Nara - Highlights Bike Tour

Enjoyable Bike Tour

We selected this tour for the bike ride through the city. The tour guide was clear and knowledgeable in her explanations of the history. She cared about the tour and kept all of us well-informed. I maintained the same word count while correcting the grammar and making the language slightly more formal and precise.

They cancelled on me two days before the tour.

We ended up going on our own and had a terrible experience at Nara because the tour company advised me two days prior to the tour that they needed to cancel. I do NOT recommend them.

Bowing deer

We saw many amazing sights and our guide was knowledgeable. The bikes we easy to use and great on the hills. Maybe felt a little rushed at the end when we were going through great parks and could have stopped for a few pics. Overall would recommend.

Above and beyond

I left my wallet on the bus and the tour guide Robert went above and beyond to help me find it! He then proceeded to give me the entire tour after the delay. Really kind and helped to make a stressful situation a lot better.

Great tour, moderate exercise

We loved our tour of Nara with Robert! We visited several historic sites and fed the deer! Robert was full of information and was very friendly and welcoming. The pedaling was a bit challenging at times but all of our group was able to make it up. For every up hill there was a long break and a breezy downhill. We would recommend this tour to all our friends. Thank you Robert!

Nara is a must do for anybody visiting Japan.

Location off starting point of the ride off the beaten track. Guide had pleasant personality, but could have been more knowledgeable.

Highly recommended

It was a welcome change of pace to ride bikes. We covered a lot more, saw a lot more, and had a great experience. My wife and I highly recommend this bike tour!

Amusing day spent in Nara on a bicycle

We had a wonderful day with the tour guide, who was very knowledgeable about the history of the temples and shrines in Nara. We were able to see the most fascinating parts of Nara in about four or five hours by pedaling around on our bikes, which gave us a bird's-eye perspective of the city. In addition, we had a wonderful time trying out the udon for lunch and the coffee break that we had throughout the trip. It is highly recommended that you take a bicycle excursion to explore Nara.

A must do!

My sweet dear Melody I miss you so!!! The tour was so much fun! Your company was a delight and the combination of learning history while touring locations via a bike is a huge plus in my opinion. A wonderful day it was! Feeding the deer and seeing them bow was pretty incredible! Melody was very informative and professional and I adore her spirit!! Thank you so much x

Great day and amazing way to see key highlights of Nara!

We were three in our party and Elodie was fantastic. We visited Nara for the day only and this tour was the perfect way to see many great spots in a short time. My son loved the deer park and we all had a great time.

What a cool way to experience Nara!

What a cool way to experience Nara! Elodie is fantastic and so knowledgeable. We learned so much about Nara and Japan’s history. She also took amazing pictures as we stood by beautiful scenery and live action shots of us feeding the deer. So fun! Absolutely loved the knife shop she took us to - it was personally the highlight of the tour for me. Definitely a must-try experience for anyone hoping to see the sights and get a break from walking :)

Nara on a bike

Really enjoyed the cycling and able to see more of Nara Park. Our guide Robert was nice but unable to answer all our questions so felt he needed more knowledge overall.

Great way to tour Nara

It was a great way to tour Nara. We took a taxi to the meeting point from the train and a bus back. Our tour guide, Remi, was very knowledgeable of the different sites we visited. We enjoyed visiting the deer park, temple, shrine, and knife shop. The bikes we used were very nice, too.

Enjoyable Bike Tour of Nara

I decided to take a day trip to Nara from Kyoto and choose to see the sites through a morning bike tour. Short 45min train ride Kyoto to Nara Station, then took a local bus to the meet-up location. Bus ride will seem like it's out of the way, and so will the bus stop, but I trusted the map application on my phone. From the bus stop, it was a short walk down hill and to the right to the meet-up location. Met Melody who was the guide for the day. She fitted me for a bike. Bikes are Trek 24-gear street bikes, well maintained and tires have good roll for coasting. Seats were the standard "hardtail" you find on these bikes, but there was a gel pad over the regular seat - makes for a more comfortable ride. I enjoyed seeing Sagi Pond, Todai-ji Gate and Temple, and Kasuga Grand Shrine, Nara Park and the Knife Shop. Melody had a package of cookies for us to feed the deer (you can buy additional for side vendors for $200yen). Be careful of the male deer. They can be a bit aggressive. One headbutted my leg to get my attention to feed him cookie. At the knife shop, I was able to find several hand-crafted Damascus Blade kitchen knives that topped off my tour. If you are seeking excellent quality kitchen knives, consider their selection - Lookup Kikuichi in Nara and read their history, I think you'll be impressed. Route is good for riders w/ limited biking experience, but there is long incline on the back end of the tour to the knife shop. Melody was an excellent guide who not only provided some education about the sites your seeing, but also offered to take pictures of each of us at the different sites (Thank you so much!). This bike tour was a good way to see the Nara sites, without having to take buses/trains and walk everywhere.

