Well, Kyoto might claim the fame of being the capital city for the longest time and thus accumulated a vast array of historical sites from many different eras of Japanese history. Nara on the other hand, claim to fame is that it was the first permanent capital. Prior to Nara they moved the capital every time the Emperor died. Nara is about to celebrate it's 1300th birthday in 2010, so they are sprucing the place up a bit at the moment. The big difference between Nara and Kyoto is that Nara has not become a big modern city like Kyoto, so in Nara many of the sites are located in vast park.
Nara does have a small downtown area, but it's definitely not as up market as Kyoto. Although there are some expensive places to eat around the main transport hubs, it's quiet easy to find very cheep eateries without looking too hard. Also given the large amount of tourism and universities around the area, there is a great range of International food available.
Nara was our last excursion with the Walkers before they returned to Australia, it was just a quick half day trip as we had to get back to teach some students in the early evening. We saw Todai-ji (pictured, a Buddhist temple, and the worlds biggest wooden building), and the Five Storey Pagoda. While looking for a place to eat we found an Anglican church which looked like a temple with a cross on it. Finally we settled on having lunch at an Israeli (Kosher) restaurant (the first I've ever found in Japan).
The Walkers visit was great growing experience for all of us. We thoroughly enjoyed their company and they were a great encouragement to many here. We hope that they will be able to come back again in the near future.
As for Nara, I'm planning to go back there later in the year and visit some of the sites that are a bit further out of town. I've heard they are better, but less famous, so less crowded.