Jigokudani Onsen is located in a small valley (Jigokudani Yaen-koen), where some snowboard competition was held during the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. The place is reached by a 30-minutes walk from a nearby parking.

The place is one of the most famous onsen in Japan, as about 250 Japanese macaques are living there in winter (typically from late October to early April). Those monkeys are extremely sociable animals, and are used to live in contact to humans.

The monkeys have their own onsen, where they can warm themselves, usually while being taken in picture by the numerous visitors (among them, a large number of foreigners).

There is also a real mixed rotenburo close to the monkey park. We didn't however bath there, as the onsen is in full view from the numerous visitors coming to see the monkeys...