Hills and stairs, yes, but that doesn’t have to stop you
Japan’s original permanent, pre-Kyoto capital remains an amazing place to visit. You can experience Nara’s basics in a day trip, or go deeper with a longer stay. While this beautiful city is full of culture and history, the hilly setting can present challenges when visiting Nara with a mobility disability. But accessible Nara is very much a possibility.
Jodie is an above-the-knee amputee who uses a prosthetic leg for her walking mobility. Our family of four has visited Nara multiple times so far, including a day trip and two-night stays. Those hills, stairs, and old cobbled streets aren’t necessarily easy to navigate when you have a disability. But with the right planning, you can enjoy a right-for-you trip to Nara.
Our disability focus
We’ll be addressing accessibility in Nara from the perspective of a visitor who has impaired walking mobility. That can include limb difference, age-related conditions, problematic joints, pregnancy, and more.
The terrain
If one of Nara’s attractions isn’t on top of a hill, you likely still need to go up or down a hill to get to it. While those hills aren’t necessarily, say, San Francisco steep, your accessible Nara sightseeing days will be full of slopes, steps, and irregular terrain.
The key is not that this is challenging. The key is that if you understand your priorities in Nara, you can plan an itinerary that works for your mobility.
Nara also has an extensive bus network, and taxis are available from train stations, hotels, and on demand via the Go app too. Sometimes when getting around Nara, it can be more worthwhile to catch a ride and save your walking for the activity or attraction you’re there to check out.
Accessibility at and around attractions
Your primary attractions are mostly within about a 1-mile radius of the Nara National Museum in Nara Park. The area is lovely, but expect a mix of cobbled paths, narrow sidewalks, and hills.
Always in Nara, more hills.
Nara’s hills can take a toll. During our two visits, we enjoyed walking around Nara and the Nara Park area. However, it can get pretty taxing for Jodie (especially during summer, but then again, Japanese summers can drain anyone).
The slopes aren’t always steep. It’s just that wherever you go in Nara, there is pretty much always a slope. Uphill and downhill terrain is a constant. We suggest pacing yourself accordingly and trying to pad out your day so that you can always take a rest when needed.
From the station to Nara Park
Instead of Nara Station, we suggest arriving at Kintetsu-Nara Station. It’s closer to most of the principal attractions (and much of Nara’s accommodation). From inside the station’s B1 level, an elevator can take you to the street.
When heading to Nara Park, expect slopes. This hilly area is an uphill walk, with some steep sections, from the station into the main park expanse and the various temples and museums inside, such as the Nara National Museum and Todaiji Temple.
The perimeter sidewalk is wide. Various paved and natural surface paths run through the park itself. Occasional benches and raised partial walls offer a chance to rest.
Nara Park itself
Those sidewalk slopes are the hardest part of getting to Nara Park. The park grounds themselves have many flatter areas. The park’s green space can have some natural bumpiness.
Depending on what works best for your mobility, path surfaces might be paved, natural, or gravel. Mobility aids can come in handy too. For example, Jodie augments her walking with a collapsible trekking pole.
Nara Park is best known for its deer. During the day, deer will abound, and sometimes crowds of people will too. Crowds are usually thickest on the perimeter sidewalk. Inside the park’s green space itself, there’s more room to spread out, so you may have an easier time finding the right path for you inside the park itself, instead of on the sidewalk.
Naramachi district
This old-town historic section of Nara is so lovely. We enjoy walking on quiet streets among the traditional homes. However, many of the streets are cobbled, and that is always tricky for Jodie to navigate.
Sidewalks are less common as well, so you may walk more along the edge of the street. Since traffic is generally light and slow, this isn’t necessarily a big deal, but it’s important to know depending on your overall mobility and stability when walking.
Naramachi can be an area where you want to be tactical about your walking. We’ve enjoyed walking through here. If you have, say, a specific activity or destination, and strolling the neighborhood isn’t a priority, it’s worthwhile to take a taxi instead.
Kintetsu-Nara Station to Nakatanidou (mochi-pounding shop) via Higashimuki Shopping Street
This covered shopping street can be narrow in places, but overall is easy to make your way through. The subtle grade is downhill going away from the station.
When you come out at Nakatanidou, you’ll now be on Sanjo Dori Street. The street itself is open to traffic and has a paving brick surface, mostly smooth with some irregularities.
Sanjo Dori Street
East toward Nara Park, the street rises to a decently challenging slope. Walk along the left side of the street, toward and alongside Nara Park, on a decent sidewalk without traffic.
Sarusawa Pond
As you near the park, look to the right for the northwest corner of Sarusawa Pond. The paved perimeter path is scenic, and you can go around the pond easily. Return to where you started to get back onto Sanjo Dori Street.
Todaiji Temple
If needed, Todaiji’s ticket gate has wheelchairs available.
The temple complex is at the northern end of Nara Park. Besides the hilly walk to get to the temple area, there are decent distances to cover to get to the main temple attractions.
