Our main purpose of this trip was to...
1. visit the famous Jigokudani Monkey Park
2. stay at the Jigokudani Onsen (hot springs)
3. visit relatives living in a 200 year old house in the Iizuna area of Nagano
Our first stop was the Jigokudani Monkey Park.
This place is famous for its hot springs and the adorable monkeys.
Jigokudani monkeys known as "Snow Monkeys" are famous for bathing in the hot springs during the snow season in winter.
So...I guess you could call our trip an off-season visit.
Will the monkeys be bathing in the hot springs?
For more, visit our YouTube channel "Ichigo Ichie in Japan"
General information
Opening hours
Summer season (Apr - Oct) 8:30 - 17:00
Winter season (Nov - Mar) 9:00 - 16:00
Admission fees
Adult: 800 yen
Child: 400 yen
Parking fee (per car)
Park visit: 500 yen
Onsen stay: 600 yen
*The parking lot is closed during the winter season.
Why?
Because the mountain road leading to the park is very narrow and it would be impossible to shovel snow for the cars to pass.
Why?
Because the mountain road leading to the park is very narrow and it would be impossible to shovel snow for the cars to pass.
I will leave the other detailed explanation of the Park to the official website.
Our Route from Tokyo
Total distance: 232.8 km
Toll: 5,870 yen
with ETC: 4,150 yen (ETC holiday discount: -1,720 yen)
10:12 Ken-Ō Expressway (圏央道: Ken-Ō Dō)
Hachioji-Nishi Interchange
⇩ 35.7km
Kan-etsu Expressway (関越自動車道 Kan'etsu Jidōsha-dō)
Tsurugashima Junction
⇩ 50.8km
Jōshin-etsu Expressway (上信越自動車道 Jōshin-etsu Jidōsha-dō)
Fujioka Junction
⇩ 146.3km
14:45 Shinshū-Nakano Interchange
⇩ 16 km
15:50 Jigokudani Monkey Park
We were planning to take the Chuo Expressway (中央自動車道: Chuo Jidousha-dō) but saw that there was heavy traffic due to Golden Week.
So we took our second option...and we managed to avoid some (not all) traffic.
According to the E-NEXCO Drive Plaza, this expressway route should have only taken 2hrs and 41 minutes.
Although we did make several stops on the expressway, it took much longer than expected, due to the Golden week traffic.
After we got off the express way at the Shinshū-Nakano Interchange, it took us more than an hour to travel the 16 km.
This is also because there was heavy traffic on the mountain road (yes, great old Golden Week!), and we also had to stop for a bathroom break for our 3 year old son.
My advice: if you don't like traffic, don't travel during Golden Week!
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