What you need to know before hiking Seoraksan National Park

Seoraksan is an absolute MUST do experience if you are a hiker planning a trip to South Korea. Seriously, it is my favorite thing I’ve done so far in the 7 months that I’ve lived in South Korea as an English teacher.I’m already planning a trip to go back. It was THAT good.

In a way it reminds me of Zion National Park, maybe its the pattern of the pine trees on the jagged mountain peaks or the look and feel of the slot canyons in the crevices between the mountains. Or maybe it was because I had a similar experience of making a group of friends to conquer the mountain with as I did at Zion National Park.  Either way, in my mind Seoraksan will always be the Zion of South Korea.

Let me give you a bit of background info/ introduction. Seoraksan National Park is a short 20-30 minute bus ride from Sokcho, a quaint little beachside town in Gangwon-do, South Korea’s Northeastern most province. The national park is a UNESCO biosphere protection site because of its unique biodiversity and is home to Seoraksan mountain, arguably the most stunning mountain in South Korea. The tallest point on Seoraksan is Daecheong-bong peak which is the 3rd highest peak in the country at 1708m.

Because of it’s epic beauty, Seoraksan is hugely popular with both Koreans and overseas tourists, especially in the fall. But even with its huge popularity, once you actually get into the trails it is not at all crowded. I hiked for 30 minutes at a time without seeing another person. And that was on a Saturday of a holiday weekend. I think that is because most of the people who visit don’t go to actually do the hardcore hiking.

I had a bit of a struggle fest as I was trying to plan my trip to Seoraksan. I was so fixated on finding the most scenic trail to hike (which I did and totally nailed it), that I didn’t pay much attention to some of the other important details- like transportation, shelters, etc.. I also realized there wasn’t a ton of really up to date information on how to plan a successful hiking trip to Seoraksan. So in this post I want to tell you EVERYTHING I know so that you can avoid some of the mistakes I made and have a lovely, well planned hiking trip to my new favorite mountain range.

Here are some of the things I think you should know before planning your trip to Seoraksan.

It is NOT a day trip from Seoul

Let me repeat this. Seoraksan National Park is not just an easy hop skip and a jaunt from Seoul. Maybe if you are JUST planning to ride the cable car, snap a few photos and leave then sure you could technically do it in a day. But I honestly wouldn’t even advise that.

The first mistake I made was thinking I could wake up in Seoul and end my day up in the mountains watching the sunset over Seoraksan. That was NOT a realistic plan. I took the intercity bus from Seoul to Sokcho, which took 4 hours (largely due to Chuseok traffic). But even on a good day, with minimal traffic it would still take between 2.5-3 hours to make the trip from Seoul to Sokcho. That would make an exceptionally long day trip. Plus getting there in the mid afternoon is not conducive to starting a long trek to the top of the mountain.

Start your hike early

I think this is probably a rule of thumb for all hikes ever. And maybe all of traveling too, so this is not a new piece of advice. I would recommend staying the night in Sokcho the night before, that way you can hit the trails as early as possible.

On my initial attempt to hike Daecheong-bong I got started laughably late. I took the 10am bus from Seoul and arrive in Sokcho around 2:00 pm. I didn’t even start the hike until around 3pm and at that point the National Park staff would not let me go past Biseondae (which is only about 3km past the visitor center).

I think if I had made an online reservation at one of the shelters (more on this in a minute), they would have considered letting me through, but overall they seem really strict about their timings. So to avoid all of that nonsense, I would just be super safe, stay the night before in Sokcho and get an early start up the mountain.

Reserve a shelter in advance online

If you are planning to stay on the mountain overnight, you must reserve a shelter in advance online. While I was planning out my trip I read so many mixed things about “to book a shelter or to not book a shelter”. Some places I read said that shelters were “first come first serve.” Or that- it’s impossible to book a shelter if you are not Korean.

None of this is true. Please learn from my mistakes! If you are planning to stay on Seoraksan overnight you MUST reserve a shelter in advance online. I would do this as soon as possible when you are planning your trip. The process actually appears to be straightforward (based on the research I did AFTER my trip *facepalm*)

To make a reservation go to this website, create an account and sign up for whichever shelter you choose. You don’t have to know Korean to do this. The English website has all the information as well.

