By The Korea Herald has a list published of what it is calling Seoul’s best walking trails. Here is the list of the walking trails the newspaper is recommending:
- King’s trail, The Secret Garden of Changdeokgung (Palace)
- Namsan Walk
- Trail of 500-year-long history, Seoul Seonggwak (Fortress Wall)
- An oasis in the downtown, Jeongdong-gil
- Metasequoia road in Haneul Park, Sangam-dong
- Tranquil trail in Seoul, Buamdong-gil
The walks are all good, but I would recommend adding a walk up Inwangsan to this list because of the views, historical, and Buddhist/Shamanist history of the mountain. Bukhansan and Dobongsan may not qualify as a Seoul based walk, but both are great hikes as well.
Is there any other walks in Seoul that readers recommend?
It is the sad reality. No mistake...
8:57 pm on July 9th, 2010 1
Yeah, Ansan, which is on the other side of Hongje from Inwangsan. It's not much of a "san," in that you can be half-comatose and still climb up it, but there is some incline and apart from Gwanak-san, it's got the best views in the area I've seen. http://blog.daum.net/black4/935
Bongsan near Susaek station is really nice as well. http://blog.naver.com/bjbj21?Redirect=Log&log…
1:20 am on July 10th, 2010 2
I live very close to the Namsan Trail (from my apartment to the top of the tower and back is a good one-hour workout), and I think it's great. There are actually some pockets of "wilderness" inside the mountain where almost no one goes.
8:25 am on July 10th, 2010 3
And your recommendation of Inwangsan got me to thinking of something underappreciated by many residents of Seoul: there are immense hiking opportunities inside the city limits, particularly since there is a national park inside the city itself (Tobongsan) whose trails are accessible by subway, not to mention other mountains ringing the city that are provincial parks on their non-Seoul side.
In Honolulu, that’s something I appreciate as well. In Orange County, we have to drive long distances to get anything similar.
10:06 am on July 10th, 2010 4
Hike from Seoul Nat'l University to the weather station at the top of Gwanaksan. The hike is a challenge, the views are the best, there is a cool temple at the top, and a fellow serves ice cream and beer up there.
10:53 am on July 10th, 2010 5
Ah, Kwanaksan was one of the trails I was thinking of, LGDSR. When my future ex-fiancée and I got kicked off the main trail in Tobongsan because we weren't allowed to bring pets (no, that's not meant to be a joke; I had two dogs), we ended up taking them to a much less used trail in Tobongsan and later the Kwach'ŏn side of Kwanaksan.
Whereabouts in Seoul National do you find the trail?
11:35 am on July 10th, 2010 6
As far back along the main road as you can go. People park along the street and then walk into the woods.
8:39 pm on July 11th, 2010 7
Thanks a lot for this. Before coming to Korea I wasn't much of a walker/hiker but I'm really starting to enjoy it now. In and around Gwangju has some excellent trails. Maybe we'll have to visit a nice trail on our next visit to Seoul.