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Although Lonely Planet gave the Jigokudani Monkey Park a negative review, (one of Japan's most infamous tourist traps) which almost convinced me not to visit, we found the park to be quite easily accessible and enjoyable. The lovely hotel staff from Ryokan Biyu in Yudanaka drove us to the entrance of the park and we then walked 1.6km through a forest, to the monkey area, where monkeys and their cute little babies were wandering freely and occasionally eating seed off the ground and having a dip in the hot spring. It was Autumn so the walk was cool and we had a stroller so some parts we had to carry the stroller, about 50m of stairs at the end closest to the main entrance. Apart from that it wasn't too difficult to manage with a 1 year old and a 3 year old. In true Japanese fashion the park was tidy and there were no animal droppings on the path. There was a maintenance man feeding the monkeys at the time we arrived at about 9.30am so there was plenty of movement all around. They were very active and the babies were so cute riding on the mum's backs or tumbling around together wrestling.
