When we went we had a rainy day with not a lot of the more photogenic snow present which was a bit of a shame… BUT there were a TON of monkeys of all ages in all directions, and they seemed to be just as happy to take in a sweet onsen bath on a rainy day as much as a snowy one.
I was particularly surprised at how close you get to them, I guess I had an impression we would be a distance away from the action, but you are in the thick of it, any closer and you would be in the pool with them. In fact the monkeys move around all the walking areas freely, up and down the handrails, around your legs, up the paths… It doesn’t get much more interactive than that.
GETTING THERE:
This is the easiest way we discovered to reach the park.
FROM NAGANO
Take the NAGADEN TRAIN express to YUDANAKA STATION – About 45min and around 1,,200¥ one way adult fare.
Then, take one of the LOCAL BUSES to SHIGA KOGEN that leaves from the train station itself 2x per hour. The staff at the station are very familiar with the Snow Monkey park and can help you get the correct bus. The stop you need to get off at is called SNOW MONKEY PARK… Pretty idiot proof haha.
Then there is a nice winding 30min walk from the bus stop to the park itself that is very scenic and you might even see some Japanese squirrels!
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AloJapan.com