Nara is perhaps the most important place in Japan’s history. Formerly known as Yamato, it’s where the modern Japanese state took place, having taken both architectural and administrative inspiration from the travels of court members in China.
So too has Nara been a recurring them in my own Japan travel saga. In fact, it’s been one of the places I’ve returned most frequently—I’ve gone back basically once a year since I started visiting Japan more than a decade ago.
And yet, if you can believe it, I only recently acted on my impulse to stay overnight in Nara. And guess what? Well, I’ll explain what—patience, my deer…er, dear.
Where to Stay in Nara
One of the main reasons I put off spending the night in Nara for so long? Nara hotels, with some exceptions, leave a lot to be desired. I learned this the hard way on my recent trip, when I attempted to check-in at Nara “Ryokan.” I put this in quotes because the property is more of a hostel than a ryokan. It was so terrible, in fact, that I forfeited what I had paid and went to another nearby property instead.
That one wasn’t fantastic, but there are a few nicer hotels in Nara. The first is Miroku Nara, which is affordable but also stylish, and as an added bonus is brand new—no lingering smoke smell from days gone by! On the higher end, Hotel New Wakasa and Tsukihitei are good choices if money is not an object for your night(s) spent in Nara, but having an unforgettable experience is.
5 Reasons I Love Staying the Night in Nara
The evenings
Now, I happened to stay in Nara during the annual Tokae Lantern Festival, so I might be slightly biased. But whether I was at Ukimido watching people canoe around the pavilion, or grazing from street food stalls on the way to Kagusa Taisha and Todai-ji, the ambiance of Nara at nighttime is just totally different from anything you can experience on a day trip.
(And the mornings)
Speaking of Ukimido, the bad news was that my decision to wake up at 4:30 and watch sunrise behind it was worthless—there was no sunrise to speak of. The good news? I didn’t at all regret my decision to stay the night in Nara. As I strolled around the city during the first few hours of the day, the only other living creatures I came across were early-rising deer.
The sunsets
Now, I’ve hiked up Wakakusayama, including during the hottest part of the day in the middle of the summer. I learned on this trip that if you want to go up for sunset, you technically need to go the much longer “back way,” as the main entrance is closed. However, this effort is more than worth it. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that Nara (in this place, anyway) offers one of the best sunsets anywhere in Japan.
The locals
My recent sleep in another popular day-trip destination (Kamakura) proved that this isn’t always a great tactic; the locals there didn’t seem to appreciate my presence. After my stay overnight in Nara, on the other hand, I found the locals to be most hospitable, whether I was eating breakfast in the vicinity of Kintetsu-Nara Station, or simply chatting up street musicians in pedestrians areas. They seemed genuinely flattered that I’d stayed the night!
The perspective
I used my second day in Nara to visit my friend Eriko in Kobe, which is to say I subverted the usual paradigm: I took a day trip from a base that is usually itself a day trip. While Nara isn’t as convenient as Kyoto or Osaka, given its lack of Shinkansen service, I do find that seeing the rest of the Kansai region from a deer-filled perch changes your perspective on it.
Is Nara Better Than Kyoto?
Kyoto, as you may know if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, is my former home—it’s also probably my favorite city in Japan, and maybe the world. At the same time, as I strolled around Nara early one morning when I finally stayed overnight there, I couldn’t help but wonder if the utter tranquility around me was preferable to the bedlam that sometimes sets in shortly after sunrise in Kyoto.
In some cases, of course, it doesn’t need to be an either/or. Depending upon how many days in Nara you want to spend and how long your trip to Japan is overall, you could simply opt to stay in both cities for at least a couple of nights. On the other hand, if you’ve been to Japan in the past and are OK to skip Kyoto on your next trip, I don’t think there’s any harm that can come in choosing to stay in Nara instead.
Other FAQ About Staying Overnight in Nara
Is staying overnight in Nara worth it?
Staying overnight in Nara is absolutely worth it! While hotels in Nara leave something to be desire, the city is extremely quiet—almost deserted, really—during the late evening and early morning. This sense of solitude transports you back centuries to when Yamato was the capital of Japan, and allows you to connect in a way that a day trip simply doesn’t.
Can I go to Nara Park at night?
You can walk around most places in Nara at night, including Nara Park, the Ukimido Pavilion, the grounds of Kofuku-ji and the outer reaches of Kasuga-taisha. However, I recommend spending the night if you plan to do this, so you don’t have to rush back to the station and then spend an hour (or longer) on a train to Kyoto or Osaka.
How long should I stay in Nara?
If you’ve never stayed overnight in Nara before, I think two nights is a good amount of time to spend. This gives you two evenings and mornings to explore the city without day-tripping tourists, as well as one daytime period where you can either dig deeper into Nara-proper, or take a day trip somewhere, be that southward to Wakayama or northward to Uji.
The Bottom Line
Everything changed when I decided to stay overnight in Nara. Well, not everything—I was already deeply in love with the city, which on account of having been Japan’s first capital is just impossibly dense with history, heritage and soul. The thing is, the vast majority of visitors to Nara are day-trippers from Kyoto and Osaka. It’s a mob scene during the peak hours of the day, which makes the serenity that sets in just after sunrise and before sunset all the more surprising—and all the more transcendental. Want your next trip to Japan to transcend your expectations? Consider hiring me to plan it!
