When I went to South Korea I visited Bukhansan National Park in Seoul. I took the trail to Baegundae peak, the highest point.

I went on a weekend so it was quite busy, but there’s a great view from the top.

people queuing to get to the top

view onto a nearby peak

people climbing near the peak

people posing for photos behind a scary sign

me at Baegundae

While there I saw this ominous dark smoke over the city.

smoke over seoul

I later read in the news that there was a massive oil fire in Seoul. Apparently it was caused by a paper lantern.

I’ve never done any hiking before, so I wasn’t sure what the difficulty would be like, but I took my time and it wasn’t so bad. Descending was a bit difficult as the rocks on the trail were quite slippery, but maybe better shoes would have helped.

This blog post gave me a good idea of what to expect, although the transport advice seems a bit out of date.

I entered the park via Gupabal station and from there got a bus to the park entrance.

When getting buses in Seoul you just have to tap your T-money card when you get on and off, and it doesn’t charge you again if you transfer from train to bus.

I met a Korean man in the bus queue who showed me how to get to Baegundae and he kindly got me a handkerchief thing with a map on it (it was a bit confusing for me but it made a great souvineer). He was taking a different trail so I walked with him up to the point where our trails diverged. From there it was very easy to follow the signs.

map showing the route to the peak

I decided to descend Bukhansan on the other side, but I didn’t really know where I was going other than “down” and “towards an information centre”. Luckily once I got to the other side of the park I met some americans who showed me how to get to Bukhansan Ui station. This is on a new metro line that only opened a year ago, and it’s closer than Suyu station on line 4.

I’d originally intended to do more hiking on my trip, but it didn’t work out that way and I ended up only going to Bukhansan the day before my flight home. I’m glad I found the time though as it was a really relaxing and memorable part of my trip. I’m slightly jealous of people who live in cities with such easy access to places like this.