Expensive for the content

The idea is very good but it lacks of content and explanations. The duration is short, you have little time in each spot. And you have to pick up and returns the bikes really far from the park. The idea is good but it is not well executed, specially in relation with the price.

Recommended

An intimate and efficient way to see the sites in Nara with a guide. Recommend to get a taxi to the bike meeting point and then get a local bus back to town/train.

Awesome !!! Would do again

Melody was fantastic !!!! Great English !! Great knowledge and super nice person and guide The place is a little out of the way so plan to take extra time to get there and back But was nice riding in the countryside as well as around Nara Wish I had found bike tours for other places as it’s a great way to see the sights and get around vs walking or trying to find the bus or train stations

Highly recommended!

Had an absolutely lovely experience with the tour! Melody, our guide, was very friendly, kind. and knowledgeable about the attractions as well as local life. The tour covered the popular attractions as well as hidden cultural gems. Bike tours also lets you take in a wide range of the city at a leisurely pace. I highly recommend this tour to fellow travelers!

Nara bike tour - showed us the temples, shrines and deer that we wanted to see.

My wife and I wanted to visit Nara to see the tame deer. We thought a bike tour would also give us a chance to see some of the shrines, temples and sights. This tour did deliver on that. Our first stop was Ukimido on Ara Pond. It is a gazebo build into the pond. It was very picturesque. Next up was the Todaiji Temple. That was really cool and interesting. The structure is huge. The temple there today is the third built in this location. The Kasugataisha Shrine is a shrine with a nature theme. We pet and fed the deer here. You can buy the special crackers sold just for the deer. They are a food that is good for them. Once the deer know that you have a cracker, they are very attentive. If you hold it out of reach an bow, they bow in return. We also visited the Sanjo Kokaji Munechika, a knife store on the eastern side of Nara. I got a small kitchen knife. I was glad to go to the store, but felt that this was a little too commercial. A few things to be aware of: The tour starts southeast of town at a garage in a suburb of Nara. It's not the easiest to find. You will be riding on busy streets. Japanese traffic laws do not allow bikes to ride on sidewalks. Japanese drivers do give bikers a berth. Just be prepared. There are also hills. Some can be quite steep. It was a hot day. My wife and I brought water. Our guide Elodie also brought water. It's a good idea to let the guide know how experienced you are as a cyclist. We're casual cyclists. We did have some issues keeping the group (our guide, my wife and me) together.

Highly recommending this excellent tour of Nara

Highly recommending this cycling tour. It is an excellent way to explore the many highlights of Nara. Melodie gave us a very memorable experience. We are grateful for all new learnings and had a fun day.

Great way to see Nara

All 10 of us had an amazing time. Melody was lovely and did a great job keeping an eye on us all and keeping us safe. The places we went were perfect. Loved the knife shop so interesting and the temple shrine and deer park were amazing too. Great quality bikes. Thanks Melody for a great day from all the crew 😊

Great Way to see Nara

This was a great way to see Nara. It was a pretty easy ride so we could focus on seeing the sights and deer. Melody was a great tour guide and I learned a lot from her about Nara and Japan in general. Would recommend to anyone coming to Nara!

Perfectly good!

Our Guide Laurence was a very nice and tour guide doing er very thing to make the tour as great as could be. She had many very interesting things to tell us and discovering Nara by bike ist just great. We really appreciated her company and will always think of how she enriched our trip. Many thanks Laurence and all the best to you!!

A Nara Must Do!

What a blast! My partner and I did the Nara Highlights Bike Tour and found that it was the perfect way to explore Nara. Like most cities in Japan, there is simply too much to see in a single trip. However, this agency has clearly put great effort into curating the perfect experience that gives you ample time to explore the main landmarks of the city efficiently while also showing you some incredible places you are not likely to find on your own! Remi was our tour guide for the experience and was perfect: funny, knowledgeable, and an excellent photographer! He has spent over a decade cultivating relationships in the area to truly separate this experience from the rest--and it shows! I am reluctant to go into specifics about the tour because I don't want to spoil any of the memorable moments you will experience. However, I am confident you won't regret your time on this tour. It is a must do!

