Yudanaka lies northwest of Nagano City in the lush valley of the Chikuma River. The area is best known for its fruit farms, orchards, and one famous primate resident – the cute red-faced macaque “snow monkey”!
You will find these strange hot spring bathing monkeys at “Hell Valley” or Jigokudani in Japanese. It is so known due to the hot steam vents and volcanic activity that causes hot water to gurgle up from small crevasses in the ground, creating the hot springs that the monkeys bathe in. The water baths are not exclusive to monkeys; there are also public “Onsen” for humans! The relative remoteness makes Yudanaka hard to get to, but the lack of tourists enables some great photographic opportunities. Winter months are probably the most picturesque when there is often a layer of snow over most of the area.
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