Snow monkeys on your own: Shinkansen, bus and Nagano tours

The route in three legs

Everything starts with the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tokyo Station, which reaches Nagano in about 1 hour 20–40 minutes depending on the service. A reserved seat in an ordinary car costs roughly ¥8,000 each way; the exact fare moves with the train and the season, so check it when you book. Several trains leave each hour through the morning, and the fastest ones require a reservation.

From Nagano, two routes continue to the park. The Nagano Dentetsu line, called Nagaden locally, leaves from platforms beneath the station and runs to Yudanaka in about 45–50 minutes on the express. At Yudanaka a local bus takes 10–15 minutes to the Snow Monkey Park stop at Kanbayashi Onsen. The alternative is the express bus from the east exit of Nagano Station straight to the same stop in about 45 minutes, with a limited number of departures a day. A combined rail-and-bus ticket called the Snow Monkey Pass covers the Nagaden line and the buses; ask about it at the Nagaden ticket office in Nagano Station.

The last leg is on foot. From the bus stop the forest path follows the valley for about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the gate, 25–40 minutes of walking that includes staircases and whatever the season leaves underfoot, mud or ice. Adult entry runs about ¥800 and a child's about ¥400; gates open around 9 am in winter and 8:30 am in summer. Jigokudani Monkey Park: the trail, the pool, the rules covers the walk and the gate.

A timeline from a 7 am train

That gives about 1.5–2 hours at the pool, which matches or beats what the tours allow, with an hour spare for Zenko-ji at the end. Connections on the Nagaden side are the weak point. The express does not run every few minutes, and the local bus from Yudanaka meets some trains and not others, so a missed connection costs 30–60 minutes. Look up the Nagaden timetable the night before and write down two options.

What it costs beside the tours

Add the day up in yen. Roughly ¥16,000 for the Shinkansen both ways, a few thousand yen for the Nagaden line and the buses (the Snow Monkey Pass bundles them), ¥800 at the gate, then lunch and a coffee. For one person the total lands in the same region as the coach ticket, and for two people riding together it is roughly double, since nothing on the route is priced per group.

Against that, the H.I.S. coach, from ~$150, includes the ride from Shinjuku, a live guide, beef sukiyaki lunch and park entry for a 13-hour day. JTB Sunrise's Shinkansen tour, from ~$293, costs more than the train alone because it adds a licensed guide from Nagano Station, Zenko-ji, lunch, local transport and park entry. The private cars are a different sum: the per-person car, from ~$127, or Luxurious Travel Master, from ~$535 per group, for a party of four or five. What a snow monkey tour from Tokyo costs sets all of them side by side.

When going alone wins

• Time at the pool. The tours give 1–2.5 hours. On your own you can stay until the troop drifts back into the forest;
• An early start. A private-car reviewer advised going early while it is cool. A 6 or 7 am train puts you at the gate before the coaches from Tokyo, which arrive late morning to early afternoon;
• A night in Shibu Onsen. The hot-spring town below the park has wooden ryokan and nine public bathhouses, and sleeping there turns the trip into a morning walk to the monkeys before the day visitors. Zenko-ji, Shibu Onsen and Obuse describes the town;
• Your own dates. Tours sell out around the New Year holidays and the Shinkansen does not. Our month-by-month guide names the weeks when they bathe most; whoever takes you, nobody can promise it;
• No coach. Tour 1 seats up to 44, and the ride back has taken 4–5 hours in traffic per reviewers. The train takes about 1.5 hours each way, whatever the roads are doing.

When a tour wins

Snow is the first reason. A heavy fall can delay the Nagaden line or the buses, and on your own you solve it with a phone and a timetable in a language you may not read. On tour 1 the guide solves it, and on tour 2 the guide is waiting in Nagano with a sedan or taxi van if the route bus does not suit the group. Ticket collection for tour 2 is its own small task: the Shinkansen tickets wait at Tokyo City i in KITTE, by Tokyo Station, from three days ahead until the eve of the tour, which a reviewer staying in an Airbnb had to plan around.

Lunch is the second. Food near the park means the small cafe at the entrance, where reviewers like the apple pie, and whatever Yudanaka offers; the tours bring you to a sit-down meal. The third is the explanation. A guide who knows the troop's habits adds more than most people expect, and why the snow monkeys bathe is the self-guided version. For a family or a group of five, a private car at the hotel door removes every connection, and private snow monkey tours from Tokyo prices that.

Tours that start in Nagano

A middle path is to ride the Shinkansen yourself and join a tour at Nagano Station, which costs less than a Tokyo tour and skips the hard part of the connections. 1-Day Snow Monkeys, Zenko-ji Temple and Sake in Nagano, from ~$142, runs 8 hours, visits the temple and the park and ends with a sake tasting, and it has over a thousand reviews at 4.9. Yadoroku's Snow Monkey Park, Shibu Onsen and Soba Lunch, from ~$130, is shorter at 6–7 hours, includes park admission and a soba lunch, and walks you through the hot-spring town; pickup is available. Both share the same catch. You book the Shinkansen yourself, and you must be in Nagano at the meeting time, so take a train with a margin and keep the operator's contact details on your phone.

The trail and the rules, whoever you go with

Nobody at the park checks whether you came with a guide, and the same rules apply. Give the monkeys room, no feeding, no touching, pack any food and plastic bags out of sight, stow the selfie stick and avoid holding their gaze. Drones are banned. In winter the trail is icy, so boots with grip and a pair of cheap ice cleats from a Tokyo sports shop beat hoping for the best; the coach sells crampons on board, and reviewers mention renting grips near the park. The packing guide has the list, and Tokyo to Jigokudani by coach, Shinkansen or car compares the ride the tours give you with the one described here.