- Where
- Yokoyu River valley, Yamanouchi
northern Nagano Prefecture, Japan - Coordinates
- 36.73° N
138.46° E - Altitude
- About 850 m (Wikipedia)
- Opened
- 1964
- Monkeys
- Wild Japanese macaques
fed by the park - Getting there
- Train and bus from Nagano
then a forest path on foot - Best visited
- December to March (snow and bathing)
- Advisory
- Japan Level 1
I walked through a snowy forest, beside a gorge that steamed and muttered to itself, and came to a pool already full of bathers with red faces and snow on their heads. Nobody made room for me, quite rightly. I kept my paws in my pockets and my bow small. One of them looked me over for a long moment, the way a cousin might, then closed its eyes again.
The short answer
Jigokudani Monkey Park, Jigokudani Yaen-kōen in Japanese, lies in the valley of the Yokoyu River in the town of Yamanouchi, in the north of Nagano Prefecture, inside Joshinetsu Kogen National Park. It sits at about 850 metres, snow covers the ground for about four months a year, and the only way in is a narrow footpath through the forest, Wikipedia records. The name, Hell’s Valley, comes from the steam and boiling water that bubble out of cracks in the ground. The park has fed a troop of wild Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) here since it opened in 1964, so the monkeys can be seen in every season; in winter some of them bathe in a hot-spring pool, which is the sight that made the “snow monkeys” known around the world. Since early August 2026 entry has been by a ticket for a set date, bought online in advance.
Why it's worth knowing
A park made to keep the peace. The macaques once lived higher in the mountains, around Shiga Kogen. Ski resorts and forest clearing in the 1950s drove them down into the villages, where they raided crops, Wikipedia records; the Saiyu travel company’s history of the park, as indexed, names the apple orchards. Japanese Wikipedia’s article on the park tells the rest: farmers asked for the monkeys to be culled, and a permit was issued to shoot fifty of them; Sōgo Hara, who became the park’s first director, opposed it and began feeding the troop upstream, far from the orchards, on the idea that a fed troop would leave the crops alone. It took three years to win the wary animals over, and the park opened in 1964. Wikipedia’s article on the species records the same plan: the macaques were encouraged to gather here in the 1960s to reduce crop damage. So these are wild monkeys, free to come and go, that the park feeds; that is why they are here all year.
Who taught whom to bathe. The bathing began at the open-air bath of the Kōrakukan, the inn beside the park, when a curious young monkey got in and the adults copied it; for hygiene, the park later built an open-air bath for the monkeys alone, Japanese Wikipedia records. It dates the first bath to the park’s opening in 1964; Snow Monkey Resorts, Yamanouchi’s tourism company, tells it as 1963 (indexed). The bathers are mostly females and young; males seldom get in. The habit is a winter one: at the end of 2012, about fifty to sixty monkeys were bathing between December and March, and the park itself cautions that bathing is only a small part of the monkeys’ lives. A Kyoto University team followed twelve adult females through two seasons and reported in the journal Primates in 2018 that they used the hot spring more in winter, that higher-ranking females took longer baths, and that the bathers had lower levels of a stress hormone, glucocorticoid, in their droppings than those that did not bathe, as National Geographic reported in April 2018.
Not quite the most northern. The Japanese macaque lives farther north than any other primate apart from humans, and the image of monkeys in the snow at Jigokudani made that famous. But Jigokudani is not the northern limit: the northernmost macaques live on the Shimokita Peninsula, at the top of Honshū, about 500 km farther north, Wikipedia notes.
The field notes
A film made it famous
The park became famous abroad after the macaques appeared in the documentary Baraka, English Wikipedia records. Japanese Wikipedia adds the 1998 Winter Olympics: the snowboard halfpipe was held at Kanbayashi, next to the park, and the world’s media came to see the monkeys too. English Wikipedia’s article still notes that the long walk in, the deep snow and the altitude kept the park uncrowded despite its fame. That has changed (below).
Too many visitors
The visitors grew from a trickle to crowds. By 2026 the park was seeing 3,000 to 4,000 people on busy days, and some were feeding the monkeys, touching them or trying to get into the water with them, by an AFP report of June 2026 carried by several outlets (indexed). From early August 2026 the park began selling tickets for a set date online, with a possible limit of about 2,000 people a day. At busy times, in the snowy months and on Japanese holidays, staff on the path check tickets, and visitors without one may face long waits or be turned away, Snow Monkey Resorts’ guide says (indexed).
The park’s rules
The park asks visitors to keep as far from the monkeys as they can, never to touch or frighten them, and never to show or give them food. Photographs are allowed, but selfie sticks are not, because they startle the monkeys, by the park’s visitor guidance as travel guides repeat it (indexed).
A macaque in the pool as snow falls, April 2014.
Photograph: Yiannis Theologos Michellis · A Hot Bath · CC BY-SA 2.0
Snow settling on a macaque resting its head on the pool's edge.
Photograph: nomao saeki · CC0
Grooming in the pool, October 2011.
