Nara is a stunningly beautiful city renowned for its ancient Buddhist temples (designated as a World Heritage Site), its deer-filled park, and the 1,300-year-old remains of the former capital Heijo-kyo. The cradle of Japanese culture, Nara is well known as the easternmost end of the Silk Road, along which goods and ideas traveled between Europe and Asia for thousands of years. Today it is both a magnet for tourists and a thoroughly modern city, linked by convenient transportation to the major metropolises of Kyoto and Osaka, each less than 40 minutes away. Nara Prefecture contains part of the spiritually significant Kii Mountain Range (whose sacred sites and routes collectively comprise another World Heritage Site).
