Nara
Where to leave your luggage in Nara
Nara is a day trip for most people, which means arriving with a suitcase and wanting rid of it for six hours. There are two ways to do that, and one of them closes at 14:00.
The short answer
| If you | Do this |
|---|---|
| Arrive before 14:00 and have a large case | Try the information centre in the station building first. It takes the bag off your hands entirely. |
| Arrive after 14:00 | A locker. The centre stops accepting bags at 14:00, whatever time it closes. |
| Want it back late in the evening | A locker. They open with the first train and close with the last. |
| Are heading for the Nara National Museum | Leave it at the station. The museum has none. |
The lockers at Kintetsu-Nara
589 of them, ¥400–¥1,500 for a day, in four sizes. They are through the west ticket gate, exits 5–7.
| Size | At the station | Per day |
|---|---|---|
| Extra large | 65 | ¥800–¥1,500 |
| Large | 254 | ¥600–¥1,000 |
| Medium | 107 | ¥400–¥700 |
| Small | 163 | ¥400–¥600 |
| All sizes | 589 | ¥400–¥1,500 |
Counts and prices from Kintetsu as of 12 August 2026. There is no way to reserve one, and no live count of what is free.
Check the bank before you start unpacking
Some banks take 100-yen coins only, six of them for a 600-yen locker. Other banks are the opposite: IC card only, with a panel that says cash is not accepted.
This is the part that costs people ten minutes with a suitcase open on the floor. The two banks below are a few paces apart and take opposite things.
The locker room on the west side is run from a pay station that also takes QR payments and credit cards. There the QR code on your receipt is the key, and losing it costs 800 yen.
Prices seen on the doors that morning: ¥400, ¥600, ¥900, ¥1,000.
The small print on the lockers
| Open | From the station's first train to its last |
|---|---|
| Charge | 400–1,000 yen for one use |
| A new day starts | 01:00, and costs the same again |
| Maximum stay | 3 days, counting the day you put it in |
| Left longer | Anything left longer is moved and held for 30 days at the same daily charge, then disposed of. |
| Lost key | ¥2,000 |
| Lost IC card or receipt | ¥800 |
| Who to ask | The attendants' office at the station, 0742-26-4016, 09:00–18:30 |
Read off the notice on the lockers, 21 September 2026.
The information centre, and its 14:00 cut-off
The desk is open 09:00–16:00 — but it takes the last bag at 14:00. The two hours after that are for collecting, not dropping off. Only a limited number of items are accepted. The price and size limits are not published.
The centre itself is on the ground floor of the Kintetsu building, open 09:00–22:00 every day, staffed 09:00–17:00; after that, tablets and leaflets only. That gap is the trap. The centre is still lit and open in the evening, long after its luggage desk stopped taking anything — so "the information centre is open until late" and "you can still leave a bag there" are not the same sentence.
What it charges, we do not know. The city's page gives the hours but no price. We have not been able to confirm a price or a size limit from the city or the centre, so this page does not quote one — several English sites do, and they disagree with each other. It is on our list to photograph at the desk.
What we have not checked
JR Nara station. It has lockers too, and we have not counted or priced them ourselves. The English pages that list them contradict one another on both the number and the price, and JR West does not publish either, so there is nothing here we would stand behind. Everything above is Kintetsu-Nara only. If you arrive at JR Nara, the two stations are a walk apart along Sanjo-dori — we have not timed it ourselves, so we are not going to put a number on that either.
Questions people ask
Where can I leave luggage in Nara?
Kintetsu-Nara station has 589 coin lockers, from ¥400 to ¥1,500 for a day depending on size, and they are the only option that works all day. The tourist information centre in the same building also holds bags, from 09:00–16:00, but takes the last one at 14:00 and accepts only a limited number.
Will a suitcase fit in a locker at Kintetsu-Nara station?
Kintetsu lists 65 extra-large lockers at the station, at ¥800 to ¥1,500 a day, and 254 large ones. There is no reservation: whether one is free depends on the hour you arrive, and the middle of the morning is the worst time to find out.
Do the lockers at Kintetsu-Nara take IC cards?
Some banks do and some refuse them. Some banks take 100-yen coins only, six of them for a 600-yen locker. Other banks are the opposite: IC card only, with a panel that says cash is not accepted. The locker room on the west side is run from a pay station that also takes QR payments and credit cards. There the QR code on your receipt is the key, and losing it costs 800 yen.
How long can you leave a bag in a locker in Nara?
3 days, counting the day you put it in, and the charge renews at 01:00 rather than after 24 hours. Anything left longer is moved and held for 30 days at the same daily charge, then disposed of. A lost key costs ¥2,000; a lost IC card or receipt, ¥800.
Are there lockers at the Nara National Museum?
No. There are no coin lockers inside the museum. Use the lockers or luggage services outside it. During the Shosoin exhibition in particular, this catches people out: the nearest lockers are the ones at Kintetsu-Nara station, about 15 minutes' walk away.
Sources
- Locker counts and prices by size: Kintetsu, as of 12 August 2026.
- Payment panels, prices on the doors and the notice of terms: photographed by us at the station, 21 September 2026.
- Information centre hours and luggage times: Nara City, page updated 31 July 2026.
- The museum having no lockers: Nara National Museum, checked 16 October 2026.