The Road to Snow Monkey Park

To get to Jigokudani Monkey Park , you can take a bus either from Yudanake station, Nagano station or Shibu Onsen. The bus will drop you at Kanbayashi Onsen. From there it is a 30-40 minutes walk.

It’s a beautiful walk. But in the winter the path can get very slippery, so proper foot gear is advised.

There were already a lot of people at 10 o’clock in the morning. We weren’t aware of any specific schedule we needed to catch, so we took our time.

Occasionally we caught a small glimps of the valley

Many beautiful snow covered branches, but no monkeys yet

We passed a pavilion with some educational material to read

Kept on walking

Almost there!

Monkeys!!!

Doesn’t this monkey remind you of Ben Stiller?

There was a post warning visitors not to leave plastic bags at sight. Shortly thereafter, we heard a rustling sound behind us, turned around and saw a woman and a monkey fighting over a plastic bag attached to her backpack. Eventually the monkey let it go. But I think she learnt her lesson well.

We paid the 500 yen entrance fee and stepped into the park.