Nara

One of the world's largest wooden buildings, sheltering a colossal 15-metre bronze Buddha cast in 752 — awe on a scale nothing prepares you for. Squeeze through the 'Buddha's nostril' pillar for luck; the essential Nara sight.

Over a thousand tame sika deer wander the vast park, considered sacred messengers — feed them crackers, watch them bow, and stroll the lawns between the temples. Free, magical and unlike anywhere else; the image everyone brings home.

Nara's grand vermilion shrine at the foot of the sacred forest, famous for thousands of bronze and stone lanterns lining its approaches and halls. Deeply atmospheric, especially when the lanterns are lit for the festivals.

The great temple beside the centre, its five-story pagoda a symbol of Nara reflected in Sarusawa pond, with a superb hall of national-treasure Buddhist sculpture. Central, free to wander, and beautiful at dusk.

A grid of narrow lanes lined with dark-timber merchant houses, now craft shops, tearooms and tiny museums — the everyday, human-scale Nara behind the monuments. Lovely for an aimless wander and a matcha stop.

An exquisite strolling garden that 'borrows' the distant temple gate and hills as its backdrop, with ponds, tea houses and moss. A serene, beautifully composed hour, and a small museum of ancient art alongside.

The grassy hill rising behind the park — a short, steep climb (in season) to a panorama over Nara's temples and the plain, with deer grazing the slopes. The city's best view and a fine picnic spot.

A wooden hall of Todai-ji perched on the hillside, its veranda giving a free, sweeping view over the Great Buddha Hall and the city to the sunset. Quiet, uphill and worth the short climb; the setting of the Omizutori fire ritual.

The country's finest collection of Buddhist art, superbly displayed in the park — statues, scrolls and ritual objects spanning centuries. The best place to make sense of what you're seeing in the temples; a serene rainy-day choice.

Three small gardens in one — pond, moss and tea-ceremony flowers — tucked beside Isuien and often overlooked, so blissfully quiet. Free to foreign visitors and a lovely, calm counterpoint to the busy park.

A World Heritage temple hidden in Naramachi, one of Japan's oldest, with a roof still tiled in 1,300-year-old ceramics brought from the first capital. Small, ancient and deeply peaceful; the seed the whole old town grew around.

Behind Kasuga Taisha lies a sacred forest untouched for over a thousand years — quiet trails through giant cedars and stone-lantern paths, cool even in summer. A wild, contemplative walk few day-trippers find.

A short trip west, these are the oldest wooden buildings on earth — a 7th-century temple complex and Japan's first World Heritage Site, its pagoda and hall standing over 1,300 years. A pilgrimage for anyone serious about history.

The famous shop where staff pound mugwort mochi at astonishing speed to a gathering crowd — grab one warm and soft, dusted in sweet soy flour, straight off the mallet. A tasty, free bit of street theatre.

Nara is the birthplace of Japanese sake and of kakinoha-zushi, sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves — try both in Naramachi, with kudzu sweets and Nara-zuke pickles. A gentle, distinctive taste of the old capital.

Japan's most famous cherry-blossom mountain, south of the city — 30,000 trees washing the slopes in pink each spring, with temples and trails among them. Time it right and it's magic.

A serene UNESCO temple west of the centre with a beautiful 1,300-year-old pagoda and golden Buddhas — one of the oldest and loveliest in Japan, and far quieter than Todai-ji.

A tranquil temple founded by a blind Chinese monk who crossed the sea to bring Buddhism to Japan — a sublime main hall and mossy grounds. Deeply peaceful, rarely crowded.

The vast site of Japan's first great capital, with reconstructed gates and halls rising from the fields — a window onto 8th-century Nara. Free, open and atmospheric.