Yudanaka & Shibu Onsen湯田中温泉・渋温泉

Wild Japanese macaques come down to a hot pool in a steep, steaming valley. They bathe mainly from December to March, and January and February give you the snow-capped faces from the photographs. In spring there are babies; in autumn fewer monkeys come down, because there is plenty to eat in the forest.

From the Snow Monkey Park bus stop, walk up through Kanbayashi Onsen to a forest trail of about 2 km, unpaved, with slopes and steps. In winter wear snow boots and micro-spikes. Never feed or touch the monkeys; selfie sticks and drones are banned.

Entry is ¥800 until 30 November 2026 and ¥1,000 from 1 December 2026 (¥880 if you buy online). Open every day: April–October 8:30–17:00, November–March 9:00–16:00.

Said to have been found by the monk Gyōki about 1,300 years ago, and later one of Takeda Shingen's "hidden baths" for his wounded soldiers. The lane is barely a car wide, lined with wooden inns of three and four storeys, with hot-spring pipes running along the gutters. Every inn and public bath is 100% source-flowing: no added water, no reheating.

After dinner the town walks out in yukata and geta, the clack of clogs on stone the soundtrack. There are old shooting galleries on the main street, and Kanaguya's Saigetsurō is at its best lit up at night.

The spring was found over 1,350 years ago, and the haiku poet Kobayashi Issa came here often to see friends at an old inn; his verse stones stand around the town. Beside the station, Kaede no Yu (楓の湯) is a day bath (¥500, 10:00–21:00) with a free foot bath under a big maple, handy while you wait for a train.

Yorozuya has the Momoyama-buro, a temple-style wooden bathhouse that is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property; you get it by staying.

A timber deck at 1,770 m at the top of the Ryūō Ropeway, whose Swiss cabins carry 166 people each. A sea of cloud formed on about 60% of days in 2024, most often late in the afternoon, and the slopes below turn red and gold in early to mid October.

Round trip ¥2,500–¥2,900. Shuttles leave Yudanaka at 9:30, 10:50, 12:30, 14:10, 15:30 and 16:30. Our SORA terrace day trip, with timed plans →

Nakano, the next town down the Nagaden, grows Shine Muscat, Kyohō and Nagano Purple grapes. At Shinshu Fruit Land you pick a bunch of Shine Muscat for ¥1,800 (mid September to mid October, 8:00–17:30, taxi about 10 min from Shinshu-Nakano). Yamanouchi's apples follow, mid September to late November.

Tamamura Honten (玉村本店), a sake brewery founded in 1805, makes Engi sake and Shiga Kōgen Beer with its own hops; the shop has paid tastings (9:00–17:30, closed Wednesdays).

A small town of chestnuts and Hokusai, who painted here in his eighties. The Hokusai-kan museum is about 12 minutes' walk from the station, and the chestnut sweet shops of Obuse-dō and Chikufudō are around it; new-season chestnuts run from mid September to mid October.

With the Nagaden 1-day ticket the stop costs nothing extra: break the journey on the way up and reach Yudanaka by check-in.