Another thing on my checklist was to hike. Seoul has many places where the locals will go to hike. One particular spot that kept popping up during my research was Bukhansan National Park. I was reading some blog posts and I was excited to give it a go.

There were several directions to go Bukhansan National Park and I decided to choose the easiest way to get there which entails taking a public bus and also closest to our hotel. Oh my I have never taken their public bus before and was worried I would miss my stop. Decided to visit the national park on Sunday since there will be lots of hikers and we just need to follow them in case I get confused with directions. Furthermore the weather forecast for that day was good.

To get to the national park we took the subway to Gupabal Station to reach to the busstop we exited from exit 1. There are 3 buses which will bring us to the national park – 34, 704, 8772 and the journey took less than 15 mins.

We managed to find our way to Bukhansan National Park easily. In the bus they do make announcement in English and there was a digital sign board which indicates each stop in Korean, English and I believe in Chinese as well.

While walking to the main entrance from the bus stop we stop by a convenient shop to grab some light bites.

The plan was just to spend maybe around 2 to 2.5 hours there since the route I chose was relatively easy. We opted for the valley walk and when we reached the information center we will exit from the main road.

The valley route was scenic we get to see waterfall, temple and beautiful flowers along the way. The route consisted of boardwalk, stairs and dirt trail. At times the path is slightly slippery and we could not help and take a pause every now and then to admire the beautiful scenery around us.

At the end of the valley route, there was a bench facing the valley and we stopped to have our snack. It was kind of surreal that I got to experience having Gimbap, boiled egg and coffee while admiring the scenery. Something I watched locals experienced online.

While having our snacks I was looking around for the information center with washroom but it was no where to be found. I see families with children going up a set of steps to somewhere. It looks rather steep and I kind of hesitate as I’m not sure where it will lead me to. After a while I decided to give it a shot since I kept seeing people coming and going up that direction.

Ah so it leads us to the information center and washroom. At that point, we could have u-turn at take a walk down via the main road to our starting point. Since we were not exhausted, we decided to push ahead as the walk seemed manageable.

A local was telling us we got to go somewhere, but we could not understand what he was telling us. We could only assume it must be something beautiful out there.

In fact Bukhansan Mountain has a long history which was linked back to the Joseon dynasty. It was said that Bukhansanseong fortress was built to protect Seoul from foreign invasion and it also serves as the royals’ temporary residence during emergency. Later, the fortress was reconstructed when it suffered damages during war.

As we walk deeper into the forested trails we saw there were many temples, historical sites, gates which were still standing tall. The forest trail was also getting steeper. There were stairs to aid our hike and some parts were cemented. For most part it was stone paths that were up slop. Truly we were not very prepared as we do not have hiking poles to aid us along the way.

I started second-guessing my decision to push forward as I was rather worried for my parents. However, each time I ask if they want to u-turn they claimed that they are not exhausted. They are well trained from their daily morning walk. Haha instead they were more concerned about me due to my previous foot injury. Somehow, for this hike I did not face any issues with my feet and was able to walk long distances.

Curiosity also got the best in me and my next target was to reach Daenammun gate (which I assume was the something I wanted to see after research😅). Every now and then locals walked past us at lightning speed and for most parts we have the trail all to ourselves.

There were numerous times where we required to cross rocks which was kind of slippery. At one point we decided to make a u-turn as we felt it was rather unsafe. Lo and behold we met the same guy who told us to keep walking and not give up! I checked with him if he was asking us to walk towards Daenammun gate which he say yes and it was another 2km or so. Given that we will need to cross slippery rocks with moss we decided to just turn back. It would be terrible if one of us slipped and fell.

We saw many locals who were very well prepared for the hike. After their hike, they were sitting along the stream, soaking their feet, drinking beverage out from their mug and having conversation. Some were just laying on the rock catching a wink.

On our hike back to the information center we started to see more crowds and children! I am like, “what?!” where these people come from. Where did they go that I did not see them walking behind us when we started to dive deeper into the forest. Till today I still have no clue which way they went. I believe it must be an easy walk since the kids were rather high in energy from whenever they come from.

As we leave the forested area and reached the information center we exit via the main road. Walking on the road was easy peasy and it was then that I got to see what I saw online. I believe this is a temple and it was just so beautiful.

In total, we spend a good half day at Bukhansan National Park and we truly enjoyed ourselves. Got some trendy hiking apparel and board the bus back to Gupabal Station.

I recommend you to give Bukhansan National Park a visit if you are into hiking, enjoy seeing scenic view and if you like you can also soaked your tired feet at the stream just like the locals. Till then see you in the next blog.

XOXO