Seoraksan National Park is located in Korea’s Sokcho-si Province, in Northeast South Korea. The park is home to some of the most gorgeous mountains I have ever seen – full of rigid peaks, but fully lush with greenery as well. With an elevation of 1,708 meters, most of the peaks are still below the tree line! This means you get gorgeous rocky peaks at a lower elevation than the Rockies and Smoky Mountains, and peaks that are full of greenery as well. The landscape is vastly different from the mountains that you’ll find in the United States or Europe, and it was brand new scenery for myself and Jeremy. 

The park is massive, however there’s only a handful of trails available to you if you are starting from the main entrance at the park. Jeremy and I broke up the trails/attractions into four different day trips – we highly recommend combining these trails if you’re looking for multiple things to do in one day at the Park! 

DAY ONE

SINHEUNGSA TEMPLE

Sinheungsa Temple is located near the entrance to Seoraksan National Park, and is a common stop on the way to the Ulsanbawi Trail. You can certainly add this to your Ulsanbawi Rock day, however, Ulsanbawi is one of the longest day hikes available to you at the park so we enjoyed combining it with some shorter journeys! 

Upon entering the temple grounds, you are greeted by a giant statue of the Buddha. The statue is gorgeous silhouetted against the rich woods of the mountains behind it, and we enjoyed spending some time taking in the view and taking some photos! 

The temple itself dates back to the 600s – that’s right, not 1600, 600! The temple has had different names and apparently used to be located in a different location in the park. However, it has been moved multiple times over the centuries for various reasons – a number of fires being some of them. It now is housed in its current location with its current name, “Sinheungsa” meaning, “the temple was blessed by God (sin) and became prosper (heung). However, the Chinese character sin of the temple’s name was changed in 1995 from sin meaning god to sin meaning “new,” wishing that the temple will revive Buddhism again in the Yeongdong area (eastern part of the Taebaek Mountain Range” (Korea Trip Tips). 

We enjoyed wandering the temple grounds and taking in the views of the temple against the mountain backdrop, viewing the different treasures in the different temples, and taking in the rich artwork on the temple walls. We spent about 30 minutes at the temple, so depending on your plans you can spend anywhere from probably 15 minutes to an hour exploring! 

BISEONDAE ROCKS

The path to Biseondae Rocks is easy – it’s flat, paved, and more of a pleasant walk through the woods rather than a “hike.” This is a great little trip for families with kids, or a good option if you’re just not in the mood to get into a rigorous hike! The path follows a river full of large rocks – it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit, so It was the perfect time to take a rest and stick our feet in the water! 

The path takes you to a gorgeous bridge over the river in the valley, where you can take photos of the mountain ranges surrounding you as well as the river coming through the peaks. This is also a great place to have a snack! We sat down on some rocks before crossing the bridge to have our packed lunch and make some decisions about where to go next. 

GEUMGANGGUL CAVE

After crossing the bridge near the Biseondae Rocks, you have two trail options available to you. You can take a left, and follow a trail deeper into the forest for a longer hike. Otherwise, you can turn right and climb the mountain up to Geumganggul Cave. This was an easy choice for us, as Geumganggul Cave is one of the most famous attractions at Seoraksan National Park. 

The cave is home to a shrine to the Buddha and used to be a place of worship. The cave is a small, 23 square meter hollowed out space inside of the mountain. The hike itself only takes about 45 minutes to an hour based on your fitness level, but it’s intense! It’s a 600 meter hike up the mountain, and it’s not for anyone with a fear of heights! While the primary hike up the mountain is a wooden path with rocky steps, the final climb features a narrow metal staircase. 

We have read that often, the staircase is packed with visitors waiting to enter the cave. Normally, you have to wait up to an hour on this narrow staircase just to enter the cave and pay your respects to the shrine to the Buddha. However, Jeremy and I could not have been luckier! We were some of the few people on the trail and by the time we reached the final climb up to the cave, we were completely alone! 

We reached the cave and I turned to Jeremy and very genuinely told him, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything this beautiful in my life.” I meant it – the outlook of the mountains was not only the best view we had while at Seoraksan, but the best view I’ve ever seen. We cannot recommend this hike enough – it’s a rigorous climb, but it’s worth it. If you spend anytime at Seoraksan National Park, this is THE essential hike to do. 

DAY TWO

SEORAKSAN CABLE CAR

The entrance to the Cable Cars is located near the entrance to the park, and you can purchase tickets at this location as well. Only round trip tickets are available, and they cost 11,000 won per adult and 7,000 won per child. The Cable Cars run every few minutes and even if a line is long, it moves quickly. Once you arrive at the mountain top, it is a short walk to the historic location of Gwongeumseong Fortress. While the fortress no longer exists, the grounds are a stunning overlook of the mountain range. You can walk around the rocky peak and take photos overlooking the entire park. It can be extremely crowded, so morning is a great time to go. We were there in the afternoon and while crowded, we still found plenty of opportunities for photos! 

