Jigokudani Onsen
Onsen with monkeys: where Japan's monkeys (and capybaras) really bathe
The picture everyone has seen, a snow-covered monkey sitting up to its shoulders in steaming water, comes from one valley in Nagano. There is one other place in Japan where you can reliably watch monkeys in hot water in winter, in Hakodate. Several other onsen towns have monkey parks nearby, but the monkeys there do not bathe, and the capybaras in hot baths are a winter event at zoos. In none of these places do you get into the water with the animals. This guide covers which is which, when to go, and which onsen town to stay in for each.
The short answer
- Monkeys bathing in a hot spring: Jigokudani in Nagano (wild monkeys, best December to March) and the tropical botanical garden in Yunokawa Onsen, Hakodate (a kept troop, a winter event that has run from early December to early May in recent years).
- Monkey parks in onsen areas, no monkey bath: Takasakiyama, between Beppu and Ōita, and the hilltop at the top of the ropeway in Kinugawa.
- Capybaras in a hot bath: a winter event at zoos. It began in 1982 at Izu Shaboten Zoo, in Itō city on the Izu Peninsula, and other zoos have copied it since.
- Bathing with monkeys: nowhere. The monkeys' pool is theirs. You watch from the edge.
Jigokudani, Nagano: the snow monkeys
The monkeys are wild Japanese macaques that live in the forest above Shibu and Yudanaka. The park feeds them, so they come down to the valley, and in the cold months many of them sit in a pool by the river. The valley has one inn, Jigokudani Onsen, on a source recorded at 62.2 to 75.6 °C, with chloride, sulfate and sulfur water on record. You reach it on foot along a forest path of about 30 minutes from the trailhead on the Kanbayashi side.
The monkeys are in the valley all year, but they sit in the water most reliably from December to March, when there is snow on the ground. In summer you will see monkeys, but probably not bathing. The park is busiest from late morning; staying a night in the valley lets you go early.
Where to stay: Kanbayashi, recorded at 68 °C, is the closest town to the trailhead. Shibu, 2.6 km west of Jigokudani in a straight line, has 35 inns in our records and nine public baths for guests. Yudanaka is at the station. The Shibu guide covers the three, the bath key and the train from Tokyo; the Japanese Alps guide puts the valley in a longer route.
Yunokawa, Hakodate: the monkeys in the botanical garden
The second place is the city's tropical botanical garden in Yunokawa Onsen, on the eastern edge of Hakodate. The garden has an outdoor enclosure of Japanese macaques, and in winter it fills their pool with hot-spring water. The event has started in early December and run to early May in recent seasons, closing over the New Year. The dates change from year to year, so check the garden's own notice before you plan around it.
This is a kept troop in an enclosure, not wild monkeys in a valley, and the pool is much smaller than Jigokudani's. What it has going for it is access: no forest walk, and it is in an onsen town you can reach on the Hakodate city tram, whose line ends at Yunokawa. Yunokawa's source is recorded at 65 °C, a salt (chloride) spring with about 4,861 litres a minute, and the tram takes about 30 minutes from Hakodate Station. It is also close to Hakodate Airport; see onsen near Japan's airports and the Hokkaido guide.
Monkey parks with no monkey bath
Search for monkeys and an onsen town name and two more places come up. Neither has a bathing pool.
- Takasakiyama, near Beppu. A mountain on the coast between Beppu and Ōita city where a large wild troop comes down to a feeding area. It is about ten minutes by bus from Beppu Station. Go for the monkeys, then bathe in Beppu. See the Beppu guide.
- The ropeway hill at Kinugawa. A short ropeway from Kinugawa Onsen goes up to a viewpoint over the town with a monkey area at the top. See the best onsen near Nikko.
Two names cause confusion. Noboribetsu in Hokkaido has a steaming crater valley called Jigokudani, "Hell Valley", and so does Jigokudani on the Tateyama route in Toyama. Both are volcanic valleys with no monkeys in them. The snow monkeys are at the Jigokudani in Nagano.
Capybaras in a hot bath
The capybara bath started at Izu Shaboten Zoo in 1982, when keepers found the animals enjoyed a warm pool in winter. It now runs every winter, recently from November to early April, with bath times once a day on weekdays and twice on weekends and school holidays. The zoo is in Itō city near the east coast of the Izu Peninsula. Several other zoos in Japan now run their own capybara baths in winter.
Despite the name sometimes used, these are not onsen in the sense this site uses: it is a heated pool at a zoo, not a hot spring you can bathe in. If you want an onsen on the same trip, Itō Onsen, with 34,000 litres a minute on record, and the towns down the east coast are close. See the best onsen in Izu.
Can you bathe with the monkeys?
No. At Jigokudani the pool belongs to the monkey park, and visitors stand on the path around it. The inn in the valley has its own baths for its guests; monkeys sometimes wander near them, but you are not sharing a pool with a troop, and you should not try to. At Hakodate the monkeys are behind a fence.
The rules at both monkey places are the same: do not touch, feed or stare down the monkeys, do not carry food in the open, and keep a distance. Wild macaques can bite. The park sets its own rules on things like selfie sticks; check its current notice before you go.
When to go
- Jigokudani: December to March for bathing. The path is packed snow; wear shoes with grip.
- Hakodate: while the winter event is running, early December to early May in recent years.
- Capybaras: the zoos' winter season, roughly November to early April.
All three are winter things, which is also the best season for a hot outdoor bath. See when to go for snow-viewing baths and winter closures.
How we put this together
Search suggestions for monkeys and onsen in English ran to 47 phrases, from "onsen with monkeys" to "beppu onsen monkey" and "where is capybara onsen". We checked each named place against the operators' own notices and recent news, and took the source temperatures, water types, flow and inn numbers for the onsen towns from our own records. Event dates are given as recent seasons, not promises.
Going for the snow monkeys? Read the Shibu guide first. New to onsen? See onsen etiquette and planning your first onsen trip.