Sanjo-dori

Sanjo-dori is the principal street of central Nara, running dead straight from the front of JR Nara Station eastward to Sarusawa Pond and the gateway of Nara Park. For most travellers arriving by JR, it is the road that delivers them to the deer, the temples and the great bronze Buddha - a gentle uphill walk of about twenty minutes that doubles as an introduction to the city. But Sanjo-dori is far older than its modern shopfronts suggest: it is one of the historic approach roads that pilgrims once followed to Kasuga Taisha, the grand vermilion shrine at the foot of the eastern hills.

That pilgrimage heritage still shows if you know where to look. Stone lanterns, old boundary markers and the occasional shrine gate punctuate the route, and the street's very straightness reflects the ancient grid of Heijo-kyo, the 8th-century capital that once stood here. Walking Sanjo-dori, you are tracing a line people have followed toward the sacred hills for well over a thousand years, even as convenience stores and coffee chains now flank the way.

Today the street is a broad, busy mix of the practical and the pleasant. Banks, drugstores and fashion shops serve the everyday needs of the city, while a growing number of cafes, bakeries, izakaya and restaurants make it a natural place to eat before or after visiting the park. Souvenir shops cluster toward the eastern, park-facing end, selling Nara sweets, deer motifs, sake and craft goods. Because it is the city's commercial spine, it also intersects the covered Higashimuki and Mochiidono arcades and the entrances to Naramachi, making it the hinge from which the rest of central Nara unfolds.

The walking experience is easy and rewarding, if steadily uphill toward the park. Wide pavements make it comfortable, and the gentle gradient means you barely notice the climb until you crest at Sarusawa Pond, where the five-storey pagoda of Kofuku-ji rises beyond the water in one of Nara's classic views. From there the deer of Nara Park begin to appear, and the temples of Todai-ji and the shrine paths to Kasuga Taisha lie just ahead. Sanjo-dori thus works best not as a destination but as a route to savour, with plenty of excuses to pause.

A good strategy is to walk it in the morning on the way in, stopping for breakfast or coffee, and again in the evening on the way back, when the shops and eateries stay lively after the temples have closed. Spring cherry blossom near the pond and autumn colour on the eastern hills add seasonal drama to the eastern stretch, though the street itself is enjoyable year-round.

Getting onto Sanjo-dori is effortless: it begins directly in front of JR Nara Station's east exit. If you arrive instead at Kintetsu Nara Station, you meet the street at its eastern end near Sarusawa Pond after a short walk down through the Higashimuki arcade. Either way, Sanjo-dori is the thread that ties Nara's two stations, its shopping arcades, its old town and its great park into a single, walkable whole.