24 Hours in NARA Japan 🇯🇵 What to see, do & eat!

Hey it's Phoebe and today I'm in Nara. We're gonna be spending the day in this gorgeous city trying to figure out the best things to see, eat and do while getting up close with the locals. So Nara is famous for its deer population and most people do it as a day trip. They catch the train from Kyoto or Osaka and spend the day here which means it gets super super busy during the middle of the day. I have a cunning plan to avoid that. I arrived yesterday and this morning I am up super early to try and beat the crowds and have a more enjoyable authentic experience. Let's see if that theory is right. Let's see if that's paid off. I am telling you right now this was a great idea. I have done this once before. I did the Nara day trip. It was the dead of winter so it was really cold. I came in the middle of the day. There were so many people here. The deer were really worked up and I had the biscuits and they were all coming for me and nipping at my clothes and nipping at my skin and I didn't really enjoy it. But this morning these guys are all so peaceful and mellowed out. Now to give you the hot tip it's about somewhere between 6 30 and 7 a.m. I don't have any food. I'm not luring them. They're just sat here chilled out before the day gets started. This is really enjoyable. It was well worth coming here yesterday paying the extra money to stay here for two nights to be able to have a nice enjoyable authentic encounter away from all the tourists like this. Don't tell anybody. This is our secret tip all right. This day is off to an excellent start. I already feel like I've had the authentic deer encounter. It's time for a dirty old Starbucks. No complaints from any of you. I'll take you to a proper nice coffee shop a little bit later. I was just walking past and I haven't had a coffee yet and I saw Starbucks and I had to have one. They didn't ask me for my name so there's no opportunity for it to Don't forget to copy Phoebe merch so you can be part of the Phoebe crew. I do have my beloved cold brew with oat milk. Well you ever just have a day and you're like this one's got good energy about it? That's how I feel already and it's not even 8 a.m. The Todaiji temple was opened in 720 AD and it is a huge Buddhist temple. It's absolutely gorgeous. Now as the day wears on this whole area behind me is going to be packed with tourists but getting up and being here early in the morning there are very few other people around. Now the entry cost to get in is 800 yen per adult. I was very happy to that and I was ready to go in but not allowed to take any tripods in and I don't have anywhere to leave the tripod that attaches to my vlogging camera so I'm just gonna have to peer at it through this fence. But if you come and you go in let me know if it was worth it. Tag me in the photos. To get around here in Nara I'm just walking although I am seeing a lot of people on bicycles and I've seen them for rent and I have to say if I wasn't filming I would probably rent a bicycle but this is a beautiful city to explore on foot. Everything you want to see do and eat seems to be within really easy walking distance and the whole place just has such a relaxing atmosphere to it. It's such a different change of pace from places like Kyoto and Osaka. Now interestingly when I was booking my hotel it seemed to be a lot cheaper to stay here so if you're on a budget and you were looking to go somewhere that was a little bit more laid back for your base you can easily base yourself out of Nara and then do your day trips to Osaka and Kyoto instead. Speaking of hotels let me show you my hotel and what happened yesterday when I checked into it. This is the Anne Grand Hotel and it's awesome. So the hotel has this great entry area, really cool artworks and stuff in here. There's an awesome cool spot just to sit and relax and eat your breakfast or do a little bit of work if you want to. The room itself is a great size for a Japanese hotel room. The bathroom is awesome. We've even got a little bathtub in there. The beds look super comfortable and plush in this big TV. That's about to be me this afternoon watching movies. But the thing I love about this hotel the most is the location. It was such a short walk, maybe one or two minutes from the station where I got off. So easy to walk up here, really close to Nara Park. We've got the shopping street nearby, loads of food options. It's just in the best location ever. I will have a link in the video description for you so you can check it out and book yourself. But so far I'm loving it. Wait, something wonderful has happened. I was walking past this shop and it's super famous. It's called Nakatanido I think. It's a really famous mochi shop. When I walked past this place yesterday it was packed. There was a huge line up and down the street. They were literally pushing people off the road to get them closer. I walked past this morning at around 10 in the morning. I'm the only one here. That's the way we like it. So I'm gonna buy some mochi. I'm gonna try it and see if it's worth it. Hi! Can I try one? Is that okay? Thank you. The girls at work here are so sweet. The famous mugwort mochi. 