There are tons of different shelters to choose from. Jungcheongbong Shelter is the one that is closest to Daecheong-bong peak and appeared to be the nicest/ coziest from my perspective. The other two shelters I passed on the trail I took were Huiungak Shelter and Yangpok Shelter. They were all pretty primitive but apparently provide you with most of the supplies you could need for a night in the mountains. At the shelters you can buy bottled water, canned food and rent blankets- so if you are hoping to pack light you are in luck.

There are NO camp sites on the mountain

Yea, so I was under the impression that I could just lug a tent up the mountain and plop it down at one of these mythical campsites I would find along the way. Not the case. I swear I read blog posts about people reserving campsites and camping on the mountain… but this is NOT a thing.

There are NO campsites actually ON the mountain. There is one campsite in Seoraksan National park about 5km away from the main visitor center entrance in the opposite direction of the main trails. It is located more in the grounds surrounding the mountain then actually on the mountain and is definitely not on the way to Daecheong-bong.  

Which trail should you take?

Whenever I hike, I am obsessed with finding the most scenic, jaw dropping, awe-inducing trails possible. This is the ONE part of the trip I actually did a good job planning.

I decided I wanted to hike up to the summit of Seoraksan, which is called Daecheong-bong. There are many different trails leading to this point. But they are NOT all created equal- in terms of length, difficulty, scenery, and crowds. I actually don’t know the exact name of the trail I took, but I will give you the run down and I promise it will be very easy for you to follow in my footsteps.

Because of my poor planning, I ended up having to do the entire trek up to Daecheongbong in one day. It took me 12.5 hours. Not easy, but it was doable and there ARE ways to do it even faster.

I started my hike at Seorakdong Visitor Center, which is the main entrance. You can literally start at the main entrance and just follow trail signs first for Biseondae and then Daecheong-bong. You will get to a major fork in the road at Biseondae, and at this point the fastest way to Daecheong-bong is to hang to the left. If you take the steeper, more treacherous path which is slightly to the right, that will take you an even longer,more scenic route towards dinosaur ridge.

I was initially wanting to take this path when I was planning on doing an overnight trip, but it would be impossible to take dinosaur ridge up to the peak and come back down all in one day.

After hanging left at Biseondae, the crowds really started to dissipate at this point and it started to get significantly more difficult. The next big landmark you pass is Oryeon falls, then Yangpok shelter and Huiungak shelter. The entire trek from Seorakdong information center to Daecheongbong was 10.4km, which made for a 20.8 km round trip which took me around 12.5 hours.

If you can dedicate the entire day to the hike, truly recommend this trail, because the scenery was so spectacular. However, if you are in a rush, you could opt for the shorter, less scenic route down. When you are at Daecheong-bong Instead of retracing your steps and taking the same trail back down, you can go down the mountain on the other side. This trail finishes at Osaek Ranger Station and is only 5km (so half the distance of the other trail).

This is called the Osaek trail and is essentially a staircase in the forest. It is a much shorter and more efficienct trail, but it is also significantly steeper, more crowded and NOT AT ALL scenic. One of the friends I met while hiking, took the 10.4km trail up the Daecheong-bong and then took Osaek back down. The way back down only took him about 3 hours to complete. So I would recommend doing this on the way down if you are interested in doing a bit shorter of a trek.

If you are looking to do an overnight hike, I would absolutely recommend Day 1 hiking up to Daecheong-bong, staying in the Jungcheongbong shelter overnight and then taking Dinosaur ridge on the way back down. To do this you would hang a left at the fork in the road just past Huiungak shelter (Dinosaur ridge is the orange trail highlighted in this map).

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Hopefully this helps you plan your trip to my new favorite national park. I’d love it if you could learn from my mistakes and have an effortless and joyful hiking experience.

What questions do you have about hiking in Seoraksan? I’d be happy to answer anything else that may come up for you! Just comment below and share.