Things to do in Zenkoji Temple

Absolutely lovely experience ! Our tour guide was very accommodating and nice! This monkey park is difficult to get to if you don’t have a car! so this tour package was very worth it! and also the lunch they offered was top notch! thank you so much Mica for accommodating us with the tour! I’m very thankful I got to see some monkeys, despite not being snow season when I went!

This tour is absolutely worth it! Mika is an amazing guide—very attentive and funny. She explained everything to us and even went beyond expectations. We started the day at the scheduled time at the station, with everything running punctually. After that, we took a van to the temple, followed by the sake experience. Mika offered us numerous sake options to try and explained the sake-making process in detail. Lunch was divine—it felt like we were in an old and elegant wooden restaurant. The food was a feast, beautifully presented. Afterward, we spotted some monkeys, although it was quite hot, so they didn’t enter the onsen. This tour is a 10/10. I highly recommend it!

It was a pretty good tour! We visited three places in a couple of hours. The temple and sake tasting are right next to each other, which was convenient. The lunch was so satisfying as well! We were quite lucky to at least see three snow monkeys too.

I did this trip in a one day trip from Tokyo (booked the shinkansen and takes about 1h15). This trip was one of the best I have done in Japan, I thought I had my shares of temples but this one was different. the whole area was so nice and cute. We had a buddhist priest blessure ceremonie while being there, and the sake tasting was also great. Lunch was really nice, a lot and very tasting. Even though beginning of November is mating season and a bit early to be sure to see the monkeys, we were so lucky and saw a whole troop, they stayed about 45 min and then left again. It was really amazing to see. Our guide Kei was sooo enthousiastic and very kind, and made this trip really top!

The group that day, originally only seven people, small group, very good. When online photon, the guide explained very clearly, with some history and anecdotes, very interesting. This tour included lunch, which was better than expected and very Japanese. When we arrived at Snow After Park, unfortunately, we only saw five to six monkeys. The tour guide saw the situation and suggested adding one more attraction, so we went to the nearby hot spring street for a walk. The overall journey was easy and the guide controlled the time appropriately. Good day.

Really a great experience to live 👌 We were lucky since several monkeys were there when we arrived. To visit if you are in the Nagano region no matter the year.

Absolutely perfect ! The guide was awesome and very knowledgeable without being overwhelming. First, we had some oyaki in a very nice place with very nice people. Then, some sake tasting. After, we visited Zenkoji and had some free time before the fire ceremony. Finally we learned about the tea ceremony at Tsumugi which was incredible. We slept at Ryōshōin Shukubo for the night. Midori-san was so nice and so helpful. The food was incredible. The next day, we went to the morning ceremony then to the crypt. The guide was extremely energetic at 6am and seemed a little bit miffed at realising that the guide we had the day before had basically told us a lot about Zenkoji already. Everything was seriously great and I definitely recommend. Even the terrible weather we had couldn't put a damper on that wonderful day.

Wow, such a great tour. This was a small group tour with only 11 people, which gave this a very personal feel. Our guide Endo was friendly, knowledgeable and lovely to chat with. The tour mentions that lunch is included - this is an understatement! Lunch was a beautiful Japanese feast! Unfortunately, it sounds like late Sept isn't a great time to see snow monkeys, so we were lucky that there were 3 monkeys at the park, still incredibly cute! Our guide was then able to change the schedule to include a visit to a nearby onsen town that was the setting for the film Spirited Away. I highly recommend this tour!