Bukhansan National Park

Bukhansan is a national park that starts where Seoul's northern districts stop, a block of bare granite peaks and pine forest reachable on the subway and a short bus ride. The highest summit, Baegundae, is a scramble up rock steps and fixed steel cables to a small platform with the whole city laid out below and mountains rolling away to the north. Lower down, the trails are wide and graded, and the old fortress wall of Bukhansanseong, 9.5 kilometres long and expanded to its present size in 1711 on a site first fortified in the second century, runs along the ridges with several of its gates still standing. The park, about 80 square kilometres, was set up on 2 April 1983, and some trails are closed in rotation to let them recover. Because it sits at the edge of a city of ten million people, it is one of the most heavily walked mountain parks anywhere, and the queue at the summit is real.

Highlights

• Baegundae - the granite summit reached by rock steps and fixed cables.
• Bukhansanseong - the old fortress wall and gates running along the ridgeline.
• The city view - Seoul, the Han river and the surrounding ranges from the top.
• The valley trails - the easier graded paths through pine forest and past small temples.

When to go

Spring and autumn are the best walking, and October colour is the peak of the year. Start early: trailhead car parks and buses fill by mid-morning at weekends and the summit rocks bottleneck. Summer is hot and humid with sudden storms; winter trails ice over and require spikes. Weekdays are dramatically quieter.

Good to know

This is a Seoul weekend institution, which means crowds, and the final cable section to Baegundae can back up into a stationary queue on the rock. The granite is slick when wet or icy and the descent is harder on the knees than the climb. Trails are well signed but the network is confusing, and some routes end far from the bus stop you started at.

Nearby

The Bukchon and Seongbuk neighbourhoods lie at the foot of the range, and central Seoul is under an hour by subway.

Key facts