180 yen for one. I hope it's good. I haven't had breakfast yet. That's delicious. I really like that. It's savory sweet and the inside is almost like red beans. I don't know if mugwort is red beans. Please tell me if it is. But it's really yummy. You wouldn't think that would taste good but it does. It's the perfect balance of sweet and savory and chewy and just good. I recommend. This little cafe is lovely. We're at a spot called Rokume. I hope I'm saying that right. The cafe itself is gorgeous inside. It's so simple in here. Lovely and spacious. They have all kinds of fancy coffee set up and they have a great menu with all kinds of delicious coffees on it and some sweet treats as well. This is the perfect spot to just escape for a little while and sit and enjoy a great cup of coffee. Now I've got an iced coffee with a little bit of oat milk. That is good. Let me set you guys up right here and I'm going to show you the cutest thing you've ever seen in your life. No it's not me. Oh it's this. I asked the lady who works here what she recommended and she recommended this one. It's the big Ichigo Daifuku and it comes with the perfect little naru deer biscuit. I'm just going to bite its head clean up. Tasty. Nice and buttery. Yummy. And then let's try this little daifuku. I don't know what the filling is. Yummy. Similar to the mochi we tried this morning. That kind of red bean filling. The strawberry is lovely and fresh and that wrapper that it's in is so chewy and it's just not too sweet at all. It's perfect. So actually getting here to Nara was really easy. I caught the Kintetsu Line train from Osaka and I bought myself a three-day Kansai Railway train pass thing. It's going to cover me for all my journeys between Osaka, Nara and Kyoto. It's really good value and I'll have a link below for you so you can book yours as well. Google Maps is amazing in Japan. It even told me which platform I needed to go to. So if I can work that out, you can work it out. Lunchtime and I've come to a place called Kaiten Sushi Totogen. I had no plan to eat here. I was just walking along, saw the sign for fish sushi and was like, that's me. If you come to a restaurant in Japan and you do this and no soy sauce comes out, it's because there's a button on top. Salmon, you're meant to dip it upside down. It always comes off for me. Come on. It is so good. Otoro. This is beautiful fatty tuna belly. It is some of the best sushi you will ever have. That is so good. That is amazing. It just melts in your mouth like butter. I really like that. And then this one, if you're a little adventurous, Izanagi. It's eel. I saw the guy fire up the flamethrower before. Make sure it's got a nice sear on it. That looks so good. I don't think I can do this in one bite. So just avert your gaze because this is going to be embarrassing for me. It's cooked beautifully. It's so tasty. It just tastes like a great piece of fish. And with that little bit of char on there and the sweetness of the sauce they put on, perfection. Nara for the whim. It's a little after five here and the street is super busy with locals. I guess it's knockoff from work time, but all the tourists have once again left, which means it's just you, me and the locals. And I happen to know the hottest spot in town for food. And I get a craving. We're going to scratch that craving, scratch that itch, suit the craving. We're going to do all of that. The beloved 7-Eleven, AKA convenience store, AKA konbiniwa. Convenience store in Japanese, in case you didn't know. I live and die by the konbiniwa when I'm here in Japan. And I'm going to show you what I've got because for a grand total of 871 Japanese yen, I procured us a three course konbiniwa feast and tomorrow's breakfast. And in case you're wondering, what is she wearing? When you stay at a hotel in Japan, they usually give you pajamas. So I never pack pajamas when I come to Japan. Here's a hack for you. These are the official hotel and grand jammies and I'm feeling it. All right, let's feast. Onigiri. Tuna mayo is the best flavor there is. Three step process to unwrap this bad boy. And I always get my tuna mayo ones heated up. I don't know why, just to me, it just tastes so much better. Course number two, this thing. It's marketed as matcha shaved ice and condensed milk. I have been living on the strawberry ones of these since I got here. They were all out of strawberry. I've not tried the matcha. I love matcha. Let's try the matcha. But if you ever see the strawberry one, get it. Yum. Please be good. Okay, so just so you can see it, it's green all the way through. Yummy. It's really good. It's not as good as the strawberry one. Strawberry one has real strawberries and like a thick layer of strawberry syrup on top and it is so good. Still good, not as good as the strawberry one. Yum. You may be asking, you've had an onigiri, you've had an ice cream, what could the third course possibly be, Phoebe? Second dessert. These are my favorite candies. If you watch this channel, you know I'm very fussy. Or actually, if you watch this channel, you're my sister. You know I'm very fussy when it comes to candy. I don't really enjoy it, but I enjoy the heck out of these things. Pure heart things. It just smells like success. Smells like a happy childhood, if you ask me. They're so good. The flavors in here are apple, grape, and strawberry. My three favorite flavors for candy anywhere. They're a little bit sour. Perfect amount of sweetness. Oh my god. I'll be buying a lot of those and sending them home. I need this stash of these in Australia. Nothing in Australia is as good as that. That's my favorite. All right, you guys. And with that, that brings our time here in Nara and this episode to a close. I really hope you've enjoyed it. Now, if you don't already, be sure to subscribe right now so you never miss a single episode. And say hello in the comments below. I hope you have a really great weekend, and I will see you with a brand new episode next week. Love ya.