Damyang Metasequoia Road

In the early 1970s the county planted metasequoia saplings along both sides of the national road running into Damyang as part of a roadside tree programme. Fifty years on they are thirty metres tall and meet overhead, and when a new bypass took the traffic the old stretch was closed to cars and turned into a walking and cycling avenue - about two and a half kilometres of straight road under a continuous green tunnel. It regularly appears at the top of Korean lists of best roads, and it is one of the most photographed avenues in the country. The species itself has a story: metasequoia was known only from fossils until living trees were found in China in the 1940s, so every one of these is descended from that rediscovery. Bicycles are hired at the entrance. Spring and early summer give the green tunnel; late autumn turns the whole avenue rust-brown before the needles drop.

What you actually see

• The green tunnel - the canopy closing over the old road.
• The straight avenue - two and a half kilometres of it.
• The autumn colour - rust-brown needles in November.
• The bike hire - cycles at the entrance for the run.

When to go

May to June for the green tunnel, late October into November for colour. Weekends and holidays fill the avenue; early morning is far better.

Honest expectations

The main section is ticketed, which surprises people expecting a public road. It is a straight there-and-back walk. Crowds in season are heavy and the avenue is narrow.

Nearby

Juknokwon bamboo garden is minutes away; Gwangju and Mudeungsan are south.