Kintetsu or JR: which train to Nara?
Nara's official tourism body, the Nara City Tourism Association, gives the two routes on its access page, and its Nara Park page gives the walk from each station (checked 19 October 2026):
| Kintetsu | JR | |
|---|---|---|
| Kyoto departure | Kintetsu Kyoto Station | JR Kyoto Station |
| Train | Limited express (surcharge) | Miyakoji Rapid, Nara Line |
| Journey | About 35 min | About 45 min |
| Arrives | Kintetsu-Nara | JR Nara |
| Walk to Nara Park | About 8 min | About 20 min, or a short bus ride |
Take Kintetsu unless you hold a JR pass. It is faster on the train and, more importantly, lands you at the edge of the park. JR costs you about 10 more minutes on the train and 12 more on foot, so about 22 minutes each way and the best part of 45 minutes over the day.
JR makes sense mainly if a rail pass already covers the ride, or if you want to stop at Fushimi Inari on the way: our Fushimi Inari guide explains that its JR station is on the same Nara Line. From JR Nara, the city loop bus (outer route) reaches the Kencho-mae stop by the park in about 7 minutes.
Todai-ji: Great Buddha Hall fees and hours
Todai-ji is the reason most people make the trip. Its opening hours and admission page lists these prices for each paid area, including the Great Buddha Hall (Daibutsu-den), Hokke-do and the Todai-ji Museum (checked 19 October 2026; the page was last modified in June 2024):
| Ticket | Adult | Child (6–12) |
|---|---|---|
| Single admission | ¥800 | ¥400 |
| Great Buddha Hall + Todai-ji Museum | ¥1,200 | ¥600 |
| Group of 30+ (per person) | ¥700 | ¥200 |
| Hall | April–October | November–March |
|---|---|---|
| Great Buddha Hall | 7:30–17:30 | 8:00–17:00 |
| Hokke-do (Sangatsu-do) | 8:30–16:00 | 8:30–16:00 |
| Todai-ji Museum | 9:30–17:30, last entry 17:00 | 9:30–17:00, last entry 16:30 |
Individual visitors aged 13 and over pay the adult rate; only group rates are lower for teenagers. The joint ticket saves ¥400 per adult if you want the museum, and it is sold at both the museum and the Great Buddha Hall. Two adults and a 10-year-old pay ¥2,000 for the hall alone, or ¥3,000 with the museum.
With the hall closing at 17:00 from November, a winter day trip needs Todai-ji by mid-afternoon. Hokke-do closes earlier still, at 16:00 all year.
Nara Park and the deer
The park itself is free and open every day of the year. The tourism association's page describes about 660 hectares covering the east of the city, with Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji, Kasuga Taisha and the Nara National Museum inside it, and around 1,300 wild deer. There are no rubbish bins in the park, so carry your litter out.
The deer have rules worth reading before you buy crackers: feed them only deer crackers, and expect autumn bucks to be aggressive. Our Nara deer cracker guide covers the price, how to feed them and which months to keep your distance.
A day plan that works
- Leave Kyoto by mid-morning on Kintetsu; the limited express gets you to Kintetsu-Nara in about 35 minutes.
- Walk the 8 minutes into Nara Park and through it to Todai-ji. Do the Great Buddha Hall before lunch, while you have the most daylight in hand.
- Spend the afternoon at Kasuga Taisha or the museum, then be back in Kyoto for dinner.
For temples and shrines on the same trip, our guide to visiting a Kyoto shrine and how a temple differs applies just as well in Nara.