Good for a day trip, and wonderful companions!

Remy took us on a great tour of Nara. He’s personable and easy to get along with, mixing personal anecdotes of his life as a foreigner in Japan with history. Nara isn’t the biggest place on earth, but this is a good way to experience all the best it has while getting a little bit of light exercise! My group became good friends and I met up with a few of them again for dinner that evening and again a few days later in Kyoto. Overall, a great option for a day trip to Nara!

Fantastic and memorable time with Remy!

The bike tour of Nara included the great Buddha Hall and some lesser known yet beautiful areas and it was great fun. I highly recommend the tour. We learned a lot from Remy, including his experience living in Japan for many years. He was very patient and encouraging despite our minimal bike skills, and we were able to see Nara and Japan in a way you cannot on other types of tours. The deer were fun and Remy showed us the bowing trick! He also took us to a historic and wonderful knife shop where we got a fabulous kitchen knife. I lost important personal items along the way (I dropped them) and Remy went to great lengths to help us get them back. He even met us at the train station to talk to the local police who did have the items (the locals were also very kind and helpful). It was a very memorable tour.

Great way to see the key sights

This is a great way to see Nara’s key sights and the bikes make moving through the park very easy. One steepish hill but otherwise the route isn’t hard. We only really scratched the surface of the site - which is enough but if you want to see the temples etc in more depth, you’d need to return (which is easily done after the tour finishes). I would’ve liked a bit more detail on the history of Nara as the original capital and its cultural significance. Elodi was a lovely guide and had some good insights into Japanese life.

Amazing Discovery of Nara!

I had a tour with Remi that was absolutely fantastic and really made my trip to Nara worthwhile. The bicycles are great quality - actually the exact same model I have at home. Remi is highly knowledgeable about not just Nara and its history but pretty much all things Japanese as well and I really enjoyed hearing about his experience of living in Japan. The pace of the cycling is moderate, you don't need to be a Tour de France veteran for this excursion. The stops at various sites were not rushed and there was plenty of time to enjoy and photograph them. I was extremely satisfied with my experience and would recommend it to anyone visiting Nara.

Very enjoyable and fun trip!

Had a great experience with Remi as our guide! He's got a great sense of humor, knowledge on different topics and not to mention great photography skills! The bikes were very well maintained, had gears, and was with an aluminum frame. Great to cycle on across Nara, and well suited for the terrain. All the locations were great and scenic, and this was a great option to cover a lot of spots while learning about them in a shorter period of time. Highly reccommend to do this during Spring, and in May when it isn't raining as much and the weather is relatively cool and suitable for cycling. Tip: If you need to communicate any updates about your booking, do so through WhatsApp! it's much more efficient than through this platform itself and I'm glad I did so.

A good morning

Remy was a good guide with good narration along the journey. My parents and I enjoyed it! Btw, knife stop totes worth it Thanks guys!

Unique Experience

What a wonderful way to experience Nara! Remy was a lovely guide, really experienced and friendly. Highly recommended 😄

Best way to see Nara in half a day!

Nara park and the temples are quite spaced out, so doing it on a bike is definitely the most fun and convenient way. And having an excellent guide who made it smooth and informative made it even better. Our guide was also really helpful as he spent time at the giving us restaurant recommendations for lunch and even itinerary tips for Kyoto and Osaka. Highly recommend!

Very enjoyable, informative interesting tour. Rémy totally tailored it to our needs and we were treated to private tour

Booked at short notice and we were lucky enough to get a private tour as were the only guests today ( uncommon as all other dates we could have done were booked. Rémy spoke perfect English , also French Japanese and he says some Spanish. Bikes were well maintained and was an easy about 7 mile ride. It’s the perfect way to see the highlights with a great guide to help. Temples, nodding deer, big Buddha, amazing knives, beautiful parks. It has it all. If coming from Kyoto allow about 20 min in a taxi ( about £16) or 30 min on bus. Nara station is 30-45 min on JR from Kyoto. Highly recommended.

Excellent!!!

We loved this excursion. It was a great way to cover a lot of ground. Our guide Remy was fantastic - helpful with every detail and very knowledgeable of the area. We learned more from him than previous guides. very fun day and one of the highlights of our trip!

Think twice before booking.

Plenty of photo opportunities but not suited for the amateur cyclist. Lots of main roads and hilly areas.

Great way to Nara on bike

We always enjoy exploring a new place on bike. No exception with Nara, it’s a perfect place to do this. The park where all the key tourist spots are located at is large enough to make biking more convenient than walking and small enough to cover everything in a few hours. Would recommend this tour to all my friends visiting Nara.

