Nara Park, Nara

Lovely place. The wild deer will bow to you in return for a piece of cracker, which is sold at the venue. The worlds largest Buddha is just across the road. We were lucky to be visiting during Golden Week's holiday. So many families visiting. If you are at Kyoto looking for something to do, this might be for your.

This was at the top of my list once we booked our Kyoto trip. It's about an hour train from Kyoto, so it is a bit of a trek, but it's worth it (FYI - it's also about in hour from Osaka so you can also use that as your jumping point). Once you get to Nara station, the park is another 15-20 minute walk. There's plenty to see along the way, including this shopping street with lots of food vendors, and the Kofukuji Temple. So if you are coming from one of these cities, you'll need to reserve at least half a day just between traveling, and leaving enough time to do everything. You'll know when the park is nearby, because you'll see random deer roaming around. At the park entrances, they sell crackers for the deer for 150 yen. While there are plenty of deer, there are also plenty of tourists, meaning a lot of the deer that we came across seemed like they were pretty full, and didn't even take the crackers. But we did find a few who happily ate them, and even tried to look in our pockets for more. These deer are smart and crafty, so just be mindful of your belongings, and of where you're keeping the crackers. Tip - if you bow to the deer, they will bow back and you should reward them with a cracker. Highly recommend this as a day trip if you're staying in a neighboring city.