From the Nandaimon Gate to the temple’s Central Gate, it’s about 770 ft, or 235 meters. A smooth stone pathway can be easier than the surrounding cobbled path. At the temple entrance itself, a central ramp is available.
Inside Todaiji Temple itself, the circuit path is around 890 feet, or about 270 meters.
Kasugataisha Shrine
Sanjo Dori Street ends at the edge of Nara Park itself, and visitors to Kasugataisha Shrine often come this way, along a persistent uphill slope.
While iconic and beautiful, accessible features are limited. Gravel paths can be tricky to navigate, and uneven paths are common.
As iconic as Kasugataisha is, there’s little in the way of accessibility enhancements. Plus, the out-of-the-way location isn’t necessarily easy to get to.
If you decide that going to Kasugataisha isn’t the right fit for your mobility, consider the Kofukuji Temple complex instead.
Kofukuji Temple Complex
The structures and grounds of Kofukuji lie at the top of a small, flattened, wide hill. Plus, this area is right next to Sanjo Dori Street and Sarusawa Pond. Access is not necessarily easy, but it is overall easier than getting all the way over to Kasugataisha.
From Kintetsu Nara Station, it’s about 500 meters, or a third of a mile, to get to the temple complex. The grounds have a mix of flat stone pathways amid broader gravel paths. Staircases are the main entry and exit points, but ramps are available in areas such as the east of the Kofukuji Temple National Treasure Museum.
Your primary consideration here is likely roaming the overall temple complex grounds. The Kofukuji National Treasure Hall itself offers more accessibility overall and summarizes the temple’s history, along with exhibitions of cultural artifacts.
What to prioritize
We suggest that when you plan your accessible Nara itinerary, especially if you have a disability, prioritize Nara Park and Todaiji, with Kofukuji as a possibility depending on your day, mobility, and overall energy when getting around Nara.
Steps, slopes, and uneven terrain will be part of the day. While Nara isn’t too spread out, there’s still enough ground to cover that you’ll want to check for signs of tiring out. Try to pad out the day so you can take breaks when you need to. Visit your top priorities first so that you know you’ve accomplished the main things you came to Nara for.
For more info on accessibility around Nara, we find this resource useful.
Deer park considerations beyond terrain
Beyond the hills and uneven terrain, there are a few other things to keep in mind in Nara:
- Crowds can make it tricky to navigate and keep balance, especially around Nara Park.
- The deer are pretty chill, but they are still animals and therefore unpredictable.
- Monitor your mobility aids and footing, especially around deer.
- When feeding the deer, they usually follow your lead. You can hold the Nara deer crackers in a way that works for you. The deer will figure it out.
- If you’re concerned about keeping your balance or how the deer might move, it’s also okay to skip feeding them. Or, if it works better for you, someone in your group can feed the deer while you get photos and videos, or someone in your group can help spot and support you while you feed the deer.
In our own experience, Jodie walks with the aid of her prosthetic leg and a trekking pole as an above-knee amputee. She fed the deer with no concern for her balance or her mobility. She usually maintains a stance that makes her more stable.
There are also times where, since our daughter loves animals so much, she’s the family’s designated deer feeder.
Transportation accessibility
Getting to Nara usually means taking a train from Kyoto or Osaka. Train stations have elevators and signage to help you find them.
On the train, look for priority seating at the ends of train cars and next to train doors. In our experience, people who see someone with a visible disability, such as Jodie’s prosthetic leg, will offer their seat. If you need the seat, it’s accepted and polite to ask to sit down.
At Kintetsu-Nara Station, look for signs on the B1 (basement) level that point you to the elevator that goes to street level. Stairs are available too.
If taking a taxi, drivers open and close the doors automatically.
Nara’s buses are excellent, but they can get crowded. That can make it trickier to ride, but still doable. However, buses are reliable, with accessibility features such as kneeling or no-step entry. It varies by bus and route. We recommend this resource at Accessible Japan to understand more about overall bus accessibility.
Since Kintetsu-Nara Station is closer to attractions and much of Nara’s accommodation, it can work better for visitors with accessibility needs.
Accommodation accessibility factors
When seeking accommodation in Nara, there’s a mix of accessibility:
- Newer properties typically have more accessible designs and features
- Hotels and ryokans typically have elevators, but older properties (such as ryokans) may still have some steps. We found this in the ryokan we stayed in: An elevator ran between floors, but there were a few steps to our rooms.
- Traditional ryokan, or Japanese inns, offer floor sleeping with futons on tatami mats
- Hotels may have more accessibility features depending on your mobility needs
- Vacation rentals are usually the biggest mixed bag around accessibility, since they are residential properties that haven’t been built or remodeled for accessibility
Our ryokan experience with a mobility disability
In our own experience, the Daibutsukan ryokan was a wonderful stay with helpful, friendly staff.
There were a few steps to the entrance (or a short ramp outside). Jodie could take the elevator to our floor and navigate a few steps to go to and from our room.