Great overview of Nara in a day

Great day with Élodie in Nara. The pace and the information were great. We managed to discover quite a bit of the city, went to a traditional cutlery store! Thx again for your warmth and contagious love of Japan.

The best way to see all of Nara fast

We loved our bike tour through Nara probably the fastest and best way to see it all. Tour guide was lovely we all enjoyed the day. Its a little hard at times on the hills as we are not used to cycling but we could walk no problem. The deers were very cute and we got to see them at each stop. Thank you!

A wonderful tour for family

We had a wonderful day trip to Nara and the bike tour with Remi was a great learning experience about Nara. Remi was fun, knowledgeable and passionate about Nara. We really enjoyed the company of the other families on the tour as well.

Great Intro to Nara!

We had an excellent experience with Remi - we learned SO much about Nara and about the area’s history and about Shintoism and Buddhism and how they are practiced in this part of Japan. Remi was easy-going, kind, and so nice to spend a half a day with — at the end of the bike tour, he helped us back into the city center by bus (and paid our way) and suggested how we might spend the next few hours. We visited the restaurants and mochi place he recommended and had a great time. Highly recommend this fun bike tour! One of our favorite days in Japan!

Cycle to Heaven

What happens when you combine a knowledgeable and friendly guide, some good bicycles, rural Japanese backroads, Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, a high-quality manufacturer of Japanese blades and a healthy topping of free-roaming deer? A slice of heaven for the entire family, particularly if the weather cooperates, as it did during our tour with two children (ages 8 and 10). This is wonderful alternative way of exploring Nara!

An amazing way to discover Nara with a wonderful and knowledgeable guide!

The tour is so much fun and is safe and you feel that you have more time to discover Nara because you are biking to the different stops. The bikes are top quality! But most importantly Rémi is the perfect guide and he shares all of his knowledge of the are and the Japanese culture. I have learnt more than I anticipated. My kids loved the deers and my husband and I really enjoyed the stop at the knives shop. Everything is well thought of for a wonderful experience. This tour was definitely a highlight for my entire family!

Operator CANCELED BOOKING on 12HRS notice. DO NOT BOOK with this company.

0/5 JTA (the company offering this service) charged my card the full amount through trip advisor and cancelled the tour 12 hours prior to start time (the night prior). The short timeframe meant we couldn’t rebook with another company. We suspect this was commercially driven and they just didn’t want to do a tour with a small group and wanted us to reschedule. The company provided us a reason full of contradiction saying both: ‘not hearing back from us’ but also ‘your guide had a family emergency’. But they gladly offered a tour for the following day. Very fishy, unprofessional and disappointing. Would not recommend going with this company if your plans are immovable or do not want to be strong armed into rescheduling by a business that has already charged for a specific date & service.

Excellent tour with an excellent guide

An excellent way to see the highlights of Nara and learn a lot about it's history on this guided tour. Our tour guide Yuuki was very knowledgeable of the history of Nara and very patient with our not so confident rider. Many thanks to him! So this tour is friendly to people who are beginner cyclists. Highly recommended.

Great Nara Bike Tour

Despite a little rain, I still received a fabulous tour from Japan Tour Adventure. This is a great way to see a lot of the important and interesting sacred sites in nara without having to do a lot of planning. Would definitely recommend!

A lovely tour with a lovely guide!

I have joined the cycling tour in Nara. Our guide gave us so much knowledge about the places we visited and Japanese culture/history. Some information was new even to me☺️ The scenery was beautiful with cherry blossoms. I definitely joined for the right season 🌸 Nara is a beautiful city with a rich history and nature. It is of course nice to just enjoy the city on your own, but if you want to learn something from the experience and have something more to bring back home other than fun memories, I would highly recommend the tour 😉

Best for exploring Nara (Fun+Save Time)

Had so much fun! riding a nice bike between the beautiful nature 😍 the departure place is very near to the station so it's very convenient prices are including the entry tickets to Todaiji Temple highly recommended for take a trip in Nara 👍

Cycle tour in Nara

A brilliant cycle tour around Nara and the guide was really good. It was a great experience visiting places I had never been too. Recommended!

Nara Cycle Tours was wonderful!

We loved this experience! Our tour guide Colin was amazing. He was informative, fun, interesting and took us on a beautiful adventure.

Great day

Remi does a great tour. Easy biking but always moving or seeing the sites. Very informative task that are quick. The route was fun but not too difficult.