Swap tourist trails for forest retreats, famous parks for farmhouse stays, and busy bus tours for slow cycling adventures along Japan’s oldest road. Stay longer and explore deeper, experiencing Nara through authentic, sustainable experiences that support local communities.
Hotels in Harmony with Nature
In central Nara, Fufu Nara combines luxury lodging with access to nature. Each room includes a private open-air bath overlooking a Japanese garden that shifts with the seasons. The hotel organizes guided hikes to Mt. Wakakusa for panoramic views of the city, followed by walks through the primeval forests of Mt. Kasuga, where participants practice forest bathing.
Hotel Setre Naramachi integrates sustainability into its design. Timber from southern Nara is used throughout the building, and its Bio Yard features an on-site garden, fertilized by organic wood shavings. These wood shavings are prepared in a special dome where they are fermented with rice bran. Guests can sit and relax in this dome which is heated by microbial activity alone, without the use of gas or electricity.
Minpaku Stays and Farm Life
A minpaku stay places guests at the heart of village life, where shared meals, farm visits, and conversations with local families turn an overnight stay into a cultural exchange. What’s more, each stay helps sustain the people and traditions that define rural Nara.
In the village of Asuka, Yururiya offers exactly this kind of experience in a 150-year-old farmhouse that accommodates just one group of up to four. Guests are welcomed into the rhythm of farm life, helping to tend the fields during the growing season. Afterward, they enjoy meals prepared with garden-fresh vegetables and locally sourced meat.
Cycling or walking is one of the best ways to explore Nara’s historical neighborhoods and plentiful green spaces. Cycling Tours Japan offers guided rides in small groups that highlight these parts of the city. Some wind through famous temple districts, taking in World Heritage sites, while others venture further to mountain foothills and along quiet forest paths. Tours range from three-hour rides to full-day adventures.
For pleasant walks, the Yamanobe-no-Michi, known as Japan’s oldest road, weaves through the Asuka–Fujiwara area, once home to Japan’s earliest capital. The route passes ancient shrines, burial mounds, and rural villages that preserve a link to the country’s beginnings.
Nestled in a valley in the sacred Omine mountains of southern Nara is the quaint village of Tenkawa. Along the Dorogawa Nature Study Trail, visitors explore the landscape and learn about the local environment and culture, which includes a rich tradition of Shugendo worship. The two-and-a-half-hour route is less a hike and more like a living classroom, passing caves and waterfalls used for ascetic practice and temple forests that show how spiritual traditions have preserved the area's natural beauty.