I visited Nara as a full day trip from Kyoto in November 2024. I got first glimpse of the WHS already from the train as the train tracks pass through the Heijo Palace Site! However, it's not much more than a field with some replica gates and walls and seeing it from the train seemed enough.

After arriving to the Kintetsu-Nara station I headed towards the Todai-ji temple by walking. I first visited in Yoshikien Garden, which has free entrance and is very much worth visiting! The garden's exit lead directly to the Namdaimon Gate of Todai-ji (pictured). The gate is very massive and I should have guessed that the size of it was a sign of what was to come. The entrance way towards Todai-ji's Great Buddha Hall is very busy with tourists and deer, and this was the busiest site I visited in Nara. Despite its huge size you won't see the Great Buddha Hall until you enter the ticket office of it. For some reason I wasn't expecting to see such a magnificent building in Nara! And the building was originally even larger! They have miniature replica of the original one inside the hall. The Great Buddha statue is also huge and no photo can make justice of its size. The Great Buddha Hall of Todai-ji is the most impressive temple building I have visited in Japan. After visiting the hall I visited some of the lesser buildings of Todai-ji, like Nigatsu-do which has a balcony with nice views over Nara.

From Todai-ji I walked to the Kasuga-taisha shrine. As many have mentioned before, this Shinto shrine is famous for its lanterns. Inside the shrine you can find bronze lanterns hanging from the ceilings and outside the shrine stone lanterns line up the paths leading up to the shrine. As I was walking around the shrine I was thinking that it would be nice to see these lanterns after dark with lights inside of them. And surprise, there is a dark room in the shrine where you can experience this! I thought that was a nice touch to make the visitor experience better.

From Kasuga-taisha it's a long walk back towards the centre of Nara, but the walk is through a nice park and you'll encounter plenty of deer along the way. I then walk around the Kofuku-ji temple. Kofuku-ji has a magnificent five-story pagoda which was under renovation and will be for some time in to the future. When the pagoda will be free from the scaffolding, you'll get great views of it from the nearby Sarusawa-ike pond. I decided to skip visiting inside the Chu-kondo (Great Golden Hall) which has an entrance fee, rest of the temple area was free to walk around.

As the day was getting already darker, I headed towards the last site of the day. From Kofuku-ji it's a short walk to Gango-ji temple. Gango-ji is a very humble temple compared to the other sites in Nara. Visiting the temple just before its closing time, there was only couple other people around and the neighbourhood around it is also very quiet, so it was a very peaceful visitor experience. Gango-ji is one of the first Buddhist temples in Japan, and it was originally much larger but only the few small buildings have survived until modern times. It's a very sympathetic site to visit and I recommend adding it to your Nara day trip itinerary. After the staff came to notify that the temple was closing, it was for me time head back to Kyoto.

Nara is indeed more manageable site to visit compared to Kyoto and the temples and shrines are less crowded than in Kyoto. Todai-ji is one of the most amazing sites to visit in Japan, and it alone makes Nara a must visit on any Japan itinerary. I would recommend staying overnight in Nara, so you can have time to visit all the components of this WHS, but day trip from Kyoto or Osaka will also be enough for seeing the highlights.