Afternoon Tour from Kyoto or Osaka: Todai-ji, Nara Park & Kasuga
Last updated: August 25, 2026
Meet Nara's famous free-roaming deer, known for bowing to visitors in exchange for treats, and explore two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Todai-ji Temple, home to the iconic Great Buddha, and Kasuga Taisha Shrine, renowned for its thousands of lanterns illuminated during traditional festivals. Guided throughout, with pickup in Kyoto or Osaka and a return by evening.
Itinerary
Route
Departure
- Start point: Sunrise Tours Desk, B1F Kyoto Avanti
- Stop at: Kasuga Taisha Shrine
- Stop at: Todai-ji Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall)
- Stop at: Nara Park
- End point: Sunrise Tours Desk, B1F Kyoto Avanti
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — stalls around the park sell shika senbei (deer crackers) for a couple of hundred yen, and that is the only thing you should offer them. These are wild animals that happen to be used to people: hold the cracker up, let the deer bow, then hand it over quickly. Keep maps, tickets and paper bags out of reach, because they will eat those too.
It runs in the afternoon, so your morning stays free. The Kyoto departure is a loop — it leaves from and returns to the Sunrise Tours Desk in Kyoto Avanti, next to Kyoto Station. The Osaka departure sets off earlier from Hotel Granvia Osaka, calls at Osaka and Kyoto stations on the way out, and ends with drop-offs at Kintetsu-Nara Station and Osaka Namba Station. Exact times are shown for your date on the booking page.
Pick the one that matches where you are sleeping, not where you would rather start the day. The Kyoto route is the shorter day out, since it loops straight back to Kyoto Avanti. The Osaka route spends longer on the coach — it comes up through Kyoto before heading to Nara — but it saves you arranging your own transfer to Kyoto first, and it ends in central Osaka at Namba.
Comfortable shoes first — the walking between Kasuga Taisha, Todai-ji and Nara Park is on gravel paths and gentle slopes, and shoes come off inside some halls. Nara is open ground with little shade, so bring a hat and water in summer and a proper warm layer from late autumn, when it runs colder than Osaka.