Seoraksan National Park is located in the city of Sokcho, which is fairly far from Seoul. Seoraksan was listed with UNESCO as a tentative World Heritage site. It is popular with both locals and foreigners. According to the tourism website, Seoraksan is mostly visited during the Autumn period because of its beautiful scenery.
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| Entrance to Seoraksan National Park |
We visited Seoraksan in late December. The temperature was almost unbearable. The wind was so strong that we couldn’t feel our ears. Even though we had wore several layers of clothes to keep us warm from the harsh weather, we were still shivering in -17 C temperature. However, we had never regretted visiting Seoraksan National Park.
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| Seoraksan National Park is located in Sokcho. |
If you are not a native Korean speaker, it is very difficult to make a day-trip outside of Seoul because most of them could not speak English. We research extensively to make sure we are able to reach our destination safely. Our advise is to speak to your hotel/hostel manager about your plan to Seoraksan first before setting off. They might have a way to allow you to “speak” to the locals without difficulties.
How to Go Seoraksan National Park?
We took a bus bounded to Sokcho from Express Bus Terminal at Express Bus Terminal Station. The bus journey was expected to be 3 hours, but our return trip was delayed due to massive traffic jams (1st January Holiday). The bus ticket was priced at 17,000 won/pax for one-way. The seats were assigned to us when we purchased our tickets.
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| Waiting area at Express Bus Terminal Station |
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| A ticket bound for Sokcho costs 17,000 won/pax |
When we arrived at Sokcho Express Bus Terminal, we exited and looked for the tourist kiosk. Unfortunately, we did not take a photo of the surrounding. This is a screen capture I grabbed from Naum Map.
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| A screen capture I have grabbed from Naum Map. |
We continued walking until we saw a traffic light besides 7-11. We passed by Nene Chicken and GS25 before we reached the traffic light. Crossed the traffic light and took either bus 7 or bus 7-11.
Both buses will terminate at Seoraksan National Park’s entrance. You will see everyone alights at that station. Upon arrival, we paid 3,000 won/pax for the entrance.
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| Walking into the park after a long bus ride from Seoul |
Where We Stay?
We stayed at Seoraksan Tourist Hotel for a night (Updated: Unfortunately, it is closed). It is located inside Seoraksan National Park, which is very convenient if you plan to hike for a few days. The room is clean and comfortable for 3. There are restaurants and shops nearby, but they couldn’t speak English. There is no lift in the hotel so please bring minimal items. The manager, Charlie, is extremely helpful. He can converse in very simple English.
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| A view from our hotel room :) |
Exploring Seoraksan National Park
After we had our lunch nearby, we explored Seoraksan National Park! Unforunately, we underestimated the time for sunset. We walked for approximately 30 minutes – 1 hour before we returned to our hotel. Nevertheless, we were still amazed by the beauty of the nature.
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| The gate before entering Seoraksan National Park |
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| Writing wish on wishing tiles :) |
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| The tiles will be placed right beside the purchasing area... not too sure if they really bless these tiles though! |
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| The river has frozen up due to the harsh weather. |
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| Some of the trails that you can take to explore the national park! |
The winter nights end earlier than normal days. The sky went extremely dark after we walked for about an hour. Not wanting to walk in pitch dark, we went back to our hotel quickly. Next morning, we went up to the mountain by cable cars to view the first sunrise of the year. Unfortunately, the clouds blocked the view.
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| Many locals were hanging around waiting for sunrise! |
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| Unfortunately, we encountered cloudy weather. The sun was blocked by the cloud! |
The Bottom Line
Seoraksan National Park is a must-visit place in South Korea. After staying in the city area for so many days, it is always good to have a day-trip to visit some non-city areas which we can’t see in Singapore.
However, it is fairly difficult to travel if you can’t speak simple Korean. Our friend is able to speak simple Korean so we are able to converse a bit with the locals. It is advisable to ask the hotel/hostel manager for more information before you go there!
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