Inside the room itself, we have plenty of space to move around and could slide a door to access our outside balcony. We enjoy sleeping on tatami, and Jodie is adept at getting up and down from the floor. Getting to and from the ryokan’s baths required going up and down stairs.
Were there accessibility tradeoffs? Sure. However, they worked fine for Jodie’s mobility. Plus, our location had us right across the street from Nara Park. We were close to the main things we wanted to do. That made it easier for Jodie to walk and get more out of the day.
One thing we love about staying in Nara is precisely that proximity. We don’t have to make a trade-off between being close to transportation or close to attractions. In Nara, we can easily find accommodation that’s close to both.
Strategic planning: Making Nara work
Here are a few tips to help accessible Nara work for you and to help you make the right choices about Nara based on your mobility:
Timing your visit
Whether a day trip or an overnight stay, an early start can help you avoid peak crowds. During the summer, that early start can also mean cooler temperatures, and you can do some sightseeing outside before the sun gets too high and hot.
If you’re coming in for the day from Osaka or Kyoto, and it’s a popular time of year such as spring and summer, odds are you are going to have to navigate crowds. The earlier you can arrive, the smaller the crowds might be, but they will still be a factor.
If you stay overnight, you can also juggle your day. For example, save the most popular attractions, such as Nara Park and Todaiji Temple, for later in the afternoon as crowds thin out.
Summer will be hot and humid, and more prone to sudden downpours. Spring is the most crowded time of year. Fall is lovely and can be the best mix of smaller crowds, beautiful natural scenery, and ambient temperatures. Winter will be cold, with more variability in weather.
Site selection and pacing
Especially on a day trip, you won’t see it all in Nara. If coming for the day, conserve your mobility for only a couple of chief attractions. We suggest day-trip visitors focus on feeding the deer in Nara Park and visiting the extensive Todaiji Temple complex.
That approach allows you to take in Nara’s most popular major attractions, but you still have time to wander, build in rest breaks, and enjoy the in-the-moment experiences of moving around the city.
If your day and mobility allow, after Nara Park and Todaiji, add in the Kofukuji complex of shrines, temples, and pagodas. It’s easier to get to than other shrines, plus it’s still close to Kintetsu-Nara Station, as well as nearby attractions such as Sarusawa Pond.
Whether a day trip or an overnight stay, you can pace yourself in Nara. The compactness of the attractions balances the hills and slopes. You can check out the places you came for, but you don’t have to force a fast pace.
Another way to balance your Nara pacing and build in some rest breaks? Nara’s taxis and buses can help you with the getting-around side, and you can focus your energy on the attraction itself.
Accessible tour options
We are very much DIY travelers, but especially when traveling with a disability, sometimes it’s preferable to be part of a tour.
While we haven’t done a tour in Nara yet, if we were planning to, we’d look through options on Viator. We find we can message guides with questions about Jodie’s mobility and communicate our needs. The quality of tours and guides on Viator has been excellent, and we’ve had wonderful experiences from Portugal to Taiwan.
Managing your energy and mobility
One reason we prefer a slow approach? It makes it possible for our family to travel the way we do. Planning your travel day with your disability in mind is very much a personal consideration, and here are some things we keep in mind with Jodie:
- Setting our top priorities for the day and knowing that any other attractions are optional
- Taking rest breaks whenever we need (such as after dealing with a strenuous hill)
- Blocking in rest time. We don’t go-go-go every day. If we have a big sightseeing day or two, we build in a down day to rest, reset, and recharge.
Those considerations work for us. Again, how you set your goals and limits is a very personal choice. Fortunately, Nara’s compactness means that you can balance your sightseeing with checking in on how you’re doing with your mobility and energy.
Is Nara worth it despite the accessibility challenges?
Essentially:
- Visit Nara if you have at least a day to go, can set clear sightseeing priorities, and can balance the hills and uneven terrain with your mobility needs.
- Skip Nara if your schedule is too tight and/or the accessibility considerations are too much of a downside for your mobility.
As for us?
We’ve visited Nara multiple times since 2023.
One thing we’re discussing? Another trip to Nara. And Jodie, as an above-knee amputee with a prosthetic leg, was the first one of us to suggest it.
Nara’s hills, slopes, and older structures can make some areas less accessible. However, Nara is compact. The main attractions are clustered fairly close together. Nara’s elegance, more relaxed atmosphere, deep history, and enduring place in Japanese culture make the original capital an enduring, must-visit destination.
For visitors like Jodie who have accessibility considerations, we suggest Nara deserves at least a day trip in your Japan itinerary. Feeding the deer, visiting Nara Park, exploring Todaiji Temple and, if possible, taking in the Kofukuji complex and Sarusawa Pond will combine to create some deeply cherished memories of your time in Japan.
We’ve found it deeply rewarding to visit Nara. Since it’s easy to get to from both Osaka and Kyoto, that’s another reason we suggest Nara to anyone visiting Japan. Yes, the city can be tricky from an accessibility standpoint. But it’s doable—and very much worthwhile.
