Snow Monkey Onsen

The “snow monkey onsen” is Jigokudani Monkey Park in Nagano — home to the only monkeys in the world known to bathe in hot springs. On the top-rated Nagano day tour, you watch a troop of wild Japanese macaques soak in a steaming pool, with Zenkoji Temple, a sake tasting, and lunch folded into the same day for $130.

Here’s the part most first-timers miss: the monkeys’ bath is theirs alone. Humans watch from a couple of meters away — nobody gets in. But pair the park with Shibu Onsen, the 1,300-year-old hot spring town about 15 minutes down the road with nine historic public baths, and you get the soak the monkeys made famous. The monkeys bathe; you watch — then you go bathe properly yourself.

What Jigokudani Actually Is

Jigokudani is not a zoo. The macaques live wild in the forested mountains of the Yokoyu River valley and come down to the park on their own, where a purpose-built onsen pool — filled with natural hot spring water — is theirs to soak in. There are no barriers between you and the troop; park rules ask you to keep 1–2 meters of distance and never touch, feed, or stare directly at the monkeys.

The park is open year-round, but the iconic image — pink faces, frost-tipped fur, steam rising into falling snow — belongs to the snow season, roughly December through March. That’s when cold drives the monkeys into the water most reliably, and when the valley looks the way it does in every photo you’ve seen.

Getting in is part of the experience: a forest trail of about 1.6 km each way, a 30–40 minute walk through cedar woods. It’s generally flat but can be slippery in winter, so wear proper shoes — no heels or sandals, and ideally something with grip.

The Nagano Day Tour Worth Booking

The featured tour on this page departs Nagano Station at 9:35 AM and packs the region’s three best things into one guided day: a 1.5-hour tour of Zenkoji Temple — one of the oldest and most important Buddhist temples in Japan — a sake tasting with non-alcoholic options, a Nagano lunch with vegetarian choices, and a full 2.5 hours at the monkey park, entry fee included. You’re back at Nagano Station by 5:30 PM. In winter it also runs shuttle pickups from Hakuba, which makes it the easiest snow-monkey day for skiers.

At $130 with a 4.9 rating from 955 reviews, it’s the strongest-reviewed snow monkey tour on GetYourGuide — check availability for your dates.

“A wonderful and memorable day in Nagano. The tour was beautifully organised and included the historic Zenko-ji Temple, a very informative sake tasting, an excellent and delicious lunch at a 107-year-old restaurant, and a full two hours at the Snow Monkey Park.” — Juergen, Canada

Coming from Tokyo Instead?

You can do the snow monkey onsen as a Tokyo day trip, but be honest with yourself about the distance — it’s around 3.5 hours by coach each way. The group option departs Shinjuku, includes a beef sukiyaki lunch (pork, vegetarian, and vegan swaps on request) and about 2 hours at the park, from $146 with a 4.6 rating across 359 reviews. Book travel between late January and March 1 and it adds a stop at the illuminated Kamakura snow huts.

If you’d rather not do a coach schedule, the private option runs about 10 hours with hotel pickup anywhere in Tokyo’s 23 wards, a customizable route that can fold in Zenkoji and Shibu Onsen, and space for up to 5 passengers from $406 per group — rated 4.8 by 122 travelers. For a soak that’s closer to Tokyo altogether, a Mt Fuji onsen day trip cuts the transit time roughly in half.

The Add-On That Completes It: Shibu Onsen

The monkeys made this valley famous, but the human bathing is 15 minutes away in Shibu Onsen — a hot spring town with over 1,300 years of history, cobblestone lanes, lantern-lit wooden inns, and nine public bathhouses. Locals say its nostalgic streets helped inspire Studio Ghibli’s film worlds, and walking them in a yukata at dusk is the closest most travelers get to old Japan.

Two tours bolt Shibu Onsen directly onto the monkey park. The budget pick pairs the park with a handmade soba lunch in Shibu Onsen, entry to one of the town’s historic public baths, and a rental stamp towel for the local bath-stamp tradition — from $87 with a 4.9 rating. The private “Ghibli onsen town” tour adds a dedicated guide, lunch at a local restaurant away from the crowds, and free time to explore a craft brewery or soak in a ryokan bath — from $191, with a perfect 5.0 across its first 12 reviews. Fair warning before you strip off: the public baths run hot, swimsuits aren’t allowed, and baths are separated by gender — our onsen etiquette FAQ covers exactly what to expect.

Will You Actually See Them Bathing?

These are wild animals, and honest tours say so. In winter, sightings are excellent and monkeys in the water are the norm. From mid-March onward, whether they enter the pool depends on the weather that day — on warm days they often lounge beside it rather than in it — and in September through November the number of monkeys near the spring can be limited. A few days a year the troop simply doesn’t come down from the mountain at all, and operators don’t refund for it. If soaking macaques are the whole point of your trip, aim for December to March; outside those months, treat the bath as a bonus and the up-close wild troop — babies clinging to mothers in spring, grooming chains year-round — as the show.

However you time it, the formula holds: let the monkeys have their bath, then go claim yours. For more ways to build hot springs into your trip, start with our guide to the best Japanese onsen experiences.