We decided to head back to our Pension after the Cable Cars to swim and relax, but this can easily be combined with another hike or a trip to Sinheungsa Temple if you’re interested in making more of your day at the Park! 

DAY THREE

BIRYONG FALLS

Seoraksan has a number of gorgeous waterfalls, and you can hit three of them on one hike! The start of this hike is fairly easy! It isn’t a paved path like the “walk” to the Biseondae Rocks, but it is an accessible path for families with children or people with different fitness levels. 

Biryong Falls is the first waterfall that you encounter on this hike, and it’s breathtaking. There is a large suspension bridge over the waterfall, and you can stand above and take in the beautiful valley surrounding you and the waterfall. 

This is another place, in fact, this entire journey is a place that is infamous for being overcrowded. We’ve seen photos from other bloggers in which this suspension bridge is PACKED. We were extremely lucky once again to be some of the only people on this trail! We were able to take in the scenery and take loads of photos without any other tourists! This is definitely a place you will want to linger! 

If you are looking for an easy hike, this is a good place to turn around!

YUKDAM FALLS

Further ahead on the trail you will reach Yukdam Falls! A smaller but beautiful waterfall landing into a small pool of water at the end of the river. It is a great place to take photos and also to lounge on the rocks in the river leading up to it! We spent quite a bit of time with our feet in the water and lounging on the rocks! This is a great respite whether you are planning on doing the rigorous hike up to Towangseong Waterfall or if you are turning around and heading back! Definitely take some time to relax and either hydrate or have a snack! 

TOWANGSEONG WATERFALL

Towangseong Waterfall is 320 meters from top to bottom, and the longest in South Korea! This hike duped us though, as what we read was not at all what we experienced. We use the All Trails app for all of our hikes, and while it’s mostly correct, it lead us a bit astray on this one! We were expecting to follow a trail to the base of the waterfall, but found quickly that it didn’t exist. 

We kept climbing to what we believed was going to be THE waterfall, but it ended up being an observation deck some bit away from the actual waterfall. We were disappointed that we couldn’t get closer to the waterfall itself, but the view was beautiful nonetheless. I think this is an important detail to note because I’ve since read on other blogs that this is a mistake that many people make!

Another unfortunate discovery was that there isn’t always a waterfall there! We climbed about 1,000 stairs to the peak only to find that there was no waterfall that day! Overall, I think this is worth adding to your hiking trip but keep in mind that it’s different from what you may expect. We were there on a cloudy day, but it was still a stunning view. 

DAY FOUR

ULSANBAWI ROCKS

Ulsan Peak is one of the most popular hiking trips at Seoraksan National Park, and takes about 2 hours to reach. It took us much less time to get back, but it is certainly an intense climb on the way there. This is a beautiful trail through the woods and one that also brings you past two Buddhist hermitages! We highly recommend taking a break on your hike to explore the temple grounds to take in their beauty and also to refuel. The hermitages have drinking water for hikers and we highly suggest filling water bottles at this point. Seoraksan is a great National Park, however, water tanks are sparse (we didn’t encounter any on our hikes) so fill up your water when you can!

Ulsanbawi Rocks are a unique landscape, featuring jutting rocks that tower above the rest of the mountain forest. The landscape vaguely reminded me of the Needles Highway in Custer State Park in South Dakota. These rocks are much bigger and not as jagged, but they stand out in a similar way to the Needles in Custer!

This is another intense hike – be prepared for STAIRS. The path starts easy enough, but then quickly turns into a steep climb that features both stone steps and iron staircases. The iron staircases were much wider and more stable than the stairs we encountered on our climb up to Geumganggul Cave, but still may be a lot for people with a fear of heights. 

The view from the top is wonderful and definitely worth the trek up! It was also a little overcast on the day we did the hike, so we didn’t get the whole view. However, it’s easy to see what a stunning view it was and we recommend making the trip! 

OVERVIEW

Seoraksan National Park has been our favorite place we’ve been to in South Korea and we couldn’t recommend it more! While it’s an accessible day trip from Seoul (3 hour drive) we strongly urge you to book a 3-4 day trip! The hikes are beautiful and you simply can’t do all of the trails in one day. 

Our big recommendations are:

1. Pack lots of water. As I mentioned, we didn’t encounter any water refill stations on the trails. Bring lots of water and make sure to hydrate yourself before you leave on your hiking trip and of course, when you return. 
2. Try to avoid visiting the park during its peak season! This park is normally PACKED and we were shocked to see some photos of these places from other travel bloggers. Autumn is Seoraksan’s peak tourist season, and while I’m sure the colors are gorgeous, it may not be worth the trip due to the immense crowds. Our hikes were HOT, but we were grateful that the trails were fairly empty and we actually got to experience nature on our hikes. 
3. Do your research and combine multiple hikes! We loved the way we organized our trip, but there are different ways to mix and match destinations. 

There’s lots to do in this area besides Seoraksan National Park! Check out my blog post on other attractions to check out here. 

All my Love, 

Lex