Do you remember reading fairytales as a child where adorable woodland creatures surround the protagonist?

A trip to Nara places you squarely in one of these fairytale settings. Moments after you arrive at Nara and depart from the train station on foot to walk up a sloping hill, you will see an expansive park on your right. You might receive a warm welcome from a herd of deer, eager to see if you’re carrying snacks.

You can buy a small packet of crackers to feed the deer in the park for 200 or 300 yen, depending on which vendor you buy it from. Shortly after we bought our crackers, we heard a shrill yelp behind us; a group of deer was chasing a tourist holding a packet of crackers. Like other creatures can sense your fear, the more screaming you do, the more they will chase you. I was carrying my camera and signalled to the deer that I wasn’t carrying any snacks, and they promptly left me alone. If you have crackers to feed them, you can communicate with them, so they aren’t as aggressive. When you’re done with feeding them your crackers, show them your hands, so they know you don’t have anymore before walking away. We saw another group of tourists with a herd of deer following them because they didn’t overly show the deer that they had no more food. Know that the deer aren’t afraid of people here; they probably see and interact with hundreds of tourists every day, and while most of them are friendly, they are persistent if they think you are hiding snacks from them!

After my family took turns feeding the deer and snapping our photos, we made our way to Todaiji Temple. Before you come across the Daibutsu-Den (where the Great Buddha is housed), you first have to enter through Nandaimon Gate, where you will encounter the two majestic statues of Kongorikishi, made by master Buddhist sculptors Unkei and Kaikei. These two statues are considered national treasures of Japan.

Todaiji is the number one sightseeing spot in Nara, aside from feeding deer. Many want to see the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) in the Golden Hall. The temple officially opened in 752 CE and is one of the largest wooden structures in the world. You must purchase a ticket to the main shrine to see the Great Buddha and the other magnificent sculptures in the Golden Hall. The Great Buddha is positioned at the entrance, and when visitors enter the hall, their eyes will be drawn upward to meet the gaze of the Great Buddha. After pausing to take in the awe-inspiring details of the statue, we made our way around the great hall to study the other statues.

By the time we finished visiting Todaiji Temple, a light rain had begun to fall, and we sought shelter in an upstairs cafe near the entrance to the temple. The cafe overlooks another park dotted with deer. The deer mimic the behaviours of the tourists they see every day and are brave enough to venture into the local shops and do a bit of souvenir shopping themselves!

After our much-needed coffee break, the rain had stopped, and the afternoon sunlight was starting to fade to dusk. Wanting to make the most of our trip, I suggested making another stop to see Kasuga-Taisha. If you also want to follow this itinerary, I would recommend that you arrive around 10 AM and leave at least one hour to visit Todaiji, one hour for a lunch or coffee break, and another two hours to visit Kasuga-Taisha before hopping on the train to head back to Osaka before rush hour.

The reason why I recommend spending two hours to visit Kasuga-Taisha is that the walk through the tranquil and calming Kasugayama Primeval Forest to get to Kasuga-Taisha takes about fifteen minutes if you’re doing a brisk walk. If you want to take in the serene nature scenes of the deer wandering through the forest, the sunlight filtering through the soaring trees above, and enjoy the sweet silence of nature, you would want to leave at least half an hour to meander there, and another half hour to make your way back to the train station.

By the time I got to the temple, the sun was already setting, which gave me a beautiful backdrop for my photo, but the temple was closing its doors when I tried to turn back, and I almost didn’t make it out of the park in time. Night settled in quickly, and even as I jogged back to the forest’s entrance at a brisk pace, it was dark when I got back, and the streetlights had come on. Make sure to leave enough time for your party to get back before you are engulfed in the dark forest; I know if I had brought my 8-year-old niece along for the walk, she would’ve been complaining about the dark!

There are many other temples and eats to experience in Nara, but if you have just one day to make the most of it, I would recommend this half-day itinerary which takes about four to five hours to complete and allows you to immerse yourself in the beautiful natural surroundings and bask in the historical atmosphere of the ancient temples.