It's a good camera for the price paid. You have an option of buying only body or buying it with the kit lens.
I don't suggest kit lens since it's low light performance is not up to the mark. Instead you can buy 35 mm lens worth 1.8 aperture which is great for low light photography. Along with that you can go for Tamron 18-300mm lens which will serve as a all purpose lens.
Keep in mind that its a dx camera and not full frame. However it's a really good one for starters. Once you learn the basics of photography you can switch to more expensive full frame cameras.As far as nikon vs canon is concerned it really boils down to personal preference. Both are the world leaders in optics. Generally they say that nikon is better for landscape and canon is better for portrait photography. However it really doesn't make a difference as you can literally control every small settings in a dslr