OCTOBER AT JIGOKUDANI · RISKY · 12TH OF TWELVE

The month the park warns you about

Mating season begins and the park says appearances are particularly sporadic in autumn. It is also the one month with no Snow Monkey Pass on sale at all.

14.4 °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 11.4 to 12.4 °C. No snow falls in an average October in the city.

Two Japanese macaques face to face in the steaming pool, the younger one grooming the older

¥THE GATE IN OCTOBER8:30–17:00ADULT ¥800 (≈$5.1) · CHILD ¥400 (≈$2.6) · OPEN EVERY DAY

The April–October timetable. Mating season begins · least predictable.

The ticket, in detail 湯THE GUIDED DAY, YEAR-ROUND$136 (≈¥21,200)PER PERSON · $273 (≈¥42,600) FOR ONE · ¥800 (≈$5.1) AT THE GATE

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

Live dates in October

What the calendar does to October

RISKY

Everything on this list is published by the park or by Nagaden and changes on a date. Mating season begins · least predictable.

OCTOBER · WHAT IS PUBLISHEDCHECKED 2026-09-06

The park’s hoursAPRIL–OCTOBER TIMETABLE · OPEN EVERY DAY

8:30–17:00

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

7 a day, reportedly

The Snow Monkey PassTHE SUMMER VERSION STOPPED ON 30 SEPTEMBER AND NO 2026/27 WINTER PRICE HAD BEEN ANNOUNCED WHEN THIS PAGE WAS CHECKED

not on sale

The Jigokudani car park

¥500 (≈$3.2)

Boots, crampons and jackets at the trailhead shop

October–May, reportedly

Nagaden's own free pass is on sale

¥2,820 (≈$18) for one day

What the monkeys are doing in October

October is where the mating season starts and the predictability ends. This is the month the park singles out in its own wording. Mating season, and the park says appearances are particularly sporadic in autumn — the troop has food in the mountains and less reason to come down.

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.

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 promise you a monkey

Read before booking

The park says so itself, in its own words, for exactly this month. No operator refunds a no-show.

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 · OCTOBER · FROM NAGANO · ¥800 (≈$5.1) AT THE GATE

October, priced and dated

8:30–17:00 at the gate, 7 a day, reportedly on the express bus, and mating season begins · least predictable. Everything else about the day is the same in every month, and is priced on the pages below.

See dates · $136 (≈¥21,200) · $273 (≈¥42,600) for one · ¥800 (≈$5.1) at the gate

OR SEPTEMBER INSTEAD · NOVEMBER INSTEAD · AUTUMN AS A WHOLE · ALL TWELVE COMPARED