Day 6: Bamboo Forest, Nara Deer and a Bullet Train

The day begins in the stillness of Arashiyama’s Bamboo Grove, where towering stalks glow in the first light of dawn. From there, we travel to Nara Park, home to the free-roaming sacred deer, the vast Todai-ji Great Buddha Hall, and the lantern-lined paths of Kasuga Shrine. After lunch in Nara, we walk to the station and board the Kintetsu Limited Express back to Kyoto, where the journey shifts gears with the sleek Shinkansen bullet train, racing nearly three hours north through valleys and mountains to Nagano.

At the station, our bus is waiting with luggage already delivered, making for a seamless final leg into the hot spring valley of Jigokudani. Here we settle into a traditional ryokan, ending the day with a seasonal kaiseki dinner before tomorrow’s encounter with Japan’s famous snow monkeys.