Photograph: Bryan Ledgard · Snow monkeys, Jigokudani, Yudanaka (6289601359) · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
- Buy your ticket for the day well ahead, then set out at first light midweek, deep in the snow, while the steam is thickest and the path still quiet.
- Remember whose bath it is. Stand well back, hands in pockets, lunch out of sight.
- Leave the selfie stick at the inn, where it can startle nobody.
- Do not get in. (Written in large letters, underlined twice, and read again beside the pool, more than once.)
- Wear boots that grip, and walk the forest path slowly both ways. It is half the visit.
The monkeys’ bath. An open-air pool of hot spring water, about 4 metres by 10, rimmed with stone on the bank of the Yokoyu River, where between December and March some of the macaques sit up to their necks while snow settles on their heads. In winter the water is about 42 °C, close to what people find comfortable, Japanese Wikipedia records. The monkeys first bathed in the inn’s bath next door; the park built this one for them, for hygiene, so that they would have a bath of their own.
Tally, in the marginA tub with a stone rim, built on purpose and then handed over. I spent an hour admiring the bathers before it occurred to me that somebody had made the bath, and had then had the good manners to leave.
Getting there
How to get there. Wikipedia puts the park about 3.5 hours from Tokyo. From Nagano Station, take the Nagano Dentetsu railway to Yudanaka (about 45 minutes) and a bus to Kanbayashi Onsen (about 15 minutes), then walk the forest path to the park gate, about 25 to 30 minutes; express buses from Nagano Station’s east exit also run towards the park, in about 40 minutes (travel guides and Nagano’s tourism board, as indexed). Nagano’s tourism board gives the path as about 1.6 km; Wikipedia gives about 2 km. It is mostly level, but icy in winter.
When to go. The monkeys are there all year, because the park feeds them, but the bathing is a winter habit: December to March brings snow and the steaming pool. Opening hours, as guides give them (indexed), are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. from April to October and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from November to March. Winter weekends and Japanese holidays are the most crowded days.
What to arrange ahead. A ticket for your date, bought online before you set out: since August 2026 the park has sold dated tickets in advance, and on busy days visitors without one may be turned away. Adult admission has been 800 yen and children’s 400 yen (guides, as indexed). Boots with grip for the path.
Safety. The State Department has Japan at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level (advisory dated 15 May 2025 in its feed, read 7 October 2026). The hazards here are ice on the path, the cold, and the animals themselves: keep your distance. Asian black bears live in the forests of northern Nagano; Nagano Prefecture’s sighting reports list bears seen in Yamanouchi town on 1 June and 1 August 2026 (as indexed).
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Jigokudani Monkey Park?
Jigokudani Monkey Park is in the Yokoyu River valley in Yamanouchi, in the north of Nagano Prefecture, Japan, inside Joshinetsu Kogen National Park, at about 850 metres. It is reached on foot by a forest path from Kanbayashi Onsen, near Yudanaka, about an hour by train and bus from Nagano Station.
Do the snow monkeys bathe in summer?
The Jigokudani macaques bathe mostly in winter. A Kyoto University study published in Primates in 2018 found that the females it followed used the hot spring more in the winter season. The park feeds the troop, so the monkeys can be seen all year, but the snowy bathing scene belongs to December to March.
Do you need to book Jigokudani Monkey Park?
Yes, in practice. Since early August 2026 Jigokudani Monkey Park has sold tickets for a set date online in advance, with a possible limit of about 2,000 visitors a day. At busy times staff on the path check tickets, and visitors without one may face long waits or be turned away.
Why do the Jigokudani monkeys bathe in hot springs?
The macaques of Jigokudani bathe to keep warm in winter. A Kyoto University team reported in Primates in 2018 that females which bathed had lower levels of the stress hormone glucocorticoid than those that did not, and that higher-ranking females took longer baths.
Are the monkeys at Jigokudani wild?
Yes. The Japanese macaques at Jigokudani Monkey Park are a wild troop, free to roam the national park, but the park has fed them since it opened in 1964, first to draw them away from the apple orchards they were raiding. The feeding is why they stay near the hot spring all year.
How do you get to Jigokudani Monkey Park?
From Nagano Station, take the Nagano Dentetsu railway to Yudanaka, about 45 minutes, and a bus to Kanbayashi Onsen, about 15 minutes; then walk a forest path of about 1.6 to 2 km to the park gate, 25 to 30 minutes. Express buses from Nagano Station also run towards the park.
What does Jigokudani mean?
Jigokudani means Hell’s Valley. The valley of the Yokoyu River in Nagano is named for the steam and boiling water that bubble out of cracks in its frozen ground, among steep cliffs and cold forest, Wikipedia records.
What are the rules at Jigokudani Monkey Park?
Jigokudani Monkey Park asks visitors to keep as far from the macaques as they can, not to touch or frighten them, and never to show or give them food. Photography is allowed, but selfie sticks are banned because they startle the monkeys.