Written by Guest Blogger Minnemijin Smit.
As everyone’s experiences and tips are different ( especially when traveling with little kiddies, right?) I was very much open to extra tips and trip advice from Guest Blogger Minnemijin Smit, a Mum of 2 children from the Netherlands.
Nara is a really lovely smaller town, worth much more than a day trip from Kyoto or Osaka.
First of all there are deer walking around the public park that love to get special deer cookies, that you can buy all over the park.
For our kids this was the absolute highlight of Nara.
A funny experience is when you bow to the deer (just like Japanese people do to one another), the deer will bow back! After that trick the deer does expect a cookie, of course, but it did thank us so very politely.
The deer walk around in a great public park, where it is fun for the kids to run around and use up some energy.
(I did not see a playground in the park, but didn’t search for it either, so it could be there somewhere.)
Around and in the park are some of the Unesco Heritage temples and Shrines. It is really worth the visit.
We prefer slow travel and found that visiting them over 2 or 3 days helped our family stay much happier.
As Dutchies, we tend to rent bicycles everywhere, as did we in Nara.
It is such an easy way to transport yourself through a city. You can go everywhere with the kids sit in the back, you can stop and get out at any place and it is very safe to cycle in Japan.
*Minnemijin tells me she rented bikes from ” Yamato Kanko Rental Cycle” at JR Nara Station.
After feeding the deer, you can then feed the kids with some funny deer-shaped ice creams.
There are many ice-cream places in town and many make creative deer themed ice-cream, so just have a look at which one you like best.
The 3 major Unesco attractions in Nara are:
Todai-ji temple (Big Buddha of Nara)
Kasuga Grand Shrine
Kofoku-ji Temple
The Big Buddha temple is great to visit with kids.
Not only is the giant Buddha very impressive but the big wooden sculptures and scale models of the previous temples are also displayed inside.
There is 1 pilar that has a 50 cm hole in it.
Legend says that, if you fit through the hole, it is very likely that you will be enlightened in this lifetime.
So our kids went through it twice (just to be sure to get all of that enlightenment ;-)) but also my husband managed to squeeze himself through there, – and got a big applause from everybody.
Then, on the other side of the park you can walk a beautiful, almost pilgrimage route, a little up the hill to the Kasuga Grand Shrine.
The route itself is so amazingly beautiful with all the pagodas covered with moss and deer walking all around you.
The Shrine, itself, is gorgeous.
When we visited in the spring all the flowers were in bloom and made such a beautiful site. Those flowers and the orange shrine.
Many people walk up to the shrine, but do not buy the ticket to go in. We did and were very happy we did.
There is a short route to follow along all the stunning lanterns.
You even go in a dark room where they lit some of the lanterns to show how it all looks twice a year when they are all burning at night.
The Kofoku-ji temple has a beautiful, very high pagoda that is seen from all over the city.
We did not enter the temple itself. It was closed for Golden Week and the Nara festival (which is always on May 2nd.)
This festival did gave us a beautiful insight into some traditions and there was a big parade with many people dressed-up for this special occasion.
There are many more Unesco sites and beautiful temples and shrines, we just did not see them all.
Because we had our bikes, we could take a break between the temples in search of nice playgrounds that were all over the city, in the more residential parts.
This playground is called Omiya Rokuchome Gaiku Koen ( the address is 6-8 Omiyacho , Nara. )
There is another small and simple playground nearby called Shijo Ooji Icchome Dai-Ni -Go Gaiku Koen ( the address is 1-16 Shijo-Ooji, Nara)
Another great place to visit with kids in Nara is the Visitors Center.
It is right in the middle of the city and has lots of great free things to do.
You can learn calligraphy or origami, you can dress-up like sumo wrestlers, ninjas or put on a kimono.
And, if you like, they write your name in Japanese and explain what all the sounds of your name mean in Japanese.
Nara is not only famous for all the culture, it has many many fantastic restaurants- a lot are actually 1 or 2 michelin-star rated.
We didn’t eat at these places, exclusively, but we also went to nice, typical Japanese restaurants.
They were kind enough to serve a special plate for the kids including a mini hamburger, rice, omelette, a sausage with some fruits and veggies. And, while the kids ate, the grown ups got to try some great Japanese food.
I have heard that there are many places in Nara that do this, so I think you just have to choose one you like and it will all work out great.
*One place Minnemijin dined with her family (pictured above) is a restaurant called Edogawa Nara Machi . Lunch is approx 2500 yen. Dinner is approx 3000 yen. Kids meals are 1000 yen.
This restaurant has high chairs.
This restaurant is also non-smoking.
This restaurant accepts credit cards.
More details about Edogawa Nara Machi, including the menu, are here.
By the way, the shopping street is only for pedestrians, which is nice when you walk around with kids. It means you don’t have to constantly be checking for cars.
Minnemijin is the Mum of a family of 4 from Amsterdam in the Netherlands and are travelling around the world for 7 months ( with a whole month of those 7 in Japan.)
Her children are 4.5 & 3 years old.
