Chubu · Day Tour
Wild macaques in a hot spring, and the temple that predates the split in Japanese Buddhism.
From
¥47,000 per person
approx. US$297
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
Instant confirmation
A private day trip from Tokyo to Nagano, taking in the Jigokudani Monkey Park, where wild Japanese macaques bathe in a hot spring, and Zenko-ji, one of the oldest and most important temples in the country. A local guide handles the trains, the walk in and the timing.
The macaques at Jigokudani started using the hot spring in the 1960s and no other population anywhere has taken up the habit. They are wild and unfenced — you walk among them on the path — and they ignore people entirely. There is no glass and no enclosure, which is why the photographs look the way they do.
The park is reached on foot, along a wooded path of around a kilometre and a half from the car park. It takes half an hour or so, it is uphill in places, and in winter it is snow-covered. Your guide will tell you what to wear. The walk is part of why the place has not been overrun.
The temple was founded in the seventh century, before Japanese Buddhism divided into the sects that run almost everything else, which is why it belongs to no single one of them and admits everyone. Beneath the main hall is a pitch-dark passage where visitors feel along the wall for a key. Your guide explains what it is for.
Nagano is a soba region and it takes it seriously. Lunch is buckwheat noodles somewhere your guide rates. Between the two stops you get the mountains, which is the other reason people come up from Tokyo.
Meet your guide, or be picked up from your accommodation.
The walk in, and the monkeys at the hot spring.
Nagano soba.
The main hall and the passage beneath it.
Back to Tokyo in the evening.
Tokyo Station, Chiyoda City, or your accommodation if you prefer. Your guide will contact you on WhatsApp beforehand.
The price covers your private English-speaking guide and pick-up if you want it. Transportation, park admission and lunch are paid as you go, and by convention you also cover your guide's. Bring cash.
Yes, they live in the valley year-round. They spend far more time in the water in winter, which is when the well-known photographs are taken.
Around 1.5 kilometres each way on a wooded path, uphill in places. Half an hour at a normal pace. In winter it is packed snow and boots with grip are needed.
They are wild and unfenced, and they walk past visitors on the path. You do not approach or touch them, and your guide will brief you before you go in.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start time. Bookings are confirmed instantly.
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