店 · きたまち
A neighbourhood bottle shop in Kitamachi, wall-to-wall Nara sake and an owner willing to explain every label.
Tip: Ask for something from Harushika, the Naramachi brewery: the chokarakuchi, the driest, is what locals drink.
🚇 4-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map古梅園 · 椿井町
Sumi ink makers since 1577. Nara produces 90% of Japan's calligraphy ink, and it all started here.
Tip: From October to April you can watch the ink kneaded by hand, with a prior booking. The rest of the year it is shop only.
🚇 6-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Kobaien oficial · Nara Craft Museum · Nihonmono
Show on mapもちいどのセンター街 · 餅飯殿町
A 300-year-old covered arcade running from Sanjo-dori down to Naramachi, with neighbourhood shops, not souvenir stalls.
Tip: The best wet-weather route: you cross from the station to Naramachi almost without getting wet. Housekibako is inside.
🚇 6-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map奈良 小鹿 · 東向中町
Everything you can make in the shape of a fawn: wood, cloth, ceramic and paper, all well made.
Tip: It is on the Higashimuki arcade next to Kintetsu station: the last stop before you board.
🚇 Right at Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on mapならまち工房 · ならまち
An old house split into tiny workshops: tombo-dama glass, katazome dyeing, sewing and pottery, all open to visitors.
Tip: Each workshop keeps its own days. But if the maker is in, you can watch them work for free.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Nara Hotel stop, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara · Nara Craft Museum
Show on map日本市 奈良三条店 · 三条町
The curated souvenir shop of that same 1716 house, on Sanjo-dori: well-chosen craft from all over Japan.
Tip: Look for the Nara section: wooden deer, akahada-yaki and sumi ink, each tagged with who made it.
🚇 4-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Nakagawa Masashichi oficial · Rurubu
Show on map砂糖傳増尾商店 · ならまち
A sugar merchant since 1785, with Shikoku wasanbon sugar pressed into deer and flower shapes.
Tip: Wasanbon dissolves in the mouth without chewing. The little box of deer is among the prettiest things to take home.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Tanaka-cho stop, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map糸季 · ならまち
Hand-dyed kaya weave in seasonal colours, in a Naramachi house with the loom in the back room.
Tip: The colours change every season: right now they are Yamato autumn, ochres and maple reds.
🚇 13-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Nara Craft Museum · Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map奈良春日山酒造 · 高畑町
A mid-Edo brewery in Takabatake, its Japanese courtyard open free of charge with a huge cherry tree in the middle.
Tip: It used to be Yagi Shuzo and was renamed: many maps still list the old name. The renovated shop reopened on 1 March 2026.
🚇 Nara Kotsu bus from Kintetsu Nara to the Takabatake-cho stop, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Straight Press · Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map吉田蚊帳 · 中新屋町
Nara mosquito-net weave turned into cloths, curtains and bags. The textile the quarter never stopped making.
Tip: A kaya cloth softens with every wash: ugly for the first three, then you will not want any other.
🚇 13-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Nara Craft Museum · Asociación de Turismo de Nara
Show on map遊中川 · 餅飯殿町
The textile line of Nakagawa Masashichi, founded in Nara in 1716: kaya cloths, woven like mosquito netting.
Tip: A kaya fukin runs about ¥400, weighs nothing and absorbs like nothing else: the perfect small-suitcase souvenir.
🚇 6-min walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (Kintetsu Nara Line)
Featured in: Nakagawa Masashichi oficial · Rurubu
Show on map