Snow Monkey Winter Transport Times

地獄谷野猿公苑への電車・バスの会社、長野電鉄の時刻表は１２月４日に更新しました。長野駅からバスで行った方が良いか、電車で行った方が良いか、そして電車で行けば今度は湯田中駅からどうやって行けばいいか分かりつらいです。それぞれの電車とバスの予定表を合わせてみました。

この冬は渋温泉がまたスノーモンキーホリディーシャトルをやっています。週末と休日にしか運行していないし、少し高いですが、普段は行けない地獄谷駐車場まで乗せてくれます。そこから歩いて１５分ぐらいで公苑の入口まで行けます。そうじゃないと、車やバスで上林温泉までしか行けない;そこから歩いて３０分です。

表を見て、何か質問があればご連絡をください。

Nagano Dentetsu, the main source of public transportation up to the Jigokudani snow monkeys, annonced their new winter schedule, with the changes effective 04-December 2010.

Getting to the monkey park from Nagano Station can be confusing -- do you take a bus or train? And if you go by train, how do you get to the park from the end of the line, Yudanaka Station? As many of our guests here at Kamesei Ryokan make day trips to see the snow monkeys, I made a graph that matches up the trains from our local Togura Station to the busses and trains from Nagano Station.

From Nagano Station
Basically there are three options to get from Nagano Station to the snow monkey park:

1. Express Bus to Kanbayashi (1300 yen)
NagaDen Bus operates 8+ busses a day from Nagano Station's East Exit up to the ski fields at Shiga Kogen. They stop at Kanbayashi Onsen ("Kanbayashi Onsen Guchi" stop) which is in the vicinity of the Kanbayashi trailhead. From there it is a 30 minute, mostly flat 'promenade' through a beautiful cedar forest.

2. Train to Yudanaka (1,130~1,230 yen)
Nagano Dentetsu provides train service to Yudanaka and Shibu, a pair of classic onsen towns. Service is more frequent than the above-mentioned express busses, and you can choose between local trains (1,130 yen, approx. 1 hour 15 min.) and express trains (add'l 100 yen, as fast as 45 minutes).
NOTE: From Yudanaka Station to the monkey park, you can choose from the following:
A. Local Bus (210 yen)
Roughly matching up with the train arrivals, local busses connect Yudanaka Station to the Kanbayashi trailhead in a quick 7 minutes.
B. "Holiday Shuttle" (800 yen)
Shibu Onsen provides a "Holiday Shuttle" bus from Yudanaka Station directly to the Jigokudani Parking Lot. It is closer to the monkey park entrance than Kanbayashi (15 minutes walk vs. 30 minutes), but is a lot steeper of a walk. Reservations Recommended (tel# 0269-33-3600). The Shuttle runs on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays from December to March, with 6 runs each direction per day.

3. Chuo Taxi (from 2,722 yen round trip)
Chuo Taxi offers hassle-free taxi trips to the snow monkey park from Nagano Station. The cost is 17,000 yen for a regular taxi (4~5 people) or 24,500 yen for a jumbo taxi (~9 people) including transportation to Kanbayashi and back, and stand-by time so you can enjoy the monkeys for an hour. Call 026-282-7777 for reservations.

地獄谷野猿公苑のＨＰはこちらClick here for Jigokudani Monkey Park website.

スノーモンキーホリディーシャトルの詳しくはこちらInfo on the Snow Monkey Holiday Shuttle here.

戸倉上山田温泉はクリスマスを向かって、夜のイルミネーションが温泉街で増えてきました。亀清旅館では、外観の立体感に合わせて光を取り付けました。

実は、このイルミネーションはアメリカから来たものです。私の子供のころ実家の家で使っていました。毎年、父親に手伝って屋根に取り付ける作業で良い思い出があります。今度は次の世代という事で、私はなるべく我が子供達と取り付け作業をしています。

旅館の他のところで、出来る限りでＬＥＤの電球に切り替えています。その中で、この４０年（？）前からのクリスマス飾りの電球は確かにエコじゃない。しかし、懐かしいので、これだけお許しを。

Throughout our onsen town Togura-Kamiyamada, everyone is putting out illuminations for Christmas. Here at Kamesei, I got out the ladder and put up our lights along the roof line, giving a 3D effect.

Actually, the lights I used are ones that I brought with me from the States. They are lights that we had on my childhood house back in Seattle. I have fond memories of helping my Dad put them up along the roof. Now, I am passing down the 'tradition' to our kids.

Everywhere else at Kamesei, we are switching to LED light bulbs as much as possible. These 40-some year old lights are definitely not 'eco' but hopefully the nostalgic value makes up for that.