Nara Park

Many people come here to see and feed the deer, but there is much more to Nara Park. It is littered with beautiful gardens, historic temples, and other interesting sites. It is a relatively large park, but most of the major attractions can be seen in a day (though it would require quite a bit of walking).

I think two days is probably better to see the park. It would allow you to see everything at a slower pace and really take the time to appreciate some of the more interesting sites (my favorite was the area around the Kasuga Taisha shrine).

And as for the deer, whatever you were expecting be prepared for a surprise. There were far more deer than I expected to see (and I was warned about them) and they were anything but shy when it came to people. If you do decide to feed them, make sure to feed them the crackers sold by the vendors in the area instead of scraps of your people food. The deer are used to eating those crackers and they are fine for their digestion. Messing with nature is bad enough, try to limit the damage by feeding them healthy food.

And of course be very careful with the deer. Although they are quite friendly (and their head bowing to receive food is undeniably cute) I saw them get super aggressive with some people, especially children, who had crackers in their hand and weren't feeding them fast enough.

All in all, this place was great. Would highly recommend making Nara Park a part of your Japan itinerary.