FEBRUARY AT JIGOKUDANI · BEST ODDS · 2ND OF TWELVE

The deepest snow, and the same odds

February has less cold than January and more snow on the ground. For the pool it is the same month; for the walk in it is the harder one.

0.4 °C is the 1991–2020 mean for Nagano city at 418 m. The park is at 850 m and runs two to three degrees colder, so read it as about −2.6 to −1.6 °C. 50 cm of snow falls in an average February in the city.

A young Japanese macaque walking through deep fresh snow towards the camera, snow settled on its head

¥THE GATE IN FEBRUARY9:00–16:00ADULT ¥800 (≈$5.1) · CHILD ¥400 (≈$2.6) · OPEN EVERY DAY

The November–March timetable. The deepest snow cover.

The ticket, in detail 湯THE GUIDED DAY, YEAR-ROUND$140 (≈¥21,800)PER PERSON · TICKET INCLUDED

One price in all twelve months. What changes is what is at the end of it.

Live dates in February

What the calendar does to February

BEST ODDS

Everything on this list is published by the park or by Nagaden and changes on a date. The deepest snow cover.

FEBRUARY · WHAT IS PUBLISHEDCHECKED 2026-09-06

The park’s hoursNOVEMBER–MARCH TIMETABLE · OPEN EVERY DAY

9:00–16:00

The express bus from Nagano StationJR NAGANO STATION EAST EXIT, BAY 23 · NO RESERVATIONS

up to 13 a day, reportedly

The Snow Monkey Pass, winter version2026/27 PRICES WERE NOT ANNOUNCED WHEN THIS PAGE WAS CHECKED, SO THESE ARE THE 2025/26 ONES

¥5,100 (≈$33) train / ¥6,800 (≈$44) bus

The Jigokudani car park is closed

1 December – 31 March

Boots, crampons and jackets at the trailhead shop

October–May, reportedly

What the monkeys are doing in February

February is the same season with more snow underfoot and marginally less cold in the air. The bath is in use. The park is explicit that the monkeys bathe to stave off the cold — not at all hours, and not all year.

Thermoregulation and lower stress hormones — Takeshita et al., Primates 2018 (Kyoto University).

The park publishes a predicted time for the monkeys coming down from the mountain and asks visitors to check before traveling and again on the day, through its live cameras and social accounts — which is the only thing that answers «will they be there today», and it is free.

A tour cannot clear the path

Read before booking

The trail is ice under snow for most of February. A guide walks it with you; nobody grits it.

NOTHING ON SALE CHANGES THIS Park staff work to attract the monkeys during opening hours, but the monkeys may not show up at all on certain days; appearances are particularly sporadic in autumn. Seven of the 21 tours on this site include the ¥800 (≈$5.1) gate fee in the price and the rest leave it at the gate; not one of them includes a monkey.

LIVE DATES · FEBRUARY · FROM NAGANO · TICKET INCLUDED

February, priced and dated

9:00–16:00 at the gate, up to 13 a day, reportedly on the express bus, and the deepest snow cover. Everything else about the day is the same in every month, and is priced on the pages below.

See dates · $140 (≈¥21,800) · ticket included

OR JANUARY INSTEAD · MARCH INSTEAD · WINTER AS A WHOLE · ALL TWELVE COMPARED